As we begin 2025, I am pleased to outline some key principles for my tae kwon do school, to help guide those who might like to train alongside and learn from me. Take your time to read through; the aim is to give you a good sense of my teaching philosophy and teaching style..
1. Integrity. As I mentioned a few months ago, integrity is the fundamental value of tae kwon do as I teach it. Having integrity means being honest, acting in good faith, being fair and consistent, and a whole host of other specific qualities. No human being walking the Earth today is morally perfect, but there is an underlying truthfulness and a desire for truth that does set some people apart from others, in my experience.
The very first quality I will expect and require from anyone who wishes to join my school is integrity. This will be the foundation of respect, both from student to instructor and from instructor to student. If someone is dealing with you in a morally upright, fair, and considerate way, it is relatively easy to build a mutually respectful relationship.
Integrity also means having good manners towards other people. This is a complex subject to address, though, because in learning a martial art, we are inherently preparing for conflict situations where others are not going to be well-intentioned or well-mannered towards us.
I would encourage potential students not to fall into the misconception that practising good manners is synonymous with naivety, prudishness, or idealism. To put it plainly: I have heard plenty of coarse language, racial slurs, and other kinds of verbal abuse over the years, whether targeted at me or targeted at others in the vicinity. I am perfectly capable of verbalising such vehemence myself. But I choose not to—first, because I do not believe it honours God; second, because I do not think it proves anything; and third, because it may well just lead to further conflict.
If there is no fight, and if there is no just cause, why start a fight? If there is a fight, and if there is no just cause, why prolong it?
2. Discipline. I have always taught tae kwon do in a strict, highly-disciplined way. This is consistent with my Chinese cultural upbringing, the inception of tae kwon do in the South Korean army, and my personal approach to martial art practice. Apart from philosophical considerations or stylistic preferences, I will highlight the military aspect here.
I have often asked my students: other factors aside, who is going to be better off in a conflict: a disciplined military unit or an undisciplined military unit? A disciplined combatant, or an undisciplined combatant? (I dare say the same goes for schoolwork, financial savings, and many other aspects of life. Discipline typically underlies success.)
Those who wish to join my school should understand that this will be a disciplined endeavour. Many people seem to conflate ‘disciplined’ with ‘unfriendly’ or ‘strict’ with ‘harsh.’ Well, I can reflect back on my school years, which were disciplined times but also times filled with genuine respect and care between students and teachers. I can also reflect on many years of musical practice, which most certainly required discipline and attention to detail, but extended both my own capability as a musician and my capacity to appreciate music.
3. Practicality. What a minefield this issue can be! One does not have to go far to find several different views on the practicality—the real, practical usefulness—of any martial art (or martial sport). People seem to like making blanket statements such as ‘tae kwon do is no good for real self-defence’ (as just one example). First, we have to consider what the speaker actually means when using the name ‘tae kwon do.’ That one name can refer to a vast range of striking arts and sports, which although Korean in origin, differ widely in actual practice and usage. The same could be said of ‘karate’ and ‘kung fu’—these are very broad terms, indeed. Second, we have to consider how a certain art (or sport) is taught. It is entirely possible for two different instructors to be teaching the same fundamental art, but in very different ways. I encourage potential students to be careful in how they interpret things.
Speaking for myself, I have always taught tae kwon do in a way that I believe is as practical as this set of techniques and tactics can be. In a real assault situation, your attacker (or attackers) will almost certainly be bigger and stronger than you. In this kind of scenario, trying to match strength against strength is not a logical strategy, and is probably not going to be a successful one—you are already outgunned from the start.
Apart from the basic principle of trying to avoid dangerous situations in the first place (which will be achieved mainly through lifestyle choices, sound judgement, and situational awareness), a basic tactic to avoid being struck or grabbed is to move. The challenge is learning to move while under stress (being assaulted) and in a way that is tactically sound. This is something that, for most people, needs to be learned over time, with honest self-appraisal and honest feedback (see my point above about integrity), and in a way that builds strength, agility, and timing (see my point above about discipline).
Training in my school will very much be about quality over quantity. While one can argue back and forth, my approach is for each of my students to develop a solid, reliable arsenal of techniques and tactics that they can apply under stress and, as it were, by reflex. In my view as an instructor, it is not enough to just teach someone a set of physical techniques to deal with a physical assault—the student also needs to be thinking in a tactically sensible way, and to be emotionally prepared as best possible for the trauma of being assaulted. This is something that takes time and requires careful instruction.
From that point of view, I would like to emphasise that students in my school will largely be free from time pressure. Those who are familiar with tae kwon do history will be well aware that the original tae kwon do syllabus set out clear time frames (amongst other aspects) for completion of curriculum components. In an organisation such as an army, this makes perfect sense. Early on, one of tae kwon do’s claimed advantages was that it is a very efficient art to learn—and that can be true, given the right setting. As an instructor in modern day Perth, I teach civilians as a civilian myself. This is not to detract from the military aspects of tae kwon do as originally formulated, but I think it is necessary and appropriate to adapt some things for the civilian setting we are in.
4. Cost. It should be clear that learning traditional tae kwon do in such a way as outlined above will be costly. It will cost you time. It will cost you effort. You may well need to sacrifice some other priorities to be able to train in my school (or in any other martial art school, for that matter). The question is whether this will be worth it for you. For some, the answer will be a clear ‘yes’ or a clear ‘no.’ For others, the only way to work this out will be to try it for yourself.
Are you prepared to meet these costs to learn tae kwon do seriously? It is not for everyone. To speak plainly, there will be plenty of people out there who want the reward or the recognition, but without having to do all of the work. This goes for many endeavours, not just martial arts.
Think carefully about what you are prepared to commit to this pursuit; the key practical requirement is attendance at a weekly training session (more details below).
As with anything in modern society, there are also financial costs involved. Very few instructors these days can afford to teach martial arts for free. Speaking for myself, I have always had a full-time occupation for all the time that I have been teaching tae kwon do—whether as a full-time university student, in full-time employment, or a full-time equivalent combination of the two. And there are many others like me; instructors who (regardless of the organisation they teach within) are essentially donating their time, energy, care, and expertise for the benefit of the community.
I make this point because, ultimately, many martial art students will not realise how heavily their learning is being subsidised by someone else. Granted, it depends on which martial art (or martial sport) one is practising, but for traditional unarmed arts (such as tae kwon do) the financial costs are minimal. Students will typically only need a uniform every few years, and the school typically provides any equipment needed (e.g., punching bags).
In my school, the financial cost will very much be secondary to each student’s commitment to learning, because I am teaching primarily on a voluntary basis. I have a full-time job, and I am not teaching tae kwon do with any inherent financial profit motive.
5. Security. In today’s society, I expect most are well aware of issues of privacy and confidentiality. My classes are all private events, with no walk-ins or spectators allowed. This is a conscious decision on my part, both to protect the disciplined atmosphere of a traditional martial art training hall, but also to protect those of my students who may be in difficult social or legal situations.
I write this as someone who has undertaken serious martial art training for decades as a direct response to my family being assaulted (on grounds of racism) right here in Perth, Western Australia. For me, and for many others who may have experienced similar or worse, practising a martial art is not a game. If you have never been persecuted for your ethnicity or other socio-cultural aspects, I sincerely doubt you will understand. If you have ever been discriminated against or assaulted, I am confident that you will understand.
Those are five basic principles for my school at this stage, and I think they set out clearly the aim and style of my teaching. If you have read this far, and if you are a prospective student, I hope this information has been of help to you. We now come to a few practical matters.
6. Scheduling. Training is once per week on Saturdays, typically in the early afternoon, and running for one hour to an hour and a half (i.e., 60–90 minutes) with brief rest breaks at points. I teach essentially all year round (our schedule is not tied to school term dates), but I do not hold any expectations that my students will necessarily be training all year round. I would, though, encourage senior students to aim to train all year round—as I do.
With time, and if there is demand, I may expand my teaching to additional classes and other days of the week, but we will not be training on Sundays—the Lord’s Day.
7. Location. I teach in Perth’s central-southern suburbs, generally to the south of Leach Highway and to the west of Kwinana Freeway. This area encompasses suburbs such as Bateman, Winthrop, Kardinya, and Murdoch. As of this writing, I have been trialling a venue in Kardinya that looks well suited to my aims. While it is a community hall in a public place, it does afford a high degree of privacy for classes, and also easy access to toilet facilities.
8. Eligibility. At this stage, my school is open to adults (individuals aged 18 years or older) and training families (any parent-child group from the same family, where at least one parent and one child are training). Students will need to be able to physically move freely and be able to exercise basic self-control; I would generally recommend that children be 8 years or older, but they will need to be school age (6 years) at a minimum.
My school is currently not open to children (individuals younger than 18 years) who do not have their own parents (at least one) training alongside them. We do not have appropriate supervisory capacity to run a children’s-only class, though this may change in the future.
All admissions to my school will be by personal (face-to-face) interview. At the interview, you will have the opportunity to assess me as a potential instructor, and I will have the opportunity to assess you as a potential student. The main thing we need to look for is alignment in goals and approach.
To enquire about joining, please send e-mail to tkd@ywo.net.au, providing:
- your full name (i.e., real first name and real last name);
- your age (years);
- your occupation and the organisation where you work;
- a brief outline of your life situation (including any previous martial art or martial sport training you may have received) and your reasons for wanting to join my school;
- any questions you may have in relation to tae kwon do training; and
- if you are enquiring on behalf of your children as well as yourself, you will also need to include their names, ages, schools attended, and reasons for wanting to join.
This information is simply for me to get some initial understanding of what you are looking for, decide whether I think you would fit well in my school or not, and potentially offer you an interview from there.
Thank you for taking the time to read this outline of my school and my expectations of prospective students. I hope this information has been of help, and has given you a good sense of who I am as an instructor, and my aims in providing traditional tae kwon do training.