Taekwondo Comes to Town
Written by admin on November 13, 2012
The David Keswick Centre hosted a taekwondo demonstration this weekend with a special guest.
Master Peter Harkess, who is a 7th degree black belt, arrived in Dumfries to give people of all levels and ages insight into the Korean martial art.
We caught up with the Master and asked him about his background in taekwondo and making his way through the ranks.
“My first memory of taekwondo is possibly going along to class in my karate suit. I came from karate and remember being proud of having the badge on my suit and then suddenly going into this class and seeing my instructor was someone special, Mr Hock Aun Teh. I knew he was a gymnast before taekwondo and it was apparent when he was demonstrating what excellent technique he had. So I stuck at taekwondo after one visit to his dojang.”
After he was bitten by the taekwondo bug Master Harkess progressed to black belt and rose up through the degrees and he told us what it takes to achieve this prestigious mark.
“For most people taekwondo requires you to have a fair degree of athleticism but the main thing is hard work and it does take a long time. It can sometimes take three years, minimum, to get to black belt which is first degree. Then its two years to reach the second degree then three to four years for the next degree. The rank of master is the seventh degree and that possibly took 35 years of work.”
Taekwondo was founded as a martial art by General Choi Hong Hi in the 50’s and Master Harkess had the pleasure of meeting him on a number of occasions.
“I got to know him quite well and I travelled to a lot of places with General Choi. Israel comes to mind as a stand-out. We went to Holland, Ireland, Germany and even Korea. That would be a highlight for me being asked to go to North Korea to demonstrate at the 1992 World Championships in Pyongyang.
“I would value getting a medal at the World Championships as quite important to me but when General Choi asked me to go to certain places with him that was even better.”
The Keswick Centre had a good turnout with over 50 people attending of all sizes and ages. “Taekwondo is for everybody it does not matter what race, age, ideology or size you are. If you are a bit heavy taekwondo will make you slimmer if you are a female there’s no strength involved it’s very much how you use your body properly to get power. Taekwondo is the art of kicking and punching with a strong mind.”
There were a few talented black belts on show, too, and Master Harkess had advice for anyone hoping to reach this level.
“The main thing is mastering the basics. In his book General Choi says when you get your first black belt you realise how little you know. In taekwondo to get better you need to use your brains; you have to think about technique. If you do not work hard and study it you repeat the same mistakes they become habits. It’s like a life lesson if you keep making the same mistakes you form bad habits and if you have bad habits we have a problem in the future.
“Taekwondo is the modern day scientific approach to self defence. If you learn scientifically and listen to your instructor you can accelerate your learning and you will move up to black belt in the shortest time.”
by Stephen Temlett
