Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine - Issue 20 - Usadojo

TKD: A New Beginning
Or Or Why Why You You Sould Sould Never Never Stop Stop Practicing Practicing Taekwon--Do
Taekwon Do
Back in 1980-81, I was a kid at school, we
just moved house, and I was the new kid
on the block, and at the school grounds for
that matter. Needless to say, I was the
prime target for the local bullies to be
picked on, and picked on I was, being not
much of a fighter at the time (I argued with
my mum at the age of 4 even that I would
hurt someone if I did, you can guess my
mum's reply I think) I
was regularly beaten up.
My parents thought
enough is enough, you
will have to learn a
martial art, perhaps that
will help you, at least
learn how to defend
yourselves.
So it was that in mid to
late 1981, I started
Taekwon-Do classes
every Monday evening,
in my home town of
Delfzijl, the Netherlands.
After about 3 or 4
months, I went for my
first belt test and this
was the first time I saw
and met the owner of the Taekwon-Do
school I was training with (the sessions in
Delfzijl were run by an assistant instructor).
His name, Willem Jacob Bos. At the time
he held the rank of 4th Dan in ITF
Taekwon-Do.
I graduated with flying colors for my yellow
belt and was asked if I could not train more
often than just the monday evening, which
encouraged me greatly, and so my training
intensified from 1 to 2 nights a week. I
went through the ranks as normal, and
eventually I received my 1st dan in 1986,
by Koo Fockens
and then my 2nd dan in 1988. (by the way
I've never met any of the bullies since I
started training TKD, perhaps they were
afraid, or so I'd like to think!).
I trained a lot myself, and also enjoyed
being assistant teacher and ran classes for
the younger, as well as my own age and
older on a regular basis, either while
Master Bos (now a 5th
Dan), was away in his
function of the national
coach of the
Netherlands, or simply
because it gave me
great experience and
pleasure.
In the meantime, I was
training hard for my 3rd
dan graduation which I
was aspiring too.
Master Bos, in the
meantime, also got
offers from Italy to
coach their national
team, and when this
resulted in many
medals for Italy he was
offered the position permanently, which
was a dream come true for him, to be able
to professionally work in TKD, earning a
living, and so he gradually spend more
time over there, but which for me meant
that someone who was always able to
push me forward was not as often around.
Not long after, I graduated from Technical
College, and a professional career at sea
then soon followed, which meant I got a lot
less time for TKD, I tried to keep up with
TKD in my spare time on board the ships I
worked on. However at some point, when
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