Author: TSMA Page 160 of 200

DUANNE BIGGS is realising his lifelong passion of martial arts, which has stuck with him since childhood. But for him, the bigger prize is passing on the skills to those who appreciate it most.

Biggs, who hails from Mandeville, recounted that he developed his love for karate (martial arts) after watching shoalin (karate) movies, which were aired Friday nights on the then Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation around 1991.

“As a youngster, I was impressed, I started practising the kicks, punches and stances, which caught the eyes of some community residents, who watched in awe at my swift moves and agility.

I then started attending karate classes, and even during my years at university, I remained loyal and committed to my passion and lifelong dream. At long last, I am now passing on what I have learnt to other persons who have expressed the desire to learn martial arts.”

Biggs graduated from the University of the West Indies with a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry and lectures in that field at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) at Passley Gardens in Portland.

At CASE, Biggs is actively involved in martial arts, and as such, he has launched an outreach programme in the form of a karate club, where he teaches students the art of self-defence and other forms of physical activities. He currently holds a third-degree in black belt.

Valuable asset

Now a resident of Portland, Biggs, operates his own martial arts class at Port Antonio High School three days each week, and already he boasts a class complement of 25 persons including males and females between the ages four to 60 years old.

Continuing, Biggs added, “Fitness is a valuable asset, which helps to develop good health. My aim is to assist persons to develop martial arts skills, which will allow them to better defend themselves against violent attacks. The varied forms of exercise also help to develop muscle and also to build up strength and stamina. Martial arts also teaches you about self-discipline and to be more aware of your surroundings.”

IS TAE KWON-DO IRELAND’S most successful but least talked-about sport?

Certainly, it has enjoyed considerable success of late in this country.

At the recent International Tae kwon-Do Federation (ITF) World Championships in Benidorm, Spain, the Irish side placed second overall out of 58 countries. After securing 10 Gold, six Silver and 11 Bronze medals, Team Ireland were narrowly beaten into second place by Poland (13 Gold, six Silver and eight Bronze).

Six individual world titles were won over the course of the competition, with Ellen Ince (sparring and 1st Dan Patterns), Louise McCagh, Dylan Fitzgibbon, Dylan Murphy and Denise O’Brien all triumphing.

While the 48 Irish athletes deserve enormous credit for their phenomenal achievements, the role of the seven coaches who travelled must not be overlooked either.

It was a fitting reward too for Stephen Ryan, Secretary General of the Irish Taekwon-Do Association. Ryan has an obvious passion for the sport when he discusses it, and he’s been competing himself for over 20 years, having originally become interested from “watching movies on the TV with people like Bruce Lee”.

Ryan was on the team that won two golds back at the World Championships in Poland in 2003 — a time when the sport was not at such an advanced level as it is now in Ireland, while he also won a 2011 individual silver at the same competition.

However, he readily admits that the new generation of athletes are on their way towards surpassing anything their predecessors ever achieved. 

“It’s the biggest medal haul we’ve ever had at the World Championships and the biggest individual haul we’ve had at a Championships as well,” Ryan tells TheScore.ie. “It’s a massive thing for us but it’s a pity that people in the general community and across the country don’t know about it. The amount of training these athletes are putting in, two or three sessions a day and six or seven days a week.

“They are training at the top level — the same as everyone would in every other international sport — so for us, it’s an amazing achievement and the reaction within the Taekwon-Do community has been superb. The younger kids coming through can see what’s possible and there are so many world champions going back into the Taekwon-Do clubs around the country and the kids are looking at the medals around their neck and it’s something to aspire towards.

“It surpassed our expectations, but since the current crop of coaches took over in 2009, we have been coming back with more and more medals from each championship. If you can compare it to the last World Championships in New Zealand, we’ve got so many more medals. We are dealing with a bigger squad. We don’t receive funding from the sports council even though we’re recognised by them. So we couldn’t afford to send that many athletes to New Zealand. The World Championships before that were Argentina and we did really well — there was plenty of medals won.

“With the amount of training they’ve been putting in and the amount of medals they’ve been winning, especially at junior level, we’ve had fantastic success. What’s happening now is that a good crop of juniors are turning senior. Not that the people before weren’t any good, but the talent is getting better all the time.”

Homma Gaku (本間 学 Honma Gaku), born May 12, 1950, is an aikido teacher and direct student of the founder Morihei Ueshiba.  He is an author; the books Children and the Martial Arts and Aikido for Life are his most prominent publications. Homma, whose father was a Shinto priest and an officer in the Japanese Imperial Army during the war, was born in Akita Prefecture. According to Homma, at the age of 14, he was sent by his father to train in Iwama under aikido founder Ueshiba Morihei. Homma also says that he trained as an uchi deshi in Iwama and at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, under the founder and under Saito Morihiro in the late 1960s. Along with Hideo Hirasawa, Homma is one of a number of aikidoka who claim to be the last uchi deshi to have been trained directly by Ueshiba Morihei. His early career as a teacher was on a US air force base. In 1976 Homma moved to Denver, Colorado, and founded the Nippon Kan as an independent dojo in 1978. This dojo has grown into the largest aikido dojo in the Rocky Mountain region and is well known for its international uchi-deshi program. He has organized several large aikido seminars in Denver, many of them taught by Saito Morihiro.

Humanitarian work

In addition to the aikido dojo, which is a non-profit institution, Homma has founded the Aikido Humanitarian Active Network (AHAN), whose mission is “to extend the philosophy of Aikido into the world beyond the dojo”. AHAN activities have included sending computers and aid to an orphanage in Mongolia, supporting a sick aikido student in Nicaragua, and assisting dojo in Turkey and Brazil with charitable fundraising efforts. Homma is also known for his work in his community, including serving meals to the homeless. Homma calls the work he does “support” because, he says, “Help is ‘I am reaching down to you.” Support is, ‘I am on your level and I am lifting up.”

Jan Rubsam of Valpo ATA Black Belt Academy leads a truly wonderful life instructing and also inspiring her students to never stop learning. Originally, Rubsam joined her daughter (who was nine at the time) in a taekwondo class for additional exercise. However, after becoming a 4th degree black belt, there was no denying the strength and joy it brought her. Owning and teaching at Valpo ATA Black Belt Academyhas made Rubsam thankful for the exceptional physical and mental capabilities of her talented students.

“I appreciate every student that walks through my door. That honors me because I know families are busy, but they still make time in their lives for a stimulating martial art form such as taekwondo. The fact that they plan a day in their week to come train with me is a blessing. I really appreciate that,” Rubsam said.

Practicing taekwondo has made Rubsam even more aware of how important a balance in life is, not only to her, but to others as well. Children and adults can reap all the benefits of learning this stand up style of martial arts. The direct and indirect advancements are endless and include: respect, confidence, discipline, self-control, balance, coordination, fitness and self-defense strategies. Quite often after taking courses at Valpo ATA, parents notice a positive difference in their son or daughter. By providing confidence via taekwondo instruction, all other interest areas are heightened and stimulated.

“When parents come to me and say, ‘You can’t imagine the difference this has made in my son or daughter,’ they are usually not talking about physical skills because they can gain physical skills in many different sports,” Rubsam said. “What the parents are talking about is the confidence, self control, and respect for themselves and for others the children develop. It really brings people to a higher level in terms of personal character. That’s the hidden benefit to some, but in my opinion that is also the greatest benefit.”

For fourteen years, Rubsam has perfected her form and still increases her knowledge while teaching four classes a day at her prestigious institution and also utilizes her black belt form on her own time. The highest awards that she has won include State Champion titles (State Champion in Sparring and Forms last year) and three-time third ranked world sparring champion. She has also been nominated for the Influential Women of Northwest Indiana award.

Rubsam has qualified for district championships, which includes six different state districts. She plans to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas in July to compete in the sparring division; she is currently in the top ten.

As a current competitor involved in the ATA (American Taekwondo Association), she makes sure to incorporate the teachings of Eternal Grandmaster H.U. Lee daily while training. One of her favorite quotes declares that we should always challenge ourselves: “Today Not Possible, Tomorrow Possible.” In Rubsam’s opinion, that is our highest calling in this life.

“Life is a journey of ceaseless and continuous learning. I think that’s our highest calling as human beings is to continue to challenge ourselves, always set new goals, and always be working towards something. If you stop doing that in my opinion, then you have stopped living,” Rubsam concluded.