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I have been actively involved, more or less, since January of 1990. I got my First Degree Black Belt on April 13th, 1997. One case where that wasn't an unlucky number. The only unlucky part was how much I hurt the rest of the week from the deamanding efforts required.
A part of my training has been dedicated to competition training. Throughout seven seasons and 21 tournaments, I have won 5 Gold medals, 10 Silver and 11 Bronze. Then there were four times when I unfortunately didn't place. I'm not one of those who constantly focuses on what a "great" record I have, I just put that up becaus so many people ask me my tournament record.
Being a Black Belt, with a Kukkiwon certificate, I am also an instructor. I'm not teaching anywhere right now, but I do have the intent to get back to instruction. Along with being an instructor, I have also been a Coach. My Coaching record I am just as proud of, if not moreso, than my own competition record. Through two seasons and ten tournaments I have coached my athletes to 7 Gold medals, 11 Silver and 14 Bronze with 9 non-placings. These 47 incidents mean a lot to me because it wasn't just me that accomplished it. It was a reward that my instruction and leadership to my athletes had proven successful and they got the good reward for it.
I am also a certified referee, and I do ref from time to time at tournaments to help out. After all, since I am a coach, it does help to know the rules.
A great reward for all of my combined efforts came June 5, 2004, when I was inducted into the World Wide Martial Arts Hall Of Fame. I was recognized in the Martial Artist Of The Year category. I would natrually like to again thank Master Merritt for nominating me for this great reward. His experience and tutilage has helped to make me a better Coach and Instructor
Throughout all my time as a student, instructor, competitor, coach or referee, what has provided all the best memories and stories for me is the people I've had the chance to interact with. I'm working on mentioning more and more of them in the Taekwondo Honorable Mentions page.