Yep, I got there in the end. Nice, isn’t it? As of this week, I am now a 1st Degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

I started on the journey to get this over 10 1/2 years ago, on 1st September 1997. I was 17, and was sick of phoning my mates in the evenings to ask if they wanted to go out and do something and being constantly rebuffed by, ’sorry mate, I’m seeing my boyfriend tonight’.

So something prompted me to go along to my old high school and take part in a Tae Kwon Do class after seeing it in the local newspaper. So I started training with Mr Sean Hardwick (now a 5th Dan) at Burntwood and Brownhills TAGB Tae Kwon Do Club (now Burntwood and Cannock TAGB Tae Kwon Do Club), twice a week.

I stuck with it. I’ve never been very good, I’m not a natural, I should say. But I always tried my hardest. In the association I train with - the Tae Kwon Do Association of Great Britain (TAGB) - you can, in theory, get to black belt in 3 years 6 months.

So why has it taken me so long? Well, 3 years at uni (with no TAGB club) meant I couldn’t train. I discovered a local club in my final year, but studying for finals, and having to get 2 buses and a 20 minute walk there, I managed about 4 lessons before giving up. Any TKD training was in university vacation time only, back at my home club.

I managed to get to red belt in the year back at home between undergrad and postgrad study. Then I trained for a year while I was studying postgraduate journalism in Harrow, but the class was one hour, once a week. You do need to be training 2-3 times a week. But then I moved back home for a while, and managed to get to black tag (the grade before black belt) in September 2004.

A family bereavement two months later meant I was in no mood to train hard for a black belt grading. So I just went to the classes and trained. It was good, I like the social aspect of it, making new friends, helping those at a lower grade with learning new techniques. People were supportive of me at a horrible time in my life.

In March 2006, I moved to Norwich. There was a TAGB club there. Great, I thought, I’ll train there. Nuh-uh. Nope. If you have never been to Norwich, or met anyone from there, you may not realise that they have a really strong accent, which is West Country meets Bristol with a bit of Australian thrown in. It CAN be difficult to understand. I discovered this while trying to train there, and having to look around at my fellow students to understand what we were doing next, because I couldn’t understand the area instructor’s accent. He didn’t really open his mouth much while uttering commands, which didn’t help, so the accent become just some kind of country noise that only locals (and maybe whales) could comprehend. The regular instructor…well, I didn’t respect him. Too much of an ego, and slightly contemptuous to the kids, which I found distasteful. I managed 6 lessons in a 9 month period before giving up and resigning myself to not doing Tae Kwon Do while in Norwich.

Then I moved to Colchester for 2 months (long story). The instructor there is great, and the class was small but friendly. However, when doing a 140 mile round trip to Norwich every day for work, the last thing I wanted to do in the evening was go to Tae Kwon Do. I did manage about 4 lessons before giving up.

In April 2007, I moved to London. I thought, let’s give this another go. I phoned the association hotline, which put me in touch with Northolt TAGB Tae Kwon Do Club. It was 8 mile away, up the (very busy) A40, but I went along a month later. The instructor (Mr Tim Brooks) runs clubs in Thurnby Lodge (Leicestershire), as well as Rickmansworth, Northwood, and Harrow. He was friendly, and cheeky, and welcoming, and when I said I didn’t want to go for my black belt that October, he advised me to re-take my black tag, to give me something to work towards.

So I did. I passed, and when another black tag joined the club that summer, I thought it would be a good time to work towards obtaining my black belt, as I’d have someone to train with. A new instructor took over in time - James Montgomery - and he is a student of former instructor Tim. The club have taken him under our wing. Northolt is a small club, we’re a motley crew, but we have a good laugh, and we all get on well with James. Finally, I have found a club away from home where I can: understand and respect the instructor, get on with the fellow students, and get there with no transport problems. Woo-hoo!

I started to train for my black belt. I had to attend 3 pre-black belt training sessions on a Saturday morning to be eligible to go for my black belt, which weren’t that hard, and made me think, maybe I CAN do this. I had also taken on doing a journalism refresher night course at the same time, and sometimes I did wonder whether I had taken on too much. But then the pragmatic part of me just shrugged and thought, well, the money’s been paid now, may as well work hard and try and do well at both things.

On Saturday 19th April, I went to Bristol to participate in the Tae Kwon Do Association of Great Britain’s bi-annual black belt grading weekend. Every April and October, TAGB members who wish to try to obtain their 1st Degree black belt travel to Bristol from all over the UK to undertake a practical and theory test under the TAGB Committee - a group of 6th and 7th Dans, who are not to be messed with, as they’ve all been doing it for yonks.

Because I had trained so much (including a week back home before the grading, training 4 nights at Burntwood, Cannock, and Brownhills clubs) by the time I got up to do my practical, I felt ready to do it. I felt nervous for the first two minutes, then it was gone. If you know your stuff, there is no point being nervous, because it will just make you doubt yourself. That’s the conclusion I came to, anyway. I did the grading, and actually enjoyed doing it - something I never thought I would do.

The worst part is the waiting. The week before the grading, and especially on the morning of the grading, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. But now, I look back, and I did enjoy it. It was good to be with fellow TKD practitioners, to remember we’re part of a family of martial artists practicing a Korean martial art with all our might, hoping we do justice to the vision of General Choi Hong Hi, the founder of Tae Kwon Do.

On Tuesday 22nd April, my instructor presented me (and my friend) with our black belts, and I am now a 1st Degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do (ITF style).

Ok, so it took me much longer than it’s supposed to take, but, hey, I got there in the end. 10 years, 8 months, but I got there in the end. And there’s still so much to learn…I’m looking forward to it…

Websites:

Tae Kwon Do Association of Great Britain (TAGB): www.tagb.biz
Northolt TAGB Tae Kwon Do Club: www.taekwondo-northolt.com
Tae Kwon Do International (TKDI): www.tkdi.biz
Wikipedia - Tae Kwon Do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tae_Kwon_Do

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 10:44 pm and is filed under Tae Kwon Do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.