When I started practicing Taekwon-Do in 1986 as a police officer complying with the rules and regulations of the Ethiopian Police Force, I did not expect to reach the 7th Degree or Master’s degree that I am currently competing for. But as much as I understood the art of Taekwon-Do, I had a strong desire and vision to reach the heights of the art in my country – Ethiopia. So, with all the effort and sacrifice required to master the art, I was able to complete my training time and practice better alongside my regular work.

When most people think of martial arts, the first thing that comes to mind is sparring. Yet, sparring is only one of the five components constituting the physical composition of Taekwon-do; moreover, the category of sparring can be further classified into several different styles, including step sparring, which is considered the foundation for free sparring.

Our journey Thesis for VII Dan Edwin & Ron Van Der Lee. The special relationship between identical twins is that, if there’s anyone else in the world that’s going to be the confidant that you…

Taekwon-Do was developed in the 1940’s as a method of hand to hand combat training for soldiers, all of whom were male, so it is somewhat understandable that it has an overall male focus. However, since most schools have female students as well as male, it is important for us, as instructors, and for the ITF as an organization, to acknowledge where bias exists in our martial art and take steps to address it.