Grandmaster David Bailey recently achieved 9th Dan status after more than 40 years dedicated to our Martial Art, and this week the Central Taekwondo Academy coach published his memoirs.
Grandmaster Bailey’s book, “Finding the Force: A Lifetime with Taekwondo”, is all about his spectacular journey from a shy Liverpudlian teenager in the 1980s to achieving his extraordinary 9th Dan at the Kukkiwon in Seoul 46 years later.
The book was launched on Saturday in front of some seventy close family and friends from the taekwondo community, some of whom flew in specially from Denmark, London and Belfast for the night.
As well as that, a special training session was staged at David’s club at Carronshore Community Centre to commemorate the occasion, with friends from across the Worldwide Taekwondo community coming to celebrate one of British Taekwondo most esteemed members.
The 200-page book, with some eighty pictures from over the years, is both inspirational and heartwarming. From humble beginner to the exhilarating high of travelling to major events and World Championships around the globe as a player, coach and referee, David shares an honest and often humorous account of five decades spent mastering Taekwondo, and finding the force.
As David’s fascinating memoir shows, Taekwondo is about much more than what happens on the mats. For him, it is a way of life, a life lived with courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit at its heart.
In the book, he explains how he found his spiritual home in Taekwondo and one of the most powerful themes in the book is loyalty. Throughout his remarkable journey, David (64) has had the same Instructor for nearly fifty years. Grandmaster Tong Wan Shin, the most senior 9th Dan of British Taekwondo, guided David towards achieving his 9th Dan. He says their bond is unique and unbreakable.
David firmly believes that Taekwondo has the power to be life-changing; from his own challenging circumstances as a teenager to assisting his students overcome obstacles and achieve their hidden potential.
The book covers so much amazing and amusing ground. Selling his TV so he could get the money to travel to Germany to fight. Fun sparring with Ken Dodd. Eating raw Korean cuttlefish. Facing the rifles of Russian soldiers outside Moscow’s first McDonalds. Rubbish hotels In Pakistan. Karaoke in Korea. Controversial judging decisions. Food poisoning in Vladivostok. Teaching taekwondo in Kathmandu. Hobnobbing with Dame Kelly Holmes, Sir Chris Hoy, Rio Ferdinand and Barry McGuigan. Volunteering at the London 2012 Olympics. Flying round the summit of Mount Everest.
We also hear how he met his wife Angie – herself a ten-time National Poomsae Champion – and moved to Falkirk in 1993. That year he established his Central Taekwondo Academy in Carronshore Community Centre, a place his club still calls home thirty-three years on.
In this time, some 2500 members have joined Central including his three daughters, Paige, Asia and Ellise. Generations of families come together to train alongside other members whose ages range from 4 to 72. People even travel from Edinburgh three nights a week to train with David, such is his stellar reputation.
David said: “I really enjoyed writing about my experiences and going through the process of producing a book. I had a lot of help, support and advice along the way and would like to say a big “thank you” to everyone involved.
“I hope the book can have a positive effect on promoting taekwondo and raising funds for a very important cause.”
He added that there is no charge for his book. Instead, he’s asking people to make a donation of any amount to Alzheimer’s Scotland, a charity close to his heart as some of his family were affected by the disease. They just have to click on a QR code on the back cover. The target of £2000 was smashed in twenty-four hours and the total is still rising.
Copies are available at Central Academy classes held at Carronshore Community Centre every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night and some copies will be around at various taekwondo events around the country.
Donate to Alzeimer’s Scotland and support Grandmaster Bailey today
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