Class Instructor: Adult/Youth Class
CA, BCom Summary XXXX
Interview with Mr Gudsell
How did you get started in Taekwon-Do?I had a friend at work who was training and I just went along with him. I was 22.
When did you receive your first degree (I dan) black belt?
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When did you start instructing?When I got my black belt, so that I could train my youngest son Nick. He was turning 5 and I decided to start up my club so that he could learn and I could teach him. I got my black belt so I could become an instructor and Nick turned 5 and started.
What was your club's name and why did you choose that name?
Kicking Kids Mount Albert. I just liked the name. Mount Albert was the suburb and Kicking Kids, was, it was going to be a kids club and they were going to have fun kicking. It was opened until I moved down to Christchurch two years ago, and it is now run by Legacy Taekwon-Do, by Chris Broughton and Mark Trotter. What do you think is most important in a school?Most important? That’s a really hard question. I think you need a few things to be a successful school – an instructor who likes teaching and students who like learning. And everything else just follows from that.
Who inspires you in Taekwon-Do?The current group of masters and seeing them for so many years, just seeing them get better and their attitudes and how they still have a sense of pride. And the rest of us as an organisation and how awesome they are.
What are your favourite hand and foot techniques?For foot it would be sidekick: I’ve always just really liked my sidekicks. I’ve always felt they’re pretty good and I could do them well. I’ve broken lots of boards with them and that build confidence. Yeah, I just like how a sidekick works, with the twist and yeah. It’s beautiful. Hmm, the hand technique I’ve enjoyed the most have been, even though it’s occasionally painful, is reverse knife-hand. Breaking two boards with reverse knife-hand is pretty cool. Punching through 6 tiles is pretty cool too.
What is your most embarrassing Taekwon-Do moment?Don’t think I have any… Nope.
What is your biggest achievement in Taekwon-Do?My biggest achievement in Taekwon-Do would be starting a school and having that run successfully and passing it on. The second biggest would be seeing my own family develop in Taekwon-Do and having Josh and Sarah get their black belts.
What are the highlights of your Taekwon-Do career?
Highlights for me personally is probably gold medal in sparring in nationals in 2011 in the veteran grade. That was pretty cool. That was also a tournament that Josh and Sarah competed in too and they got medals as well. So that was me. What are your personal goals for the future?To get to fifth degree (V dan) black belt, that is the current goal; I have that goal since red belt, actually. To achieve V dan by the age of fifty. I’ve had that goal for 9 years now. And it’s close. That’s going to require a lot of hard work to get to V dan.
Mr Gudsell Taekwon-Do CV
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