Traditional Tae Kwon Do Association Cornwall
The editorial below was written by
Finn Tregenza who is 9 years old (at time of writing), these are his words and
understanding of Tae Kwon Do. As this is all his own work, I feel it is only
correct to publish it unedited and as he wrote it.
My
Taekwondo Experience
By Finn Tregenza
My
name is Finn Tregenza and I am nearly nine. I started Taekwondo in 2004 when I
was 6. I went with my dad who had been going for a while. I didn’t know what I
was doing at first but I really enjoyed it especially when my friends started.
For my first and second gradings I got “A” passes which gave me lots of
confidence.
When
I got my black tag another “A” pass and my friends Ryan, Luke and Jack got
“A” passes as well
. After
this I did a 2 day sparring seminar at Polkyth. Lots of people came from all
over the country. I had to fight with lots of big black belts, this was good
fun!
I
was going to do my black belt grading this September but I got invited early by
Grandmaster Loh because I did well at my grading.
Going
up to Scotland in April for my black belt grading was exciting but I did feel
very nervous! I had to do 3 patterns, semi-free sparring, free sparring &
lots of different kicks.
I
found out a week later by a letter from Master Loh that I had passed and I am
now a Junior Black Belt (1st Poom).
I was very excited & couldn’t wait to wear my new suit!
I
have achieved this by training a lot and Mr Shields, my instructor helping me.
I
am very proud to be a black belt and my family and friends are all very happy
and proud of me.
Doing
Taekwondo means a lot to me because I enjoy it, it helps keep me very fit and it
makes me feel more confident.
My
Championship Experience
I
did not know what to expect which always makes it a lot harder than going to it
for your second or third time.
It was a very long journey, but surprisingly you don’t just think about what
sort of fight you are going to face or what patterns you are going to do, when
you are still on you’re way there you also think about the journey. you only
think about it nervously the night before.
Once you
get there you have to get weighed and then wait until they are all ready and set
up. When you get in you can sit down on a massive row of seats.
The first
thing that happens are patterns (the belts go in order) and your name gets
called out. When I got called out I went to the third mark and feeling extremely
nervous did the pattern for my grade (Koryo).
After
my name got called out again, I was thinking that it was a second chance to perform
my pattern and I found out it was the final.
After the patterns the free sparring takes place, I was very nervous and did
not know what to expect. Before my fight I had to get checked, the people have
to see if you are wearing the right equipment or not. When it was my turn I went
up, bowed, went into ready stance and started to fight. It was a very hard match
and I lost. This
teaches me how hard I need to train and how much I need to practise. I got lots
out of it and I have lots more experience now.
I am determined to win a fight now, I really think I could as I put a lot of
effort in at class. When I free spar in class I can tell I’ve improved a lot.
I feel like I’ve woken up as I know now to make the most of all my
opportunities to score points. I can’t wait until the next championships in
April.
By Finn Tregenza, age 9.
