I started training under Master Fred Gaston, After seeing my brother Keith showing myself Kibon Hansen IL. This inspired me to learn the art of Taekwondo back in January 1986. The training hall was in the Southampton city centre, which has since been replaced by a multi car park. I trained for about a year with Master Gaston before Fred was no longer able to continue the long journey from London. He was replaced by Master Hussein Khadji. Hussein had a very strong method of making you work hard at the more fighting side of things. You always came out of his lessons with a bruise here or there.

My current teacher Master Mark Biddlecombe became a joint partner with Hussein, where they took in turns the teaching of us students. Mark was a very fast fighter and superb technician judging by the quality of his kicking and hand techniques.

Eventually Master Mark Biddlecombe took total control of the Southampton City Club, where the training was then at Redbridge church, Millbrook. I always had my greatest training days there, because of my total dedication to Taekwondo because of the free time then I had available.

I became a good competitive fighter gaining plenty of experience from fighting several of Master Biddlecombe's senior students, including Mark himself. I starting to enter the competition circuit which was always going to be tough at the beginning.

My very first fight was in Hayes against my first Instructor's son, which I successfully won on a Knockout. I went on to compete in many local competitions in Bracknell, Hayes, Southampton, gaining much success, which then gave myself the confidence to take part in the British National Taekwondo Championships in 1989 at Slough. I had to compete in four rounds to reach the final after receiving a bye first round. The most memorable fight was the semi-final against the Irish national champion which I won with a well timed back kick, which put my opponent down for the count. The final was against an Instructor from Nottingham with his first name call Lloyd. It started with my opponent dominating the first round. After great team talk from my coach I levelled the second round. The third round I started to make my techniques count. I scored with a direct punch to the chest, which shook my opponent back, I then followed that with a double round kick which landed fully on his chin, which resulted in a count. The feeling of the referee lifting my hand as the winner was such a high at the time, as it's not every day you are crowned the best in Britain.

I carried on fighting at the local circuit, where there was one Tournament in particular in my home town of Southampton, which I remember well. There the four fights I had  won resulted with some great knockout techniques but one in particular was a high pushing kick to my opponents chest which resulted in my opponent being flat on the floor with my kick still stuck to him.

In 1994 I was selected for Great Britain in the World Chungdokwan Championships in London. There were over twenty countries that took part including the mighty South Koreans, who entered two teams. The USA also entered a strong team, which from the very beginning became a great spectacle to watch. I had a bye first round, then matched myself against an Australian called Adam Bateson, I was very nervous at first but began to settle into my usual fight pattern of chasing the opponent around the mat. My opponent was, I can remember well a very aggressive fighter who occasionally struck out a punch to my face. The third round saw me dominate the fight with a combination of round kicks and close punch to the chest and body to keep my techniques flowing. The next round resulted in a bye due to an injured opponent. I met an American in the Semi-Final called Lenny Bogart who at the time was the USA Champion and an Olympic hopeful. This was my toughest opponent ever, but also one of my best performances attacking wise as my timing was good, Lenny had such power and speed in his back hook kicks which at times kept just missing my head while I was on the counter attack. I eventually lost the fight 4-3 on points, which to my delight he was the only chap who went on to win a gold from another country other than Korea.

In 1997 I again was selected for Great Britain to take part in the World Championships which was held in Italy (Bologna). My first round fight was against a Singapore fighter. This I narrowly lost 3-2 after three rounds. It was my worst performance ever and it also showed it that way on the Video footage of the Tournament. My defence was so open on his round kicks. All I tried to do was One head kick after another, which resulted in many misses. The experience of fighting abroad was great and one I was soon to experience again.

SIDE KICK ON MY SINGAPORE OPPONENT

My next fight was the Southern Chungdokwan Championships In Hayes 1998. Here I got back to winning ways by winning the Tournament after having a difficult fight against a much younger opponent called Stephen. Also I made it a double by winning the Patterns Competition, when I demonstrated Koreo, Chil Jang and Luk Jang with great success.

I next fought in the Invitations one to one tournament In Brunel (London) 1999.  I fought against an experienced Instructor called Wayne who took over from Master Lindsey Lawrence's club called Brotherhood. The fight started at a hectic pace, when I was caught with a lovely timed back kick . Which no doubt gave me an eight second count, Which I remember too well as I wished it was an Eight minute count. The second round I did attack my opponent more after working out how to cancel out his best Technique. I went on to lose that fight 5-3, but I managed to score an excellent Axe Kick which took my opponent down on the mats.

My last tournament to date was the World Chungdokwan Championships held in Barcelona July 1999. My build up was distracted by a very tight hamstring problem due to a car crash. This really did limit my more flexible kicks, which did make myself a different style of fighter because of it. I felt really good with my diet and training but on the day my German opponent was too good for me. He had a very different style of fighting which I found hard to counter. What I was happy about was the fact my attacking combinations was very fluent and that the timing at times was landing myself a few good head kicks to my opponent. This tournament did gain me much knowledge to take back to my students which hopefully in the short term will benefit them.

MY AXE KICK LANDING DURING THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS