This post is the second part of a two-part post. You can read part one here.
I promoted to First Degree Black Belt in June 2010 after five years of training. You can read about my first five years of training here.
I still remember going to class the week following my promotion for the first time in my shiny new uniform, complete with golden tassels and that black belt which symbolises so much to anyone, regardless of their involvement in martial arts. It was straight back to training though. No time to hang about – there was new stuff to learn: a new form; new self-defence techniques; the staff form; the sword form. Lots of new and exciting stuff!
Shortly after promoting to Black Belt, I introduced my new friend Tom from middle school to Kuk Sool, and Master Martin said that my introduction of a friend to Kuk Sool granted me access to the Black Belt Club. The Black Belt Club met roughly once-a-month at the Halesworth Dojang and was there for students who wanted to take their training a little further than what’s done in class, and to expand their knowledge beyond the curriculum.
At my first Black Belt Club, we did some Korean Archery and we also practised acupressure – and it was awesome. We got up to some really great stuff at these sessions, including some fantastic sessions on meditation and yoga which were led by our fantastic and dearly missed Master Alison.
Here are some photos from Black Belt Clubs over the years:
In 2011, I pestered Master Martin to run an instructors course as I was extremely keen to develop myself as an instructor and to further my involvement in Kuk Sool. As a result, Master Martin delivered a fantastic Junior Leadership Programme for a handful of junior Black Belts. This entailed completing various written tasks as well as completing 72 hours of assisting in classes, which had to be signed off by an instructor – so it took a long time to complete! As we neared the end of the course in late 2012, we had a final essay to write about why we want to be an instructor. Below is a photo of myself and the other two remaining students of the five or six who started the course, receiving our certificates at the end of the course.
In 2013, I entered my first tournament – The WKSA European Championships in Kings Lynn. The tournaments had run annually for the whole time I’d been training, even being hosted in Lowestoft in my earlier years, as Lowestoft was the strongest club in the UK, winning the championships year after year. I never felt inclined to enter though as I’d never been a confident person, and the idea of standing in front of masters I didn’t know and being watched by people I’m competing against and other spectators sounded like the worst thing to me. In 2013 though, I bit the bullet and entered for the first time. I entered in four of the five divisions available to me: traditional forms, self-defence techniques, staff, and sword, and made off with one copper (fourth place) medal, for the techniques division. I owe this win largely to the technical expertise of Master Alison, who was able to share her fantastic knowledge with me to improve my techniques immensely.
I was a little upset at the time, as one copper doesn’t sound that good when they had four golds up for grabs. Looking back though, I am so proud that I entered as that set me off to enter every subsequent year, and each year I began getting more medals. Here are some videos from later tournaments:
Here are some photos from my tournaments over the years:
In 2013, I began testing toward Kyo Sa Nim (Second Degree Black Belt), and this is a big deal. Eight years prior, when my dad had first brought me along, my instructor was a Kyo Sa Nim. Never did I dream that one day I’d achieve that rank too, but after two years of regular testing, I did just that; in June 2015 I promoted to Second Degree Black Belt at the European Championships which had now moved slightly closer to home, taking place at the UEA SportsPark in Norwich. I had the pleasure of promoting at the same time as my best friend Tom, who achieved his First Degree Black Belt, four years after I had brought him along to Kuk Sool.
By 2016, whilst I was doing my GCSEs, I had been in the adult Black Belt class for a few years but was still coming in to assist with the kids classes which began three hours before my class, and I also assisted with the newly revived Tiny Dragons class on Saturday mornings after it had taken a hiatus for a few years. I was taking instructing very seriously, and was approached by my original instructor, SBN Jon, who after discussion with Master Martin wished to hand over the Advanced Kids class to myself and my friend JKN Oakley (JKN meaning First Degree Black Belt). I was being given the class that I had once looked up to in awe, and I was being made a proper instructor at the age of 16. I was so proud, and this opportunity provided me with some of the best experience I’ve ever had in Kuk Sool. One of the most rewarding parts of being an instructor was watching as students developed over time, and we recognised students’ progression by introducing a Student of the Month award each month to students who we thought had put in the most effort during that month.
In 2017, I received my application for Pu Sa Bum Nim (Third Degree Black Belt). I didn’t go for this straight away though, as I was due to be off to uni in 2018 and had no idea where I’d be going – whether I’d even be able to continue training whilst at uni. When that eventually did come around, I ended up going just down the road to UEA in Norwich – so I could have gone for it in the end, and that I did in 2019 when I embarked on a two-year testing period which was quite unusually conducted due to global events. Gradings over Zoom became the new norm, and eventually when we were allowed to train outside together, we had a couple of gradings out on the playing fields at the Halesworth Dojang, and I promoted to PSBN in August 2021.
Black Belt promotions usually happen at the Championships, but due to government restrictions on travel and social gatherings, the championships were unable to go ahead for the year of 2020 and 2021. This meant that my promotion was instead held locally. Despite missing out on the big event that it should have been, my promotion felt all the more special being a small event surrounded by the people I knew and loved training alongside. Promotion to third degree comes with a new, thicker black belt too, which meant I could wave goodbye to the belt that was now older than I was when I received it (the belt I received in 2010 when I promoted to First Degree Black Belt).
In November 2021, I completed my centre judging certification which enables me to centre judge at championships. This was a huge achievement for me, and enabled me to reflect on how far I’d come. I began as someone who was scared to enter a tournament, and now I’m qualified and experienced in judging at one.
On the same day, I received the devastating and heartbreaking news that our school owner JDKJN Master Alison Ducker (Seventh Degree Black Belt) had passed away after a relatively short illness. This news came completely unexpected and caused me to break down. I am not one to show emotions often, but Master Alison meant a lot to me and her passing left me feeling a little broken.
A few weeks later, the first European Championships were hosted since before COVID. The Championships were dedicated to Master Alison and the incredible woman and influential martial artist she was and will always be remembered as, with a beautiful tribute demonstration given by the UK Women’s Demonstration Team. Master Alison was and still is the highest-ranking female martial artist in the UK and and the highest ranking non-Korean female within the World Kuk Sool Association. In the words of Master Martin Ducker, her husband of over 35 years, she was a special woman who quietly touched many people’s hearts.
Following from this, I found it hard to train as I felt so affected by our loss, and my later involvement in a serious car crash also impacted my ability to train for a while and still impacts me to this day. My attendance began to fall noticeably and my training became less regular for a while. I was able to bounce back and am still working on keeping my attendance as regular as it should be (twice a week), but I do still struggle with training from time-to-time due to these things.
In 2023, I received and submitted my application for Sa Bum Nim (Fourth Degree Black Belt), and am currently (hopefully) just six months away from promoting to that rank, as I approach the end of the minimum period of two years. Since applying for Sa Bum Nim, I have kept up training and attendance to WKSA events such as workshops, seminars, and tournaments – and although I only attended tournaments to judge and did not compete for a long while, I did enter the WKSA UK Championships in November 2024 for the first time. Owing to my long period out of competing in tournaments and a lack of training on the lead-up to the event, I wasn’t expecting to come away with any medals but I was pleasantly surprised to achieve a fourth-place copper medal in self-defense techniques!
My journey so far through Kuk Sool has been full of ups and downs. In this post, I have mainly recognised the highlights, but there have been times where I have even thought about stopping. I remember distinctly talking to my mum when I was a blue belt, and telling her that I wanted to stop. Fortunately, this was just after the new year and she had just paid my membership renewal and there was no way that her £10 was going to waste – so I was made to continue training, and I’m so grateful for that.
My parents have been absolutely incredible in supporting me through my journey in Kuk Sool in many ways. They have motivated me; they have been there at tournaments, gradings, promotions, and demonstrations; they paid for me to do Kuk Sool and progress through the ranks for well over a decade; and, most importantly, they never hid how proud they were of me and the things I have achieved in Kuk Sool, which served as a great motivator for me.
Of course, I also have my instructors to thank for everything too. They have truly been the best role models anyone could ever ask for, and without them and their inspiration, I wouldn’t be there. My original instructors are still actively training today as masters, with Master Martin ranked as an executive eighth degree master who oversees the practise of Kuk Sool nationally as well as travelling overseas to places like the Netherlands to support the growth and teaching of Kuk Sool over there, and KSN Jon and PSBN Dave are now Pyuhng Kwahn Jahng Nim and Joo Im Kwahn Jahng Nim (fifth degree and sixth degree masters respectively), with Master Jon currently testing for sixth degree.
I have also had some fantastic training partners over the years who have made training fun, and who have aided my learning and development greatly. To name a few who are no longer training, there was Malik, Matthew, Brendan, Sian, Tayla-Mae, Billy, Adam, Tommy, Alfie, Luke, Ben, Wayne, Tom, Oakley, Cordell, Dion, Will, and Elise, and there are lots more who are still training today.
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my Kuk Sool Won journey so far. It has been an incredible twenty years, and I am so excited to find out what the next twenty hold and whom they are shared with.
