Niketa Wells - International Taekwon-do Federation of New Zealand
Niketa Wells - International Taekwon-do Federation of New Zealand
Niketa Wells - International Taekwon-do Federation of New Zealand
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FEATUREHOW TAEKWON-DO TRAINING CAN INFLUENCE ONE’SBy Mr Norman Ng IV dan, Pioneer <strong>of</strong> <strong>Taekwon</strong>-Do in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “Thereare two tragedies in life - one is not to getyour heart’s desire, and the other is toget it”. Similarly, there are two tragedies in<strong>Taekwon</strong>-<strong>do</strong>: one is to give up before onereaches one’s potential, and the other isto get the black belt and beyond. So thedilemma is <strong>do</strong> I continue or <strong>do</strong> I stop orwhatever, and if you continue what are yougoing to <strong>do</strong>?Today I’ll talk around 10 words. First let’stalk about COURTESY. In the <strong>do</strong>jangwe bow, and this is oriental courtesy, whenwe meet each other we pay each otherrespects, and particularly in Japan. Thesame etiquette is also required outside the<strong>do</strong>jang. In the king’s court in years goneby various etiquette and rituals have beenpractised. You see how they did it in some<strong>of</strong> those old movies. You have respect foryour seniors. But sometimes you feel thatthe seniors’ words go through one ear an<strong>do</strong>ut the other. You aren’t really listening.That’s the same for your parents - yourparents might say something to you andyou say it goes in this ear and out the other!Well <strong>do</strong> we sneer at others, and badmouthabout people behind their backs? Nothingworse than <strong>do</strong>ing that, because the person<strong>do</strong>esn’t have a chance to defend him orher self. If you want to say something bad,say it in front <strong>of</strong> the other person andlet the person defend themselves. If youhave nothing nice to say, you’d be betternot to say anything at all. Whatever is saidcannot be withdrawn. So ask yourself ifyou practice courtesy at all times. One <strong>of</strong>the criteria would be that when you meeta person for the first time you are alwayspolite and careful what you say. You shouldpractice that all the time, even with yourwife, your parents, your sisters and yourloved ones and all that, because that is topractice courtesy. I know it’s difficult. Youtake each other for granted after you’vebeen married for about 30 years, but ifyou really care for each other I think youshould go back to that. And in years tocome I hope this talk will enable you tothink back, and say well I should <strong>do</strong> that; atleast treat each other as though we metfor the first time.So next we come to ATTITUDE. Weshould treat the study <strong>of</strong> <strong>Taekwon</strong>-<strong>do</strong> asseriously as we <strong>do</strong> our tertiary studies,because as I always said, getting a black beltin <strong>Taekwon</strong>-<strong>do</strong> is just as difficult as gettinga degree in the university. We should reallystudy <strong>Taekwon</strong>-<strong>do</strong> with dedication, andI’m sure you have otherwise you wouldn’tbe here today. The <strong>do</strong>jang is the mirror <strong>of</strong>one’s life while you are <strong>do</strong>ing <strong>Taekwon</strong>-<strong>do</strong>.In the <strong>do</strong>jang we wear the simplicity <strong>of</strong> thewhite <strong>do</strong>bok, and we train in the bare hall,and there is really no class discriminationwhen you come for <strong>Taekwon</strong>-<strong>do</strong> training.Not like when you go to golf - somewear designer clothes while you’re in $5The author – Mr Norman Nguniforms! So when you come into the<strong>do</strong>jang everybody’s the same because youare wearing the same uniform, so it <strong>do</strong>esn’tmatter what your occupation is, <strong>do</strong>esn’tmatter at all. Once you put on the uniformwe are all equal.During <strong>Taekwon</strong>-<strong>do</strong> training, we experiencemany obstacles. I’m sure you have. Physicallimitations, not all <strong>of</strong> us are good at highkicks. Injuries, we all have those over theyears. Bore<strong>do</strong>m, you say oh this is gettingboring, I’m going to give it up, but youhaven’t, you’ve got this far. Family crises,financial problems like mum couldn’t affordto pay the grading fees for example, weall have those. And emotional stressesand so on.So we seek to develop non-quittingattitudes. I mean, if all these are problemsand you didn’t have good attitude youwould have given up by now. But youhaven’t so all <strong>of</strong> you here have the nonquittingattitude, and I hope you continuewith that. Obstacles and problems willalways be in front <strong>of</strong> us because that’slife, and it’s up to us as martial artists tocontinue to overcome these problems andcrises and never quit.28TAEKWON-DO O TALK MAGAZINEAZ