william li
1st poom | september 2023

I can still remember starting Taekwondo 8 years ago, in a completely different club to WeiWu, wearing a dinosaur jumper. Back then, I joined Taekwondo with no goal. I would never have expected to reach black belt, and yet here I am.

Black Belt has been a difficult journey. When I started, I had no idea about discipline, dedication or perseverance. It was just kicking and punching a target. While this improved my strength greatly, I wasn’t learning much. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, and I continued. Then in 2019, something happened that effected my entire Taekwondo journey.

I sprained my ankle. I couldn’t do Taekwondo for a while, so I quit. Following that event, my toe began having problems, and I couldn’t kick with my left foot. At that point, I thought that I wouldn’t do Taekwondo again. Then my good friends Desi and Josh introduced me to WeiWu. At first, I didn’t really want to do it, as I was worried about having to learn everything again, or that my toe would affect what I could do, or that my weight would prevent me from getting better. But when I did my first trial lesson, I enjoyed it, so I decided to start taking lessons again.

At around the start of 2023, I was given the opportunity to join the Warriors Sparring and Poomsae team. At first, I had my doubts, as I would only be able to kick with one leg and my weight would make things difficult. But Master Bryanna and Master Benecia taught me kicks I could do with my left leg like cut kick, crescent kick and axe kick, and I have learnt more ever since. Starting poomsae felt strange, as I had to learn techniques I hadn’t learnt before, but Master Brian’s patience helped me learn these skills.

Reaching black belt hasn’t been an easy journey, and many people helped me along the way. First of all, I would like to thank Master Joyce, Master Brian, Master Bryanna and Master Benecia for their everlasting patience and for teaching me all of my skills. Thank you to my Master Ethan from my former Taekwondo club, for teaching me the basics and starting my journey. But I think I owe a big thank you to my mum and dad, my friends, and my friends’ parents for always supporting me and making sure I get to Taekwondo class on time.

It has been an amazing journey so far, but now is the start of a new chapter.
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Thank you for listening.