HORIZON Taekwondo Academy certainly made their presence felt at the Yorkshire One on One sparring and patterns event, fielding their largest-ever team at the Richard Dunn Sport Centre in Bradford.

Led by coaches Natalie Kidd, Rachel Salt, Rooji Karim and Kieran Young, the club entered more than 60 athletes.

Having amassed 300 members in less than three years, club coach Master Rick Simpson believes they will soon have an even bigger representation in competition.

The Odsal tournament, which was run by Simpson, listed 310 competitors from around the country, including a team who had flown over from Northern Ireland.

"The statistics are encouraging," said Simpson, whose Horizon Academy runs classes locally in Bradford, Silsden, Keighley, Cottingley, Shipley and Baildon, as well as also further afield in Lancashire.

"Nineteen of our competitors were under the age of ten, 32 were under the age of 20 and nine further competitors aged between 20 and as high as 47.

"Our crop of players did really well too. We'd held a lot of these back from entering the previous competition as we didn't think they were ready yet. There is nothing worse than rushing someone into a fight if you're not 100 per cent sure.

"We also held quite a few back too this time, so we could have an even bigger team at our next event.

"We have up and coming coaches in Leonie Hodgson, Rick McAvan and Lee Kay, who are also making a big impact within our ranks.

"I'm sure they will be able to field some of their own students at future events too."

Horizon have three more events planned for next year in February, May and November, including the Yorkshire Open Championships on May 14.