Taekwondo to me is a way that I can connect to myself spiritually and mentally through life.   At the beginning I didn’t know why I needed Taekwondo in my life but through out the years the reason have become stronger and stronger.   It was the first day my Dad took me to the Tugun Progress Hall for my first class when I realised that this was my chance to become something, but at that age I didn’t know what it was I was looking for.  I was the first to start and then my Dad, Ben Joanne shortly after.  Dad had done Taekwondo before in Melbourne and had always wanted to get back into it, so with interested kids, it seemed the perfect time for him also.  Through out the early stages of my schooling it was hard for me as I struggled with my school grades and always getting into trouble.  At times I felt like just giving up altogether, feeling that if this was how life was going to be, I was not going to make it through easy.  It was when I was at that early stage that I felt I was a failure as a student at school and also just as a kid in general, it would be TKD that gave me the belief that

I was still someone that could be a winner or just someone that could be good at something.  This is what started my love for Taekwondo.  It would be the answer for many things though out my life and the tools for my future in many ways.  I would often remember times at school where I would think of my teacher as my instructor and then think to myself I couldn’t say that to my instructor so maybe I should not say that to my teacher.  This is what would be one of the most important tools that would help me though primary school and into high school, the meaning of respect and loyalty.  At the start of high school I had a different approach on life, I started to see things differently.  I would now tell myself that any problem would now be a challenge so this made me more enthusiastic and willing to listen and learn as appose to just tuning off and doing my own thing.  I would now look at life, school and Taekwondo differently, I would want to listen more and compete in school activities. 

 It would be in year 10 when I was 16 years old that things started to change for me in a very big way for the good.  I would see myself wining most of my fights doing better in my grading and at school.  I believe this is when I had started to become a more senior student and Instructor, teaching the students and having students look up to you.  Now I felt what I had put my instructors and teacher though for many years and realised what they would have been thinking for many years.  Through out the next 1 or 2 years I would see myself improving in all aspects of life and would start to feel my body change as I pushed harder in training and away from training.  This would be the time I would win the Australian championships under 17 black and US Open patterns and realised that Taekwondo is in my blood and always will be.  

Leaving school was a time that was hard also for me not getting the grades that where good enough to go to study at uni or to get a good job or what at the time was a good job.  One of my first jobs out of school was with Darryl Gowlett and that was much the same as training he was my Boss and also one of my Head Instructors.  This was good because he didn’t have to worry about talking to me on a different level because we both understood each other. Often at times I would see him practising his patterns in the field, this would make me think that Taekwondo is something that is within you and stays with you through all your life no matter where you are or what you are doing.  I worked with Darryl for 4 or 5 years in that time with had our differences like any worker and Boss do, but there was something different between us, their was a connection with us that I don’t think anyone else who did not do Taekwondo would have. It was an understanding of respect for each other through our Taekwondo that made us have such a good work ethic and friendship.

 I feel that Taekwondo has been more than just kicks and punches and using my body.  Taekwondo is more than just when you are training or teaching at the dojang. It has become a way of life and a way that I can find myself grounded and distress.  I think that Taekwondo is a martial art that when a new student comes to me I don’t have to say to them we have what you have been looking for.  All I say is that this martial art will help you find things that you didn’t know you where looking for outside of your life now. I believe that this is very true and powerful when someone not only hears this but also feels this through their training. I often see students that have dropped out for what ever reason and they all have that same respect or more from when they left training, this tells me that Taekwondo does change people, that it crosses paths with no matter how long they have done it for. I started real estate in 2004 and that was a big part of my life. With real-estate you needed to have the discipline to be strong and never give up and put on the happy face which was at times very hard, when you were down from a sale that fell over or someone else’s listing in your area. This is where Taekwondo gave me the advantage that I felt no one else had. At this time I was seeing a girl named Clare, she was very hard on herself when it came to study and training. I recall her telling me something that has stayed with me forever and would help me in the future. This is what I believe drove her to win the Nationals 2 years in a row whilst she only started competing 2 year prior to those wins and me to be successful in real-estate at this time. She said to me “Daniel you need to remember this, success is measured by the ability to stay focused to an object long after the enthusiasm in which has worn off.” Those words are so true and powerfully every time I would hit a bump in real-estate or Taekwondo or even life, I would think everyone else is losing enthusiasm so its my time to go harder and it would work most of the time. I would do real-estate for about 5 or 6 years and in that time go overseas to fight and coach many times. This I felt was the time when I started to take a big interest in moving from a competitor to coach and instructor. I had been coaching and Instructing for many years before and still going in lots of fights, but it was the feeling of a fighter that didn’t think they could win or have a chance to go out there and win just by believing in me and doing what I had said that would give them the result they wanted. This is what would give me a sense of power to help kids or even adults to believe in them and achieve thing they didn’t know they could do. This would be a new part of Taekwondo for me. I started to coach more and more and at that time it reminded me to back to when I was completing fight training. This made me realise, that every time that I thought I was being pushed too hard or disciplined to much it was in fact the best thing for me.

 Now my entire question had been answered from a long time ago when I was training and thinking why am I doing this or why is my instructor treating me like this. For this I thank Taekwondo and my Coaches and instructor at this time. When I became 4th Dan and became a Head Instructor this would be the next stop on my journey of becoming much more then just a fighter or a coach. I feel that everyone that does Taekwondo has a reason but sometime we don’t find out that reason for many years, I believe that this is when I found out my reason. In life I believe that you have choices, paths, options and decision, which will determine what happens in your future and has happen in your pass. For me Taekwondo has been apart of my 25 years and in that time it has helped me with those choices, paths, options and decision and I believe that Taekwondo has made me take the right ones. I have also taken the wrong ones sometime to teach me for the better. This I believe is the biggest benefit that anyone or I could have in life. For me now my goal is to work hard and smart in life and in TKD to create a peaceful life. I will work, train and relax towards my dream. This dream came about when I meet my partner Sumalee.

She was from Thailand and she came to Australia 5 years ago to study and travel. We meet and stared dating about 6 months after she arrived in Australia. Sumalee was someone that was very different to me, she look at things differently. I remember her saying to me some think very simple one day when I was going for my provisional 5th Dan grading. “How do you think you will go?” I said to her “Sumalee, I have been practising hard and studying a lot so if its meant to be it will be” but she would stop me and say “No Daniel that’s wrong, it should be, if its meant to be, its up to me” and I thought that’s right. This is one of the many thing that Sumalee has told me and that I sometimes think to myself. We both have the same beliefs but we just have a different way of saying them. Since we have been together we have visited Thailand many time and have always said that we would like to move there as soon as we are finically stabile. For the last 4 years we have been going to and from Thailand and it was about 2 years ago when we where in Thailand I was watching some kids in the yard kicking a bag that I thought wouldn’t it be great to teach kids that couldn’t afford to pay to train. So that was when I made my mind up to open my own fulltime centre in Thailand for the community of Chiang Rai and Chaing Mai plus surrounding areas. I hope that if I could teach the kids the true meaning of TKD than I wouldn’t just have good Taekwondo students but I would have a group of student with the power to believe in them selves and make the right decisions in their life. This is my dream that I hope to do in the next 2 or 3 years. I hope that this has been something which has shown you how Taekwondo has been apart of my life and also all the benefits which Taekwondo has given me. Even writing this essay for my 5th Dan has reminded me of the pass and all the thing that I have been through with Taekwondo and how it has changed me as a person for the better.

By Daniel Hartmann

5th Dan

Tans Currumbin.