Testimonials
| 08th Dec 06 |
Santa’s Taekwon-Do Naughty and Nice List The Naughty List
The Nice List
I hate to admit it but I am a sucker for any child who smiles and all of the children who I watch and teach will smile and grin at me so I hope that Santa sees fit to have them all on his nice list because farmyard noises aside they are all fantastic and brighten up my day when I see them train. This child definitely makes the ‘Nice’ list About a year ago I sat at the back of a hall and watched a coloured belt grading, there were so many white belts among the children that they took them up in two lots. While the first half where in front of the Master I noticed a boy fast asleep with his head resting on his hands sitting on the floor with the other children who were grading. As the first half were dismissed the names of the second group of white belts were called out, just as this boy’s name was called out he woke up and semi crawled up to his position. Full credit must be given to this young boy, only seconds earlier he had been fast asleep, the Master was now asking to see their 10 push ups. Down the boy went, nose to floor and bump, the arms went from under him as he tried to push up and he lay flat on the floor. The boy gathered himself up in push up position once again and down he went, nose to floor and bump, once again he lay flat on the floor. This continued for all 10 push ups. |
| 1st Nov 06 | TV Stars Some of the children from St Andrews were asked if they could help Kids Gaelic TV Programme De a-nis with their new title sequence. The day started with a number of technical hitches and a request for the children to return in the afternoon! I then endeavoured to help the film crew out with finding replacement professional digital tapes - Dundee University came through and provided the tapes. Everyone returned and with the weather having brightened up we headed to the beach to start filming. The children were asked to bounce on space hoppers in various formations. I have to be honest, I use to bounce on them when I was younger but it now looks like hard work! The children did very well to keep going for as long as was needed. All of them that took part represented the Taekwon-do School and themselves very well. Well done! The title sequence is now running for the next 31 weeks on BBC 2 (Scotland) at 6pm, you have to be quick to spot them but centre stage in the bright yellow t-shirt is one of us!!! |
| 11th Oct 06 | Master Hwang VIII Seminar, Baden, Switzerland. Things didn’t start off well with Easyjet cancelling our flight home at the last minute, however after much deliberation and a kind offer from Peter Regan II, host and organiser, for us to stay at his house on the Monday, we re-arranged the flight to return on the Tuesday – I was glad we did. There were many different countries represented at the seminar including non-local Swiss, Germany, Czech Republic, Holland, England and Japan and all grades from white belt to VII Dan Master. Master Hwang had an interpreter with him (a IV Dan from the Czech Republic) and we were thankful, however through the Korean terminology and Master Hwang’s clear body movement the interpreter simply provided clarification. It is in situations like that that you realise how important and useful learning the terminology is – I will be brushing up on mine! The seminar covered all patterns from white belt to I Dan, set sparring and some kicking practise. Our students were buzzing with the experience and the 1st Kups especially felt very lucky to have covered their entire syllabus. On the Monday we were treated as Master Hwang agreed to do some extra training for us. There were 12 in total and out of the 12, 9 of us were from the UKTA. The Budo show on the Saturday evening was professional and well run with demonstrations from all local martial arts. Baden TKD School opened the show and were very impressive, even more so when you knew that these members had been making trips to the airport to collect people and had been doing the work behind the scenes. With only 2 black belts the kup grades made up the team and I would like to say well done as I know some of them had been training for only a couple of months. Five Czech Republic members, (4 male and 1 female) provided the finale and showed the power and grace of Taekwon-do, as well as its ability to fly. Sunday afternoon gradings took place and I felt very honoured as I was invited to sit on the grading table. 3 members of our took part and shone in their different ways and all were successful. Marzia was very cool, Elspeth found herself partnering a German spoken man who got the instructions confused and she handled the situation beautifully, Daniel found himself performing his part of the grading by himself but he didn’t let that affect his performance. Well done to you all. Monday afternoon we found the Thermal Baths and all I am going to say is Heaven! Definitely the best way to complete a training weekend. Monday night we celebrated and helped the Baden School to wind down in the pub. All in all we made many friends and expanded our Taekwon-do Family I would like to say thank you to Peter our host. Miss Tate IV Dan |
| 1st Oct 06 | Demonstrations The Dundee Tae-kwon-do demonstration was brilliant to participate in! I was really happy when I broke the piece of wood and I am sure the audience liked watching this and all the other amazing destruction. Mr Dolan was fantastic when it was time for his sequence of destruction. I looked really cool when he flew over the children and broke the bricks etc. The scene when Frances and I had to beat up the two muggers' was most enjoyable and I know it was funny for the audience to view!!! I particularly enjoyed the patterns and it looked very exciting when lucy kicked the cup which was on top of Mr Dolan's head. Luckily, she kept in control so nothing unfortunate happened! I thought it was good when the children joined in and I think that most of them picked it up easily. The whole demonstration was a booming success and it was organised well. The turn out of people was excellent and I would love to join in for next year. By Jozette Allan (Junior) |
| 1st Aug 06 |
Summer camp testimony Having suffered with a knee injury for four months, the 2006 Taekwon-do summer camp was an ideal opportunity for me to return to training. The camp consists of 3 days intensive training over all aspects of the martial art, beginning with stretching at 6:30am and finishing with crazy destruction as late as 1am (you have to break the board without spilling your drink…). Due to the lack of time constraints, there is chance to concentrate on different facets of the art and so, whereas a typical class may include some sparring, patterns and some pad work, whole hours will be given over to each of these at the camp. Thus, it is easy to progress and I certainly felt more confident by the end of the camp. Possibly the my favourite session was the Sunday morning; we spent around 2 hours outside on the grass, practising nearly every possible combination of kicks. After much confusion and hilarity we all ended up with sore leg muscles and a big appetite for lunch. Another feature of the camp is the almost bewildering variety of training aids, from stretching pulleys to a huge kick bag that is just asking for a flying sidekick. The camp is also as much of a social occasion as a training session; after dinner your time is your own to practise, sit and chill, or have a drink. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the summer camp and will be there next year! |