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Zac Patane From Little Tiger to black belt March 2018   I would be super excited to be the 1 in 10,000 students to start a martial art and achieve a black belt !!!!! I earnt my first yellow belt for taekwondo on 14.09.14. I was nervous because I did not know what to expect but I enjoyed the grading and it made me really happy and proud to get my belt. Back then, I really wanted to keep going to get my black belt. I thought about how one day I might get my black belt and that was my goal. Now that I am almost there, I think that getting my black belt is really the start. It means that I have the basic skills that I need to build on to become really good at taekwondo. Achieving a black belt will mean a lot to me. I have always looked up to black belts and thought that I wanted to be like them. To be able to do my moves properly and sharply, be able to break boards without being nervous about it and learning more about taekwondo. It would also give me more courage and make me more determined to continue to improve and work on the things I know I could do better. I hope to also learn some more new things. It will also mean that I will be expected to set an example for other students as, in class everyone always looks to the black belts to make sure they are acting the right way and doing their moves correctly. I hope that maybe I can also help some of the junior students like others have helped me.  [...]

  Damon McCauley From White belt to black belt. Achieved black belt with his father Dean.   above is a photo of Damon at his first grading in 2010. Taekwondo means the way to fight with hand and foot. Tae>> foot, Kwon >> hand, Do >> the way. But to me it means much more than that. It has taught me focus, patience and respect. When I first started I did not care for it very much and I dreaded going, I would always try to find an excuse not to go. But as the years passed on I started to grow attached and see the benefits that it brought. Every time I went I felt like there was something else I could Improve, that being a technique, a pattern or a strike. I know that being a black belt will be tough. I need to work hard to get through the ranks of black belt and as I progress I know have to keep practicing Taekwondo and keep practicing the traits Taekwondo has taught me. Taekwondo has helped me with both mind and body, making me stronger, more confident, giving me more work ethic and making me more serious with everything. When I first started Taekwondo, at 6 years old I thought it was going to be just lots of fun, but it became harder as I progressed further. I have never worked so hard for anything for in my life. Taekwondo has had a massive impact on my life, making me better in everything I do. I have been doing taekwondo for the past nine years and next year will be my tenth. It has been a very hard, long and valuable journey and without it my life would be [...]

Jun Suh Seo has been learning Taekwondo in Brisbane Australia.  Here Jun Suh (middle) is picture in Korea training over the Christmas period with students from the local Taekwondo dojang.   Receiving a black belt means a lot to me as it finally shows that I’m responsible enough to be one. It also shows that I have trained hard until this point which makes me proud of myself. My parents would be very proud especially my dad as he is already 3rd Dan! The black belt will represent that I have spirit and the will to train. After about 3 years of training I think I have finally reached my full potential and improved my self-confidence. My balance and techniques have improved massively and I thank Grand Master Tan for teaching me well. I look up to my father and also hope that I will be like him one day… 3rd Dan. When I started taekwondo, I asked dad if he did taekwondo at all and he said he did. He said that he was 2nd Dan. I took in those words and trained hard to reach my goal for the moment; to achieve black belt at the least. Some of the responsibilities I feel are what a black belt needs to represent are helping other students, instructing and teaching the children on their path to black belt as best as I can. I assure you that I will be the nicest, most polite and understandable person for people that need their questions answered. Becoming a black belt would also mean that I have finally reached the level of where some of my friends are. Tristian is a great friend and I look up to [...]

  Amy Scott is a Nurse and black belt at our Springwood centre. Here aim talks about what a black belt means to her.             My opinion on a Black Belt has vastly changed from when I first started training at Springwood. The first instructor I ever met had a level of technique, knowledge and confidence that I never thought I could achieve, everything she did seemed to be effortless. Despite how foolish I thought I looked trying to follow her instructions, she was always patient and always had advice to help me. After meeting her I never thought that there would be anyone else who could possibly match her as an instructor but again I was wrong. Yet another person, with what seemed to be an unattainable number of stripes on their Black Belt, unbelievably had more knowledge, skill, an unbelievable amount of patience and an amazing way of making things sound and look effortless. At the time I had very little knowledge of what all the different belts meant or what was required of a person to attain them, to even be close to a Black Belt was a goal set far in the future. Even though I have only been training for roughly two years, the change in my own techniques and knowledge of my art has greatly improved. Since starting Taekwondo I have done a lot of research about the different belts and their rankings. All the different websites about Taekwondo say different things but have similar meanings. Coloured belts are junior belts, Bo Dan is a provisional or candidate for a Black belt and Dan Belts are full Black Belts. The translation of ‘Dan’ is [...]