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Mr Malcolm Jones 7th Degree I was born in Carlisle, in 1961 to Eileen and Graham, with who I have the greatest admiration and love for, I was brought up, along with my older brother Stephen, who I publicly apologise for being a typical ‘cheeky younger brother’ in a military family, my dad was in the navy for over 25 years. I’ve been involved in the martial arts for 40 years, starting my career in Judo, which I practised for 3 years, then when my parents thought I was old enough I took up Wado Ryu Karate under Tatsuo Suzuki. Three years later my parents moved to Bournemouth, where I unsuccessfully tried to find a suitable Karate class. A friend had previously told me about Taekwon-Do, so I went and had a look, the date was December 3rd 1980. I have studied Taekwon-Do ever since. I started teaching Kickboxing in 2002 and maintain the grade of 5th Degree, kickboxing is a great way of learning a martial art as well as keeping fit. One of the highlights of my career was in September 2000 meeting, and grading to V Dan with General Choi Hong Hi, the founder of Taekwon-Do. I have studied and taught all over the world, and have been fortunate enough to have been praised and honoured for my teaching ability, however to me I’m not merely teaching a physical skill! Since I took up teaching over 30 years ago I have taught from scratch just short of 250 black belts, all off them being finer exponents of Taekwon-Do/Kickboxing than myself, and even now seeing anyone of my students receive their Dan grades is a highly emotional moment for me. I always try and make all my students better than me, to me that’s the way things should be. Have fun in your training whether it’s with me or one of our other fantastic instructors. I’m sure we’ll come across each other at some point. |
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Mr Richard Winton 6th Degree
I was born in Rinteln, West Germany in 1959 before the Berlin wall came down. I too was born into a military family. I’d not really had much interest in conventional sports but always had an interest in martial arts, but never had a chance to participate until I was introduced to Taekwon-Do in 1985 by a friend who had already started training. I’ve loved it ever since. I achieved my black belt in 1989 under Master Hee IL Cho 8th Degree, and I became an instructor in 2007 as I wanted to give back some of what Taekwon-Do has given me. From the day I started teaching I have found it to be very rewarding, seeing students flourish and achieving their goals. |
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