Martial Arts: Fascination and Passion

My passion for martial arts stems from my fascination towards Chinese serial dramas and butt-kicking kung fu movies. I began admiring Jackie Chan’s agility and graceful moves when I was barely ten years old. At this point of time, I knew that I would grow up and become a great martial artiste like Chan…or, at least win a couple of world titles in martial arts tournaments.

My first encounter with the martial arts world was when my school introduced Silat Gayong to be a part of the extra co-curricular activities. Having seen Malays ‘flying’ from one tree to another in Mahaguru and a few silat-based Malay dramas, I seized the opportunity and began training under a Silat champ, Mr. Khairi Abdul Rahman. I didn’t learn directly from him, but rather, his wife, whom we called Cikgu Normala, was the one who became our instructor. This couple is very well-known in the Malaysian Silat scene due to their achievement and contributions in Silat.
I learned Silat Gayong for almost three years, and I was up-graded to bengkong hijau, 3-steps away from becoming an instructor. In 1996, I moved to a new school in the ulu banat of Sabak Bernam. The principal told my father that the school didn’t include Silat in their co-curricular activities, but they had Taekwon-Do as an alternative to that. Later, I found out from the principal’s daughter that he refused to set up Silat classes because of the practice of black magic that had always been associated with Silat Melayu.

I fell in love with Taekwon-Do from the very first class that I attended. Though I felt that the instructor was a little bit miang and liked to prolong the training with his endless speeches, I had fun learning new things in class. I sensed that I would be somebody big in Taekwon-Do. I had hoped to win big titles under the training that I received from this instructor, but at the end of the day, I realized that he’s not interested to bring us, who had the potentials to a higher level. I had a few conflicts with him, especially after I helped a teacher to set up Silat Gayong class in my school and began to practice Silat again.

During the term break after the PMR examination, I began searching for a Taekwon-Do centre with the hope that when I managed to persuade my parents to transfer me to a nearby school, I would be able to join the class there. I found a Taekwon-Do academy, but I failed to convince my parents to transfer me to another school. Yet, I dragged my father to the academy and registered myself there. When ever I had the chance to come home, I’d make sure that I attend the taekwon-do class at the centre.
Now, after ten years of involvement in Taekwon-Do, I am one of the assistant instructors at the Legends Taekwon-Do Academy, the place where I’ve religiously slaved myself attending the classes for the love of Taekwon-Do. Had I found Legends earlier, I would have become a well-known fighter today.

Now, I no longer dream of clutching the world title. I realized that I have a bigger role to play in the martial arts community especially in Taekwon-Do. If I couldn’t be crowned the world champion on the square mat of the sparring ring, at least I could help to create champions in real life by instilling the true values of Taekwon-Do and teaching them the virtues of life.

“I shall be a champion of freedom and justice. I shall build a more peaceful world” –TKD Student's Oath.