Author: TSMA Page 161 of 202

ESCONDIDO — A prominent figure in the local martial arts community will receive the rare honor today of becoming a 10th-degree black belt in karate.

Charles Hawkins, who founded one of San Diego County’s first martial arts schools in Escondido 42 years ago, said the award is less about his skill as a fighter and more about his many contributions to martial arts over the years.

Hawkins has taught thousands of young people and has used the sport to improve the lives of the disabled and others facing challenges.

“He pioneered a lot of things,” said Steve Truscott, a longtime student who now runs the Family Karate chain of martial arts schools that Hawkins started. “He would adjust our martial arts techniques to the person’s ability. He’s really an amazing man.”

Hawkins, 72, hasn’t competed since the 1980s and says he was never a standout fighter, although he did win the Baja California middleweight championship in 1974.

“I’ve always thought I was a better instructor than competitor,” said Hawkins, adding that more than 1,000 of his students have received black belts. “We helped a lot of people overcome some difficulties in their lives.”

Martial arts can create self-confidence in those who lack it, especially youngsters, Hawkins said. Based on that concept, he launched one the nation’s first karate programs for the disabled in 1976.

Hawkins downplayed the significance of becoming a 10th-degree black belt, but only a few hundred people in the world have reached that level.

“With that certificate and a dollar, I can get a senior citizen coffee at McDonald’s,” he joked. “It’s really only important in the realm of my organization and the martial arts world”

There is no national or international organization that awards belts by level. Hawkins was given the honor by his longtime instructor, Pat Burleson. In martial arts, students get moved up in rank by their instructor.

Hawkins said his jump in rank, from 8th degree to 10th degree, will allow his students to advance because students can’t match the rank of their teacher.

“Martial arts is one of the few sports where the coach is supposed to be better than the players,” he said.

Hawkins is legendary in the local martial arts community for his work with the disabled, his chain of schools and for the many martial arts events he organized over the years to raise money for juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis and other diseases affecting children.

“He’s being recognized for so many decades of work in our community,” Truscott said.

Hawkins also helped train Chula Vista police in the 1990s and worked with martial arts film star Chuck Norris in the 1970s.

Since leaving San Diego about 10 years ago with Fran, his wife of 52 years, Hawkins said he’s been focused on his six grandchildren and other hobbies.

He lives in North Carolina, but he’s still an instructor emeritus at Family Karate in Escondido, the school he founded in 1971 as Escondido Academy of Karate. And he flies to San Diego every time a student takes a black belt exam.

Truscott said Hawkins is beloved and respected.

“He and his wife started all of this for us,” Truscott said. “He’s been a great mentor.”

Hawkins will receive his 10th-degree black belt under the Escondido City Hall dome during a ceremony scheduled for 5:30 p.m. today.

GWINN — Enough is enough. That was the anti-bullying message students from Gwinn heard during a recent assembly.

Nineteen-year-old Mariah Moore is a 14 world title and nine national title champion in martial arts and she was also a victim of bullying.

“I came back from the world championships in 2006 with two world titles at 12 years old. My peers hated it. It’s like they hated me for my success. I went through a lot of terrible times and a lot of bad things,” said Moore.

Moore said learning self-defense was a way for her to escape from the constant ridicule. But she said, the martial arts are not about fighting.

“I have been in this for 12 years and I’ve never gotten in a fight outside the ring. I can’t tell you how many times people have tried but I really have the self-confidence and the self-esteem to say no I need to just walk away,” Moore said.

Students were listening and said there were plenty of lessons to be learned from Moore’s presentation.

“I liked that she talked about bullying and how important it is to stop. Now everybody that’s being bullied knows that they’re not alone,” said Malorie Couillard, sixth grader.

“A lot of people think martial arts is just about fighting. It’s more about discipline and it’s never made for fighting; it’s made for self-defense,” said Seth Quayle, sixth grader.

Moore will continue her “Enough is Enough” tour, visiting nine more U.P. schools.

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.”