We’re back to our regular time of 18:00 on a Sunday evening at the Lime Kiln Centre.

New starters always welcome. Contact the school instructor for further details

I had no preconceived idea what Taekwon-Do was. I didn’t really know about any type of martial art. This first class had around 20 other students, most of which were senior coloured belts. I can remember vividly us all running around the dojang. Wigfield’s ‘Saturday Night’ playing flat out over the speakers, as we did press ups and star jumps. We did some padwork drills. I remember putting on loaned sparring kit and sparring with the other students. Each time I trained there over the next month or so, I left with either a black eye or a fat lip. I loved it! I got a buzz from doing this, unlike anything I’d done before.

5 years later I moved to Wootton Bassett. I bought a house in need of complete renovation and moved in with my cats. In October 2000 a small leaflet dropped through my door saying that a new Taekwon-Do club was opening. I was very excited. I shared my enthusiasm with my girlfriend and my brother-in-law who I wanted to come along as well. I was quite shy and remembered the negative atmosphere I’d experienced in the last school. Safety in numbers! They agreed to come along, and I was excited to start training again

The Sunday of the first lesson came, and they both made an excuse at the very last moment, so we didn’t go. I was disappointed and felt the opportunity to start Taekwon-Do slipping away again. The following Sunday they both made an excuse again. This time I was not going to sit back and miss out. I went on my own, much to my girlfriend’s shock, as I left her sat on my sofa for an hour and a half, as I drove off in a huff. This was probably the bravest and hardest thing I’d ever done. When a new student comes along to our lesson, I always try and remember this feeling and make sure they feel at ease and welcome, as they venture into a room of strangers who look like they know what they’re doing.

The class was small. There were two instructors and around 6 students, all who had started the previous week or were also taking their first class. It was quite different than my previous classes. My instructor, Miss Lovelock was learning her trade as an instructor. She had a very friendly and easy going nature about her. The other instructor, Mr Rowlinson, I wasn’t to meet again for a few years. He had just started his club up in Swindon and I would eventually spend a lot of time training with him.

The next lesson, my girlfriend, not wanting to be left alone again, came along to and also got the bug for training. She would eventually go on to achieve her Black Belt five years later. I have a lot of admiration for her. She failed a Black Belt grading but came back with real strength and determination to get it the next time round. We were also to break up a few months after we had starting training together. To continue training alongside me, and the lady who would eventually become my wife, must have been very hard for her.

I was fortunate that my brother-in-law also worked with me and we used to spend a lot of time practicing together. Over the years we trained together, I never got the better of him in sparring. There was a day of true personal triumph though, when I landed my foot on his head during a sparring bout. I had progressed over time! I could kick higher. I was faster. This small and insignificant event was actually a large and significant moment to me, a barometer that I’d improved and that the hard work I’d put in was worth it.

The pair of us attended tournaments together where he won a few trophies along the way. We graded together where he achieved a few ‘A’ passes and won some grading awards. I didn’t even win a fight! I enjoyed the whole experience and the preparation, but I was training in his shadow. When we practiced patterns and techniques together outside of the dojang, he became my teacher. I was unfortunately not learning or improving as I had become reliant on him.

In my time of training I’ve seen that most students fall into these two categories. On a rare occasion, I’ve seen what happens when a student with ability also has the ethic to want to work hard to improve. This is actually truly inspiring to see. An example of this would be one of my instructors, Mr Brad Tombling. He has a natural talent where he can perform almost any technique with grace, strength, fluidity and speed. As an instructor, the years of experience of training through his youth, have given him countless drills to put a student through to help them improve. His end game is to help that student become a little more like him in the mindset. He can also push himself over a class and lead by example. His stamina seems endless. It’s no surprise to see how successful he has been in tournaments over the years. This is what hard work and talent can achieve when harnessed together.

Another student who I believe has this is my wife. She is the only student I know who achieved an ‘A’ pass at every coloured belt grading. She was successful at both sparring and patterns in tournaments. She has fantastic technique and overall knowledge. I’m fortunate to have her as my assistant at the club, more about that another time…….

Over the six months from the end of March to the beginning of October, our faithful club members tuned in to us twice a week, as we learnt different ways of presenting the knowledge and skills we’d learnt over the last 20 years.

We pushed our six-year olds toys to one side of the room out of camera shot, put on a Dobok, drew up a lesson plan and waited to see who turned up. I don’t think we ever had lower numbers than four, with the highest being around twenty-four. We started with focused lessons, teaching specific syllabus to those who were just learning it. It was also an opportunity for those experienced students to revisit techniques and sets of movements. As the saying goes, ‘To teach is to learn twice’, and I would say that this new way of teaching was us learn thrice!

My own instructor added a huge syllabus of online sessions and this was inspirational to motivating us and installing belief in what was possible. I kept a count of how many classes I personally participated in, and over the initial four months it was over 130 sessions. It was an opportunity to correct bad habits in my Tuls, which I don’t think would have ever been noticed during a traditional class in the dojang. I loved this!!

As an instructor team, my wife and I realised our strengths during this process. There are different types of teachers. Some are very visual. Some are very aural. Others may be very kinesthetic. Or maybe a combination of these. My wife and I found that she was better taking the class through the lesson plan, while I demonstrated and participated with the class. It was an opportunity for us to make fun of each other and inject humour into what we were doing. My lesson plans often were intended to be physical excursions that were aimed at making the legs hurt for days after. Developing ideas in my mind after drinking three or four strong cups of coffee, where I still believed I was in my thirties and wasn’t going to be a fifty-year-old man with a bad knee and moderate ability at best! That said, I always felt amazing at the end of each session and hope my endeavours motivated students to go the extra mile.

In July, the school very kindly allowed us to use their grounds. We started on the grass. We found the ground was quite bumpy and coming on one leg to perform a high section turning kick felt more dangerous to the practitioner than it ever would be to a potential assailant. We switched to the playground, which in turn provided us with two areas, so my wife and I could teach simultaneously. This proved popular, and some students who’d not bought in to the possibilities of participating via Zoom came back to training. The weather was awesome! When it wasn’t sunny, we were presented with an atmospheric thunderstorm on several occasions. We cancelled one lesson due to rain over the summer, and that could have gone ahead, as the weather cleared up just before the session. We had however already committed to teaching via Zoom that evening.

September has seen COVID restrictions decrease and the gyms open, then increase again as the government tighten things up again. In this time, we started reusing the halls again. Fortunately, a portion of what we teach is formatted in such a way, that the transition to being COVID friendly is an easy one. The students line up, automatically social distancing, they perform the same techniques, moving backwards, forwards and from side to side as a unit. Black Belt adults and White Belt six-year olds punching and kicking together with almost military precision. Slow down the Taekwon-Do patterns to an instructors timing, and they are practicing their syllabus, getting ready for their next opportunity to progress

July saw this opportunity realised, when the TAGB committee made the unprecedented decision to allow us to assess our own students for one grading. As instructors, we were given an opportunity to voice some opinions on this. I personally felt proud of our organisation and what they stand for. The belt in any organisation is only as good as the standard that comes from the top. I’ve trained and taught Black Belts from other organisations over the years. One, I kid you not, did not know Taekwon-Do originated from Korea and knew no terminology. That said, I’ve heard other organisations that include self defence in their gradings, have much tougher physical tests and may even incorporate weapon use. As I always say, if you plan on starting a martial art, do some research first, and consider what you want to achieve. It can be a life journey if you want it to be, but if your organisation has you running your own club after eight months there’s a good chance that the business module of your organisation is to make money out of you and your students, and the art is very secondary to this.

So, I personally felt that the integrity of what we teach was very primary. The student should be prepared to perform this syllabus at their next grading if required. It was needed though. The basic foundations are just that, intended to be basic to learn and give the student the foundation to progress on to the next stage of more complex patterns of movement. They were not intended for a student to be locked in their lounge performing it for six months, slowly developing very bad habits that may never be able to correct. This opportunity was for them to make a small progression to allow them to develop and not feel stale and stagnant in their journey. It proved to be very successful and we had 12 students progress at this stage

The next grading is already scheduled for November which will allow some of these students to progress further. No more than they deserve for the dedication they’ve shown over the last six months. It will be important for them to have a more formal experience rather than a test in a playground

The positives from this situation we’ve found ourselves in over the last six months have been utilised as best as possible. That said, its not all good! We’re teaching a martial art. A method of defending yourself. Practicing kicks and punches against thin air develops muscles and technique, but we’re not doing it against a target like a pad or another student, where the valuable lessons of distancing and timing are practiced. We can practice a sequence of blocks and punches, originating from a Taekwon-Do pattern, borrowed directly from a Karate Kata where the origins may be you are applying a shoulder dislocation. Almost impossible to teach or demonstrate this kind of application without being able to use a partner to practice self-defence or advanced set sparring. Free sparring is also currently not practiced. While this is the sport side of Taekwon-Do, distancing, timing, technique, fitness and stamina will improve through the practice of this and it’s also really fun!

What will happen over the next six months? Only time will tell!

As we reach the end of September, both our venues have been made available to us!

We are currently training as follows

Sunday 13:30 – 14:30 – Lime Kiln Centre

Thursday 17:45 – 18:30 – Noremarsh School

New starters are welcome! Please contact the school instructor for further details, as we are following COVID guidelines so we can all train safely

The COVID 19 virus, has forced us to change how we teach. Over the lockdown period many TAGB instructors have been busy holding online classes via Zoom. This has given us the opportunity to both teach Royal Wootton Bassett students, and participate in other lessons from other instructors

Some aspects of training, such as free-sparring and padwork drills obviously cannot be taught in the way they normally would be. Patterns and individual techniques however can be looked at in great detail, and it has proved to be a fantastic opportunity to help students develop and improve

Between April and June we taught around 40 Zoom sessions, increasing our lessons from twice a week, to three or four. We also offered one to one sessions with all students

Really looking forward to getting back to the dojang, and finding how the benefit of such focused training has improved a students ability!

Late June, and we’ve taken our first lesson outside.

We managed to get out on what was probably the hottest day of the year!

The students were split into three groups and taught over several areas at staggered times, to allow us to train safely

Great effort from everyone!! Was great to see so many smiling faces!