Stewarton brothers, Stewart and Andrew Steele, won gold medals at the  25^th British TTA TaeKwonDo Championships held in The Time Capsule, Coatbridge on Sunday 2 November 2008.

Andrew won his gold in the senior division (under 67kg) class and Stewart in the under 62kg category. In addition to this medal for sparring, Stewart was awarded the bronze medal in the Taekwondo Patterns competition.

Stewart, 20, and Andrew, 16, have been training for three years and each have achieved a blue belt-red tag. Their instructor, Hugh Steele, is a black belt 1st Dan and does Traditional Taekwondo Association (TTA) training at Stewarton Academy on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6.30pm to 8.00pm.

This was Andrew's first competition at senior level.   At junior level (under 16) feather-weight he has already won a silver medal, 3 golds and 2 "best junior male fighter" trophies.

Andrew has great ambitions for the future too. He told us, "I am hoping to enter some International Championships in the future with the Scottish TTA Team."

Stewart has also won competitions already but has struggled with training over the last two years due to nerve troubles in his lower back affecting his hamstring muscles. Chiropractor treatment over the last two months has helped and he is now heading back to full fitness.

The brothers' success was due in no small part to hard work and commitment on their part. Stewart told us,  "I trained three times a week at the club and two times a week in my own time for the five weeks prior to this competition."

Their younger sister, Heather, also enjoys the sport and is a yellow belt-green tag.