3 students who start in our junior program 4 years ago have finally achieved black belt.

Partick and Roseanne Scodellaro and Tom Ryder all passed their 1st dan black belt on the 8th December 2013.

Below is an essay for Tom about what black belt means to him.

A Black Belt in the Korean art of Taekwondo means many different things to me; mostly I see it as a sign of respect. I look up to people who have gone the distance and achieved something that great, and I just want to stop and imagine what it was like for them? How did they do it? Then the thought races to me – “How am I going to do it?”  All these things eventually lead me to think – “Why am I doing this? Why am I getting my Black Belt?”  Of course the answer is that I want to have achieved a great milestone in my life. It means that I will have achieved a great deal of knowledge in the martial arts, and have gained great respect for the 5 tenets of Taekwondo – Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control and Indomitable Spirit. Once I’ve earned my Black Belt I know that wherever I go in the world I will get as much respect as I am giving the Black Belts now.

Taekwondo is a way of living and a Black Belt signifies to me that I have reached a high skill level in my life. Receiving a Black Belt means years of hard work, studying, classes, confidence building, and teamwork.  A Black Belt requires discipline. By that I mean you can’t just go through it all lazily. The Black Belt is about achieving perfect techniques and practicing them endlessly.

In terms of perseverance, the Black Belt means attending classes consistently. Many people are just too lazy to do any practice. They will end up not knowing their moves – a mistake I made early on. When I first started Taekwondo, I was told to study at home and learn the required patterns.  At the time, I didn’t value that advice too much, which was a big mistake.  I ended up only knowing half of the patterns and didn’t do so well on the yellow and blue Belt tests. So, I started to work harder. Now, I know my techniques and consider myself a hard worker who hopefully models that to the younger students.

The Black Belt also means confidence and strong desire. If you are weak or do not really care, the Black Belt was not meant for you. You have to truly believe in the skills Taekwondo provides you.  Only with determination can you deserve it fully. Confidence is everything. It can change your overall performance entirely. Your confidence NEEDS to be high. To ensure it is high, simply believe in yourself, find that indomitable spirit, and work hard.

Lastly, in my opinion, a Black Belt means teamwork.  Obviously, your instructors are your original mentors and inspiration but your training partners are your team too.  It is almost impossible to get a Black Belt without a team.  At my Blue Belt, I just worked alone and I wasn’t getting anywhere, even with a lot of effort. I eventually learnt that you needed a solid team of friends and supporters to excel. So, I became friendlier with my classmates and eventually started enjoying their friendship. We became a team who supported each other, whether it was while we were learning patterns, breaking boards, or going up for a fight against Master Tan. This also boosted my confidence and my performance.

In conclusion, I believe earning the Black Belt is an honour.  It is physical and mental.  It means building confidence, control, respect, diligence and knowledge, with relentless hard work.  It means respect for yourself and everything else that makes up this amazing universe, especially your friends, family, and of course, your Instructor.

This is what a Black Belt means to me.