My love of Korean Taekwondo began some twenty years ago. I’ll let you in on the short version of the story. I moved to a new state and started at a new school during my second last year of high school. Being the new-kid-on-the-block I was feeling pretty awkward and was thinking that the next two years might possibly be the longest two years of my life (they weren’t, I had great time!) Anyhow, there was another new kid and we naturally gravitated toward each other. We quickly became firm friends and it was the start of a life long friendship (the taekwondo connection is coming..I promise). He lived in the country but his family had sent him to the big-smoke for schooling and he would go home every holiday.
As our friendship grew, I started spending the holiday’s with him and his family (a 1,600 mile round trip!) My friend was a taekwondo 2nd dan black belt, but never really advertised it during the school months. I had known it but didn’t really think much of it. During my first trip to his home town I went to watch him train at the local (only!) Korean taekwondo club. It was a typical country martial arts club. The town firefighter was the instructor with about twelve people training and it was great to watch taekwondo training up close. The instructor knew what he was doing, and he was good to watch, but my friend was incredible. I was amazed that I hadn’t seen this part of his life before. His flexibility, his strength, his technique, the power of his taekwondo kicks and punches was mind-blowing. I knew nothing about Korean taekwondo but I knew he was a special talent and I knew instantly that I wanted to be able to do that, or at least make a good fist of it! (Sorry about the pun, I couldn’t resist). As a side note, my friend is now a 6th dan black belt, 3x national champion, 4 x state champion, international medalist, state coach and former national coach. He owns and runs one of the country’s largest taekwondo clubs, along with his equally brilliant business partner.
The point of my (longer than I thought) story, is to highlight that a martial artist can be inspired to his or her art in many ways. With me it hit me between the eyes, others toil away week after week and the inspiration grows in them. Others are pushed into taekwondo training as kids, fall away, only to return years later.
During my time as a taekwondo instructor I saw this inspiration ebb and flow in many of my students. Some taekwondo students go on to become international medalists and instructors themselves. Some lose interest, move on, only to come back many years later. For some it’s a happy past-time, while for others it’s a life driving force. The common thread is that every single person that I have ever known in my martial arts life has taken something good away from their taekwondo training. Whether it has been fitness, health, self-defense skills, determination, satisfaction, a sense of dedication, self-belief, personal achievement, sporting achievement, self-esteem, gaining a healthy competitive spirit, self-discipline or honing their taekwondo technique. Or maybe the taekwondo student gains a sense of belonging, a community spirit and a belief in others. These are very real motivations and inspirations that I have had and that I have seen countless times in others training in Korean taekwondo.
This also serves as an illustration as to why people might become involved with Korean taekwondo training. Maybe this all rings a bell with you. Maybe you’re searching for some of these attributes within yourself. Maybe you’ve fallen away and want to get back into taekwondo training. Maybe you want your kids to learn some respect and self-discipline. Maybe you want to become a Olympic champion. Maybe you want to learn self-defense. Maybe you want to become fit and healthy. Maybe you want to learn focus and self-discipline. Maybe you are a taekwondo expert wanting to network with others…..OK maybe I’ve laid it on a bit thick with all the maybe’s. I guess what I’m saying is that your motivations, right or wrong, are yours and yours alone, and remember that whenever you dedicate yourself to something, the rewards almost always exceed your expectations!
Korean taekwondo is a fantastic martial art and a fantastic sport and can be an exceedingly successful career if you want for that path. I hope that you find some use in the following taekwondo pages and if you would like to contact me you can do so here. Thanks for the visit and I wish you all the best in your taekwondo endeavours.