Centres

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 [...]