Black Belt Interviews

Paul Donnelly started training in TKD in 1973 at Warwick club under instructor Bob Howe aged 17 , Paul was a natural and it was like watching a mirror image of his instructor Bob Howe when he was kicking & performing patterns, Paul competed regularly at green belt & blue& red winning lots of competitions and when he got to black belt he went straight into the National team, all the way...

Taekwon-Do 70 Years 11th April 1955 - 2025  Anniversary Special Interview with Grand Master Phap Lu 

Taekwon-Do 70 Years 11th April 1955 - 2025  Anniversary Special Interview with Grand Master Sanders 

Taekwon-Do 70 Years 11th April 1955 - 2025  Anniversary Special Interview with Grand Master McPhail

Taekwon-Do 70 Years 11th April 1955 - 2025. Anniversary Special Interveiw with Grand Master Bos

Stephen Tapilatu Personal information Nickname The Dragon Nationality Dutch Born March 17, 1972 (age 52) Groningen, Netherlands Sport Country The Netherlands Sport Taekwondo, MMA, kickboxing Rank Teakwondo ITF 7 Dan Club Sportcenter tapilatu / Teakwondo Groningen(TKDG) Team Golden Glory (MMA) Now coaching National team, ITF Netherlands Achievements and titles World finals Canada 1990, Malaysia 199...

Mr Anslow began his martial arts journey around 1986 (whilst still at high school), dabbling in arts such as Shaolin Kung Fu, Wing Chun and even Ninjitsu. At college he studied both Judo and Fencing, before finally settling on Ch'ang Hon (ITF) Taekwon-do in early 1991 at Wembley Taekwon-Do School, under the instructorship of Master David Bryan (then a 5th degree) and Mr John Pepper, 2nd degree. Du...

Master Mariusz is a 8th degree black belt and professional ACE (American Council on Exercise) Certified Personal Trainer and sports coach, currently based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He has been into sports since his early teenage years, following his greatest passion, ITF Taekwon-Do, which he has been studying ever since. He has over 30 years of experience in training and coaching including a s...

Part 1 of my interview with Master John Mcilvaney from Scotland. 👊 Master Mcilvaney is able to tell us of his 44 years in Taekwon - Do. The interview includes many anecdotes and accounts of his early days and experiences with FGM Rhee Ki Ha and other  Pioneers of Taekwon-Do. 👊 Master Mcilvaney talks about how he and his fellow students embraced the “Martial” side of training as they were lead by...

Mel Steiner is a Martial Arts instructor and competitor with a 9th Dan in TaeKwon-Do. Among his many accomplishments he is listed on Who’s Who in American Martial Arts, and also included in Marquis’ Who’s Who in the South and Southeast. Grandmaster Steiner is a Certified International Instructor, as well as a Certified International Umpire. In 1989, he was inducted into the International Karate Ha...

Master Symonds has practiced Taekwon-Do since 1989 and gained 1st degree in 1993 under the instruction of Master Nardizzi. He was then selected by Master John Taylor to represent Great Britain at the 1995 European Championships and since then he has gone on to attend 13 European Championships, 2 European Cups and 2 World Championships. Master Symonds has won numerous National championships and ove...

Russell Dennis has been training in Martial Arts for the majority of his life. He started Taekwon-do in 1986, which he continues to train in and develop his knowledge. He presently holds an 8th Dan black belt (Master level) and is still very active in the Taekwon-do community working as an International Instructor, umpire and grading examiner with the International Taekwon-do Federation (ITF). Mas...

GM James has had an illustrious career in Taekwon-Do with many remarkable experiences to be heard. Below are his comments on meeting the Founder General Choi Like many Taekwon-Doins, everyone has very nice memories of our General Choi Hong Hi. It started with my 4th dan examination in Pyong Yang (N-Korea) 30-06-89, during the World Games. A unique experience as I, together with Sahyun Wijnand, we...

Grand Master Douglas began his Taekwon-Do career in 1973 at Dublin’s number 2 club in Sean McDermott Street. Under Mr Robert Howard now (G.M Howard). In his 50 years of TaeKwon-Do, Grand Master Douglas has not only limited his skills to the physical side of TaeKwon-Do. He is also the organiser of many Courses, Seminars, National and International Tournaments; Grand Master Douglas has been on vario...

Full time ITF Taekwon-do International Instructor & Examiner. Current rank of 8th Degree Master. Former member of ITF Tournament & Umpire Committee and current Chairman of All Europe Taekwon-do Federation Tournament & Umpire Committee. Chairman of TKDSL. AA group for International Taekwon-do Federation in Scotland.

"Commit your spirit to the pursuit of excellence!" Kwan-Jang-Nim Gerhard Brunner was born in Munich and has been actively practicing Taekwondo for over 45 years. He has been teaching taekwondo for several decades and was appointed 9th DAN in September 2022 by the Secretary General of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) in Korea for his numerous contributions to the spread of taekwondo. A...

Earl Weiss is a 9th dan black belt in the ITF style of Taekwon-Do. He was one of the last people to test for master's rank under Choi Hong Hi. Weiss is a prolific author on the topic of Taekwon-Do and is a frequent contributor to publications such as Totally TaeKwonDo magazine. Biography * 1971 - 1973 Judo at Niles North High School, Skokie, Illinois * 1972 - 1988 American Taekwon-Do Institute, Mo...

Dr. Johnson holds a Ph. D. from the Department of Sports and Taekwondo from Kyung Hee University South Korea, and was professor in the Humanitas College at the same University. He is a Co-Founder and Vice-President of iACT. He is the Executive Director for the International Association for Taekwondo Research (IATR), the copy editor for the Journal for the International Association of Taekwondo Res...

Grand Master Willy van de Mortel wvdmortel16@gmail.com www.difesasports.nl Deurne, Netherlands Start with Taekwon-Do in 1976: 1e Degree: year: 1981 2e Degree: year: 1983 3e Degree: year: 1988 4e Degree: year: 1993 5e Degree: year: 1996 6e Degree: year: 2001 7e Degree: year: 2006 8e Degree: year: 2013 9e Degree: year: 2021 H-1-82 H-2-31 H-3-18 H-4-15 H-5-9 H-6-4 H-7-3 H-8-2 H-9-2 International Inst...

Philip Hawkins 5th degree ITF Philip has always held an interest in the history of TaeKwon-Do, and has been fortunate to meet, train with and interview many of the pioneering Grandmasters. He has travelled to Korea, Canada, USA and Europe to conduct interviews, which have been published in various martial arts magazines. Combat, TaeKwon-Do Times, Taekwondo and Korean martial arts, MAI, Totally Tae...

Grandmaster Eddie Minyard was introduced to Martial Arts (Judo), in 1965. His step- father was a soldier, who had trained while on active duty and then trained his two stepsons. Eddie then began training in Judo and Shorei Ryu Karate, in Moline, Il taking a bus for 45 minutes each way to the school. While in the US Army in Vietnam, GM Minyard saw a demonstration of Taekwon-Do, presented by the ROK...

Master Mark Hutton Master Hutton began training in 1981 under Master Sutherland who was assistant to GM MacCallum in Bathgate which is located in Central Scotland. Bathgate was a successful full-time Academy when he joined and was always steeped in TKD tradition with First Grand Master Rhee a regular visitor for grading. This ensured the Academy was ITF to the core. Master Hutton's classes always...

Master Chris Malarkey Owner/Operator of CMTKD in Belleville, NJ 5th degree black belt in traditional Taekwon-Do 25+ years of experience Taught by 1st generation student: Grandmaster SJ Kim, 9th dan (direct pupil and bodyguard of the founder of TKD: General Choi Hong Hi) Former Owner/Operator of Complete Taekwon-Do Featured in Overtime Hustlin' Magazine June 2021 (2-page spread) 2019 recipient Best...

Grand Master Jong Soo Park 1941 - 2021 Master Park was born in 1941 in Chung-Nam, Korea. He holds a 9th Dan black belt in Tae Kwon-Do. At the age of 14, and since then, he has been the instructor of the Police Training Centre of Chun Bok in Korea and of the famed Tiger Division of the Korean Army. In 1964, he became Korean National Champion, and in 1965 he made a trip on request of the Korean Gove...

Taekwon-Do career: 1968-2021 = 53years On September 1968 at the age of 15, after having played soccer for 6 years, started to train in Taekwon-Do.  Black Belt Promotions:  1972 : 1st degree  1974 : 2nd degree 1977 : 3rd degree 1981 : 4th degree 1985 : 5th degree 1990 : 6th degree 1996 : 7th degree 2003 : 8th degree 2010 : 9th degree Other achievements Competitor career: * 7 times Dutch National Ch...