From Founder to Instructor
Today [30/01/2019] marks the UEL Taekwondo Club anniversary. So in light of this occasion, the newly appointed instructor and Club founding member, answers some questions about his journey from being a fresh university student to setting up a Taekwondo club at UEL, staying on after graduating and now being an instructor to the club he helped founded [with other founding members too] many years ago.
ML: The author
SZ: Stephen Zheng
SF: Shujahat Fiaz
Congratulations on the promotion [on being an instructor for UEL Taekwondo Club]. I know you’ve had a long journey from being a university student, being one of the founding members and stayed after you graduated. Why did you feel the need to stay? You’ve been there from the beginning.
I helped founded the club so there’s always that responsibility [and then] I met Josie (Former Club President) and then helped her to be part of the club and the committee. [Also] I live locally so there’s no excuse for me not to go. The other founding members moved back to their hometowns: Milton Keynes, Venezuela and Denmark.
Did you ever think you would get to this position?
It was never a “goal” goal, it would’ve been nice [to progress] from being a student and then onto being a teacher and [continue] developing the club that I helped set up, that I once trained at.
Did you always aspire to be a teacher?
No. No no no no. It was only until after you’ve reached black belt, you get to a certain point where you know you’re not going to be in the Olympics, you’re not going to be the most amazing Taekwondo practitioner but you still want to give back to the [martial art]. You still want to be involved in it, not just training, if the opportunity were to come -which I am thankful for Master Fiaz- that there’s a different pathway where there is still progression.
We are approaching the club anniversary again and the club is still here with no signs of slowing down. Why do you think the club has been able to run for this long?
It’s purely down to the members and the passion they have for Taekwondo. When Master Fiaz started training- not teaching- which was the year that Josie started. We’ve just had regular members who wants to push the club forward [since then].
ML: Last year we started to celebrate the club’s anniversary so that there is something to celebrate, something to be proud of and an opportunity to bond with other members as it’s difficult to have a conversation during training.
In previous years, we’ve never had socials and now we have this cohort of members where they have formed tight-knit friendships [some are house sharing now].
So you’ve been told about the Taster sessions happening at the Stratford Campus with the possibility of rolling out regular sessions there in 2019/2020. What were your first thoughts?
First thing I did when I got to Stratford campus was I recorded a video and sent it to Josie.
I was in two minds: I want to take on this session [to teach] or use this session to train myself, since teaching you don’t get to train as much.
ML: That's why Master Fiaz came to UEL- to train- before UEL he was teaching his own class and felt he needed to develop himself further.
The more sessions the better, the more opportunity [for everyone] to take part.
It might foster a better club, socially. That’s what we use to do when we were at Atherton [Leisure Centre] where we would eat at Nando’s. It’s good to go back to the homeland.
Last academic year (2017/2018) was an incredible year for the club, with Taekwondo featuring in the Challenge Cup (Against Anglian Ruskin) for the first time & UEL took home the Cup, the Club also won Club of the Year as well as Jade, who was Club President at the time, went home with Service to Sport at the UEL Sports Awards. Was this all expected?
After the Club of the Year win in 2014, we made a point to show up and be more involved in the university side of things. Did we do much different? (To Master Fiaz)
SF: We changed our approach from high performance to fostering inclusivity (through being non-competitive) those members that stayed enjoyed that aspect, also I think for our personal development [as an instructor and individual] we were able to elaborate the benefits of Taekwondo martial art practice as a holistic activity rather than just sport.
In terms of student life and student participation, I have heard from a lot of other members, that last year felt like one of the golden years for the club -last year's cohort were extremely compatible with how we trained and with the current members. Everyone just got on extremely well and have formed really tight friendships which isn’t always necessarily the case in previous years. So that probably helped as well - we could probably do a student survey- there was a lot of team spirit from the cohort last year which has carried on into this year.
There’s not one thing that can guarantee people are going to be friends, sometimes people just don’t click. But they all clicked.
So you’ve been actively teaching, for how long?
I started in 2016 and it’s been interesting.
What steps or support did you receive to help you become an instructor?
I could not have done it without the help and guidance of Master Fiaz. The opportunities he has given me and advice has been invaluable. His experience as a teacher has given such great insight in helping pass knowledge to our students. It would not have been possible without him and I am very grateful.
What is the process or what was your process, what did you learn was important to know or has helped you strengthen your craft as a Taekwondo instructor?
You know the first time you do something, you’re nervous and you kind of are unsure of yourself then when you keep doing that, you get use to it and you look back and think, “Really? Why was I scared?” It’s like now I just got use to it, and now it’s less about how I present myself and if they [the members] like me and it’s more about if I am teaching in an effective way -how effective is my teaching, how can I improve myself.
[Also] Copying Master Fiaz and seeing what he does, and then you can morph into your own way like for example, Master Fiaz is very much into the spiritual side and that’s fine. But for me it’s more about the physical side of it, more logical, less spiritual in a way and trying to explain the same concept because I’ve been training with Master Fiaz for so long, 7-8 years now, so we sort of know what the other are trying to say. So for example, if someone doesn’t understand the way how Master Fiaz is explaining things but might understand my explanation- and yet it’s the same concept but a different way to get there. Our teaching methods complements us.
You’ve mentioned that now that you're an instructor, you don't get to train yourself as much. What do you try to do to maintain your ability and continue to progress?
Since I have only been an instructor recently, this is something I'm still trying to figure out. Currently I'm trying to do a basic stretch routine everyday. It only takes a few minutes but I am trying to build a habit so it is done regularly. Also I think finding more efficient methods of training may also be key.
Do you have any personal goals you would like to achieve in your Taekwondo career? This could be as an instructor, competitor or just general practitioner.
At the moment, I am still adjusting to being an instructor so I am just focusing on how to pass the knowledge I have, down to our student effectively. However, there is always that constant urge to improve my own skills to make sure I always have something [that] I can pass down to students.
I feel, especially with Taekwondo in the UK, there is more focus on either Sparring or Poomsae. The traditional/self defense side of Taekwondo is not an area of focus and often forgotten. It would be great to really promote that side of Taekwondo again and bring a new audience to it.
Do you think it’s beneficial to have two instructors?
100%. One. Hundred. Per cent. The amount of feedback from the new members especially, they feel like they’ve been looked after. [Thinking back to] Training with our old instructor with 50 people, when Master Bae was teaching, it’s so hard to teach everyone what they need to learn because there are so many different ability groups and different levels of practitioners so people are going to feel neglected. But as soon as you have two instructors, you can see who needs help and the ability [to go and help them] and just generally people like to have attention and have their work critiqued. So going back [to one instructor] would be really hard.
Thank you to Stephen for taking time out to answer these questions!
Quick reminders:
Taster sessions at Stratford Campus will be on Thursday 31st January 2019, 7pm-9pm. This will be the LAST taster session.
The Club Anniversary social will be in Sunday 3rd February 2019, 3pm-8pm in the usual training room.
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