On Sunday 28 January 2024, Taekwon-Do UK started the year with a bang with an Instructor Course. One of the key areas for any successful Association is growth and with that in mind, Master Archer, President of Taekwon-Do UK, took the reins for this year’s Instructor course.

We started the day in a classroom format with students attending in official dress. After a short introduction Master Archer commenced the presentation of the key points of becoming an Instructor and opening your own club. It was very much a collaborative session with Master Archer asking for input from the students present, some of whom already run clubs and some who may be looking to open one in the future. Taekwon-Do students themselves come from such a wide range of backgrounds there are often students in attendance at these courses who have a wealth of experience from their current day jobs that can transfer over into running a successful taekwon-do club. It was also good to have Master Miley in attendance as one of the Association’s full-time Instructors and someone who has transitioned from running classes in a range of venues to having his own permanent Academy and discussing the different challenges each approach brings as well as the rewards.

Master Ridley touched on some of the procedural changes that seem to have come to the fore recently with some venues, particularly schools, requesting quite a lot of documentation from potential hirers and one even requiring him to attend an interview. Part of the job of these courses is also to ensure that everyone is aware of their safeguarding responsibilities when running a club.

After a short lunch break it was time to get our doboks on and try out some of the practical sides of teaching. Master Crisp took us through a quick warm up that got our minds as well as our bodies working with some Korean terminology alongside the physical warm up.

Master Archer then brought us back in to rows and discussed some of the different methods that can be used to correct students and what key points Instructors need to look out for. We discussed the importance of asking permission before touching students and ensuring that it is always clear exactly what you are doing. We discussed teaching methods within sparring and the importance of drills and movement work rather than simply getting students to put their equipment on and letting them spar.

We then split into small groups and tried out some of the teaching methods on each other, which was really interesting to see how people handled having to give adjustments to each other. Obviously there had to be an element of play acting involved as those of us being “students” had to put ourselves in the mindset of beginner students, which is always good fun.

We rounded off the day with a discussion and presentation around the financial side of running a taekwon-do club. Whilst this is never an exact science due to huge variety in the areas that people live and teach and the economics behind working out the pricing that is suitable for the area you are teaching in, it does serve to acknowledge that a club should be able to turn a reasonable profit for the Instructors and we are also very fortunate that our Association also offers financial assistance with the initial set up costs to try and assist if there are people who are keen but may otherwise struggle to be able to support the initial phase of a club.

As always, this was a useful course for any potential future Instructors as well as serving to refresh our skills for some of our current Instructors.

A huge thanks should go to our 4 Masters, Master Archer, Master Ridley, Master Miley and Master Crisp, for giving up their time to share their wealth of experience with us all, as well as to all the participants for their excellent questions and input throughout the session.

T-UK Instructor Course