@Research do you train TKD? If you do, how would you answer your own questions?
I'm happy to answer
I don't really train Taekwondo anymore, but for about 10 years it was all I did. This became a bit of a story about my TKD life, but since improvising is ok, this will do
Here is the club I go to:
Budokwai Taekwondo
1 & 4. How did you end up to having Taekwondo as part of your life? How has your relationship with Taekwondo changed over the years?
I was 16 when one of my school friends asked me to join her in a beginners course of TKD. It was offered for free as a part of a program to encourage youths to do sports, so I thought why not. She quit soon after reaching yellow belt, but I continued to go. I think I was 6 kup when I was asked by one of the higher belt students if I was interested in participating to poomsae competitions and I, again, thought why not. During that competition I got to know a bunch of other young students in our school that I didn't know before. They had been practicing a few years longer than I had and had a higher belt, so we didn't normally go to the same practice. They encouraged me to keep on competing and to go to the poomsae classes. Things led to other things, and in a year I was participating in national team camps and went to my first international competition as a 3 kup. I year later I was part of the national poomsae team. This also lead me to take part in official and unofficial fighting competitions, as our master wanted me to have experience also in those before he would agree to let me take a black belt test (as a national team member I needed to have that as I would be participating in competitions that required one). During this time TKD was the most important thing in my life. With university, part time job, teaching kids classes, going to regular practice and practicing poomsae independently I had no more free time, but it didn't matter as I loved Taekwondo.
I also lived a year in South Korea as an exchange student and took part of the university TKD club's practice. During my time there the club members pretty much became my family. I spend all my free time in the club room, studied in the library with the club members, ate with them and went to trips with them. In Korean university clubs it is customary to go to some out-of-town location to play games, do bbq and drink in order to build team spirit. They call these retreats as MT, membership training. During my year in Korea our club did two of MT's, as we got so many new members on the second half of the year. The events are definitely in the top of my best memories from Korea and something many exchange students don't get to experience.
During my time in Korea I also took the exam for 2 dan. One of the older TKD club members asked if I wanted to do so as they thought I was ready. I asked my master in Finland and he agreed, so one weekend me and a Chinese exchange student traveled to a small village somewhere in the middle of Korea were one of the other member's parents lived. They owned a TKD school and wanted us to come over for a weekend to take the exam and experience Korea outside of Seoul. We also visited their grand mother who lived in a small traditional Korean house. The food and kimchi she makes is the best I tasted in Korea.
Besides of practicing and competing I also taught children's and beginners courses, very shortly refereed and judged both poomsae and fighting competitions, was a part of our club's show team and helped to organize competitions and camps. The show team was something I loved and I would have liked to practice the stunts and tricks more often. The most memorable and special event we did was when Finnair started to fly to Seoul. We had a small show in the airport before the first flight and another one in a evening gala that Finnair organised for some important people. This event was also nice because we had really tried to make it as great as possible. We mostly had people who were from the national poomsae and fighting teams, so everyone was very skilled. The practice was also a lot more serious (which is something I like) than the normal chaos in our club's show teams practice.
I also liked teaching, especially the beginners courses and adults. The kids could be a bit of a handful for me, but since there weren't many volunteers to teach those courses I agreed to do it.
My active competing and practicing ended soon after returning from Korea to Finland. I managed to injure both of my legs and didn't take enough time to recover. This made the injuries even worse and so far all of my attempts to come back to practice have been failures. It is horribly disheartening to remember how easy it was to kick straight up, to remember how it feels like to kick like that, and then not be able to kick much higher than my waist. I have tried to stretch consistently, I asked help from a physiotherapist that practices in our club, but there seems to be no progress. I even went and did the beginners course in hopes of easier practice helping me to get back in, but that didn't work either. It has now been about 2 years since I last went to practice.
2-3. Tell about your current relationship with Taekwondo; for instance, how much do you spend time with it and in what ways? What other Taekwondo-related activities you do?
These days I mostly take part in event organisation. In Finland we have two big TKD camps per year, the Winter Camp and the Summer Camp. Our club has been organizing the summer camp for ~10 years now, and that has become the TKD highlight of my year. I get to see people from other clubs (also those friends who used to compete in poomsae with me but have since quit that), there is both fighting and poomsae competitions, often famous Korean instructors, and on the last day we have a TKD show with show teams from different clubs in Finland, fighting and poomsae finals, speeches, etc. Over the years I've done a variety of jobs there; I've been the local contact/guide for Korean instructors, head organizer for poomsae competition, sat hours in the info and hosted the TKD show one year.
5. What's the role of the community and physical spaces in Taekwondo for you?
Allthough I loved TKD as an exercise, it is really the community and friends that were and are most important for me. They have always been the factor that pushes me forward and makes me try new things. Without them I likely would not have focused on competition so much, or done any of the other things I did and still do. I definitely would not have reached a black belt. And it's not just the people from my own club, it's also the wider Finnish TKD community. The times when we were all in the same place (in a competition, camp, trip, etc) are the most fun and memorable times from my Taekwondo career.
6. How long do you think Taekwondo will be a significant part of your life?
I think I'm probably going to try to get into practice again at some point. Maybe when I'll have my own children I'll go to the family practice with them. I'll anyway continue to participate in organizing the events for now, as that is kinda fun. It's also a bit sad how rarely I get to see my TKD friends, so I just might try practicing again sooner so I'll get to see them more often.
