pattern of movements using blocks, strikes and kicks). Even though forms (called ‘hyung’ in Korean) are one of his favourite things to practice, he finds them one of the hardest. Higher level belt students learn more advanced forms, and the movements are complicated to remember. As a red belt – the first level in the advanced levels – the form Nicholas practised for going to the worlds is called ‘bassai’ and has 52 individual movements! After he memorised the form, he had to put focus, strength and meaning behind each movement. Sparring is a little less challenging since it does not rely on remembering a sequence of moves. In watching Nicholas grow as a martial artist over the last four years, I have seen his sparring become fast and skilled. He has quick high kicks which he can throw from spinning, jumping or facing head-on. Sometimes he gets together with
Nicholas delivers a a 360 crescent kick on a target held by his instructor Tabby Lutz in the club’s grassy training area at Goroka Grammar School
In 2017, six months after starting, the World Tang Soo Do Association certified our club, and now it boasts a regular base of 50 to 70 students per year. Nicholas Onare is from the Eastern Highlands town of Henganofi but lives in Kamiliki which is close enough to Goroka to allow him to train. In 2020, his aunt told him about our club since she knew about it from babysitting my children during practice times. Nicholas had never
heard of Tang Soo Do before so she explained it is a martial art with kicking, punching and self-defence. Nicholas thought this sounded interesting as it would be useful to have skills in case he ever needed to protect himself, such as “in case of tribal fighting,” as he puts it. He and his cousin joined together that year, but soon found out there is much more to TSD than fighting. He learned the three purposes of training are self-defence,
physical fitness and improved person (as in character-building). Through TSD, he has learned skills that help with self-control, focus, concentration and perseverance; and TSD keeps him in good health through demanding physical exercise. He really likes working on his fitness, particularly sparring (moving around with an opponent while blocking, punching and kicking to gain points) and working on fighting forms (a
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