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Sunday, 14 January 2007
The following is a copy of the “Where have they been” article for the Australasian TKD Magazine’s September 2006 edition
PROFILE
Mark Walters is a 2nd Dan Black Belt in Shim Jang Taekwondo, Mark is a Regional Instructor in the western Sydney Region where he operates classes in the Springwood, Windsor and Baulkam Hills area’s.
INTERVIEW
For many martial artists the opportunity to train internationally with quality instructors is of course very rare and, in many cases, to do it within your own organisation is impossible. I was lucky enough to have had this opportunity recently and it turned out to be one of the best experiences I have had in my Martial Arts career to date.
I have known and trained with Master Les Hicks for a little over 15 years when I first began my taekwondo career training with Les when he was a chief instructor in the art of Rhee Taekwondo. After Master Hicks resigned from the Rhee organisation and officially established the World Shim Jang Taekwondo Academy I immediately joined Shim Jang Taekwondo, Les was my first instructor when I began my Taekwondo journey back in the early 1990’s and I cherish the memory of those early years of my TKD development.
Even way back then Les Hicks was a highly sought after teacher and had, over many years, developed a reputation as a no-nonsense instructor who demanded a high standard from his Instructors and his students. Les has an amazing history in the martial arts and has now been studying the art of Taekwondo for longer than I have been alive, he is very well known and respected especially throughout New South Wales and Queensland where he personally established the foundations of the World Shim Jang Taekwondo Academy. Nowadays the sheer size and technical standard of Shim Jang Taekwondo is a testament to Les’ skill & dedication and I felt somewhat humbled when, back in 2004, I was permitted to establish a branch of the art in the Blue Mountains district west of Sydney.
As the years have progressed since I established my first centre the Art of Shim Jang Taekwondo has grown rapidly and, as a result, my responsibility as a Regional Instructor has also changed. I am now responsible for numerous centres so I no longer have the luxury of just jumping in the car and visiting various centres throughout the state whenever I feel like it so when an opportunity arose for me to spend time training with both Les Hicks and his most senior student Assistant Master Steven Turner I “grabbed it with both hands”.
Les Hicks now spends much of his time travelling throughout Australia, training and grading his members and instructors, Les is also in high demand throughout the North Island of New Zealand so when I heard that a delegation of instructors including Masters Hicks, Turner and Secretary General Nicholas Seedsman (a 3rd Dan Black Belt from the Gold Coast) were converging on New Zealand for a series of Instructor Training Sessions I just had to be a part of it. The Instructor Training Sessions were to be held in conjunction with the quarterly coloured Belt Grading Examination in the Bay of Island Region high up on the north island.
I have never been to the Bay of Islands and have often heard of its breathtaking beauty so I was very keen to try and take advantage of this rare opportunity. One of the best things about the martial arts is the opportunity to meet and train with “like minded” people and because of the sheer size of our academy we do have plenty of opportunity for this to happen but to be able to attend an international event was an opportunity I just wasn’t prepared to miss out on.
I called Master Hicks and requested permission to accompany them to New Zealand, Master Hicks happily agreed and arranged to meet with Master Turner, Secretary General Nick and myself at the Auckland International Airport on Friday the 24th of March at 1pm. I had six days to book my flight and prepare for what promised to be an exciting and physically demanding few days that I was looking forward to with much anticipation.
Finally the time arrived, I met Master Turner at the Sydney airport early on Friday Morning and before long we were boarding a plane to the land of the long white cloud, (It was on !)
Secretary General Nick Seedsman had arrived at Auckland from the Gold Coast earlier that day and was there to greet us, he informed us that Master Hicks had been conducting the Far North Queensland Grading Examinations and would arrive in Auckland from Cairns at around 2pm so we just had enough time to grab a coffee before his arrival. Over a coffee we were able to reflect on many past training experiences that we had while training under Master Hicks and I was told of some amazing times going back as far as 1984 when Master Turner was training with Master Hicks in a tiny little hall in a very small town called Ellallong that consisted of just 100 or so people. Steve remembered that even though the town was very small Master Hicks would attract members from all the neighbouring communities and always had over 50 students at training, Steve said that training was tough in those early days and not for the feint hearted but Les still managed a good mix of children and adults in the class because Les always had a “nack” for treating everyone as an individual.
Master Hicks arrived in Auckland on time and by 2.30 we had picked up our hire car and were on our way to Whangarei which is about 3 hours north of Auckland in the Bay of Islands district. It was raining quite heavily that afternoon so we were a little behind schedule and didn’t arrive at Whangarei until just on dark. After we arrived and checked in at our motel we were greeted by one of the assistant instructors, the NZ instructors had arranged a welcome dinner for us at a local restaurant so we had an enjoyable evening and retired for some shut eye after what turned out to be very tiring and hectic day.
New Zealand didn’t disappoint us, we awoke on Saturday the 25th of March to a picture perfect day !!
Master Hicks likes to walk and asked us if we would like to accompany him on his ritual morning walk and although still tired (it was 5am) we all agreed, nobody told me that Les always walked between 5 & 10 klm each day so by the time we got back to the motel I had almost had enough and now I was expected to train !!. After some breakfast it was off to the Instructor training session that was to be conducted by Master Hicks, It always amazes me and makes me feel very proud to see that no matter where you go with regards to Shim Jang Taekwondo be it throughout Australia or New Zealand the Instructors are always fresh faced and eager to learn, the technical standard throughout the organisation is both high and very consistent which is a testament to Master Hicks’ dedication and hard work, I really enjoyed the opportunity to train with Masters Hicks and Turner as they covered various aspects of technical and motivational instruction and spent considerable time on the Senior Black Belt Patterns (I really enjoyed that !). After a demanding 4 hours the class was wound up and even though we had just undergone a very intense training session I was still very eager to attend the Grading Test which was scheduled for 2pm the following day.
After the Instructor training session we were treated to some amazing sight seeing and a fantastic late afternoon New Zealand BBQ with all the local Branch Instructors and Black Belts in attendance. I really appreciated the effort that the Instructors had gone to in order to make us feel so welcome and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with all of them.
Once we cooled down and the afternoon progressed the exhaustion began to set in, I was somewhat relieved when we said our goodbye’s and “retired” for the evening so that we were fresh and well rested for the exciting day ahead. (I was wrong again) as soon as we arrived back at the motel Master Hicks took us down to the conference room where we underwent a series of intense pattern drills and by the time we surfaced from this session it was almost dark !
I slept well that night !
Sunday morning came soon enough and although the weather had turned windy and it was raining it didn’t dampen my enthusiasm in the least. An Instructors meeting was convened at 10am to discuss some very important issues and after the meeting we had just enough time to prepare for the Grading.
2pm came around fast, all the NZ instructors, myself and about 50 other students were in the hall warming up and practising patterns when Master Hicks arrived, we all paid our respects and “it was on”
Warm-ups, Basics, patterns, self defence techniques, sparring drills and destruction techniques were all covered during what was a fast paced, fun and exciting afternoon. It was great to see so many men, women and children of all ages in attendance and I believe this was a testament to the skill and teaching ability of the instructors who not only encourage all people to enjoy training in the art but are also able to achieve such outstanding results. When the grading was over Masters Hicks & Turner took the Black Belts and senior students aside and discussed their progress, it was very refreshing to see both Master Hicks and Master Turner take the time to help these members with their technical advancement, they spent almost an hour with them answering questions and adjusting technique before we all eventually left the hall.
Sunday night saw a celebration dinner held at a local Chinese restaurant, speeches were made during the formal part of the evening and we were then able to relax and enjoy each others company, I am only relatively young in the World of Shim Jang Taekwondo with about 15 years experience so it was fantastic to hear many stories of past events told by the Masters and their Senior students. It made me realise the amazing history surrounding our organisation and I really do feel very privileged to be an instructor in the art of Shim Jang Taekwondo.
The trip wasn’t over yet; our flight was to leave at 6am the next morning so immediately after dinner it was off to Auckland, return the hire car and hang out at the airport for 2 hours before we could check our luggage in.
Steve and I said our goodbyes and boarded the plane for Sydney at 5.30am while Master Hicks and Nicholas waited to board their flight to the Gold Coast at 6am. I arrived home at the Blue Mountains just after lunch and decided to lay down and have a rest for an hour or so, (I woke at 7am the next day !)
I don’t know how Master Hicks handles this type of travelling all the time but I am very thankful for his dedication and perseverance because without it the art wouldn’t be what it is today and instructors like myself wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience what I did in New Zealand during those hectic (but fun) few days back in March 2006.
I want to thank Master Les Hicks for allowing me to accompany him and his senior instructors on what was a very educational and fun filled weekend and if possible, when time permits, I look forward to other trips in the future.
Mark Walters
Regional Instructor
Shim Jang Taekwondo
2nd Dan Black Belt W.S.T.A
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Regional Instructor Mark Walters
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