Taekwondo
Teaching
In 2002 I started teaching martial arts at my aunts fitnessgym and the taekwondoschool I train at. Since 2005 I work at Olympic Gym in Hengelo(my home town). Here I have three groups, ranging from beginners to advanced, six years old to 30+-ers. I also taught junior and highschools for sportorientation-modules.
My own experience
From six to twelve years old I trained judo at a local gym. I had to quit Judo because of schedule conflicts with school. I had the brown belt at that time. I fought frequently in competitions and loved it.
Two years later, I was 14, I took on taekwondo under my father. He had already been teaching taekwondo for over 20 years. Since then I've been training, varying from once a week to three hours a day. Today I am a 3rd degree blackbelt. I've fought in different country's throughout Europe. One of my peaks was facing gold medal olympian Michaelis Mouroutsos from Greece.
In my heart I'm not really a tournament competitioner. I just love the workout. I'm also very interested in selfdefense. Making people feel healthy and save when they walk the streets at night is a great feeling. It's too bad that Taekwondo is taught as a sport a little too much and not as an complete selfdefense system.
I've also trained thaiboxing for about three years. Though it's a great workout, maybe even more than taekwondo, I felt like it's a bit too savage. I've also had WingTsun training for about three years.
Randy de Graaf