Taekwondo plays a big role in my life. Whenever I go to taekwondo I always come home feeling great, I don’t know if it is the people I train with or it is just the training. I find Taekwondo is more enjoying after a stressful day at school, because when I am at training I don’t think about anything else but taekwondo, so it takes my mind off most things. Taekwondo is the best sport I have ever done. When I think of taekwondo I think of all the people I train with and the great community that taekwondo has. To me taekwondo almost feels like having another life but in that life you have no pressure and no stress and the only person you are competing against is yourself, and you want to be the best person you can be at Taekwondo. When I hear Taekwondo I straight away think of the enjoyment I have working with others. The community is what I think is the best part about training because everyone is so kind and ready to help guide you when you need it. This motivates me to keep on coming to training and to work harder.
There are many difficult times when I am training that I need to remember or correct a pattern to get it right. I keep working at it, even though at times I get confused with patterns because some of them are very similar. Despite this, I like learning new patterns so then I have more patterns to do and that makes training fun because I know I have more choices instead of only having to do the one pattern over and over again. Other difficult times is when I am asked to take the class or when I am taking a group for patterns or one step and people don’t listen and they just ignore me and muck around. I find this is very frustrating because I have to stop all the time to tell them to stop and listen. I found making up one step, knife and stick defence very hard too, even tho I know a lot of the moves, it is still hard to put them in an order and make it fluid, also it is difficult not to repeat moves over and over again.
Taekwondo has taught me a lot in and out of the Dojang. Inside the Dojang I have learnt that there are many things you need to do to get a move correct, and that there is always something that you will forget when you are performing it. For example when I am performing a dolyo chagi, roundhouse kick, I need to think about the technique, where I’m kicking and to make sure my hands aren’t all over the place. I also need to concentrate and look at the target, etc. This has helped me when I have to think about doing more than one thing. One of the best things I have learnt in the Dojang is how to protect myself and ways I can prevent getting into a bad situation. I also learnt that it doesn’t matter how big you are, it is the technique that hurts the attacker the most. I always feel good after doing a technique on a really big person and I make them tap out, as I know that I am doing something right. I have also gained a lot of discipline, patience and focus in the Dojang, because whenever I am training I know I can’t muck around and I also need to wait for people to catch up or finish what there are doing.
Inside the dojang I have also learnt some leadership skills, for example like when I need to take a class or go and take some people to go through their pattern and help them get it right. I have become more confident when talking to people or to a group, so now I talk louder and sound more confident instead of sounding weak and scared. I have also learnt that stretching and posture is a big thing in Taekwondo and if you do it in the Dojang when you get outside it will help you, For example when I first came into Taekwondo I would always hunch over but now I sit and walk with my back straight.
Outside the Dojang, Taekwondo has taught me that you don’t go and start a fight with anybody to solve problems. It has taught me to not be in a fight at all. Taekwondo has also helped a lot with my school work, because I can focus and have the patience to sit and do assignments and tests instead of being restless and moving all the time. I have also learnt that if you wait and work hard you will get what you want but if you don’t work and always ask for it you get what you want, and this is the biggest thing I have learnt because in life you always need to wait for things. Taekwondo has helped me with this because it always takes time to grade to the next belt and it takes a lot of time to figure out and learn different patterns and techniques.
Outside of the Dojang I have become more confident in speaking all because of what I do inside the Dojang. In English when we do orals, I speak more fluidly and louder because of my training. I know that it is the Dojang that has helped because it is a big hall and the people at the very back need to hear me so I have to speak louder. Now because of that I can speak louder to groups so they can all hear. Outside I have also learned that Taekwondo can take up a lot of your time because if you are preparing for a grading you need to practice so you can do everything correctly. When going for any of the red or black belts I needed to learn terminology and make up a combination of kicks for breaking boards, so that means I’ve needed to plan my time better so I could fit all this practice in. I have also learned that stretching is very helpful outside of the Dojang, whenever I stretch I feel good and feel like I could do anything.
By Lochlan Crowley
Tans Taekwondo Springwood
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