2 days ago2 min read

Impact Day 2024

I love being a student of Martial Arts, however I don't often get the opportunity to be in a class of other students because my working week in TaeKwon-Do is very busy. Therefore, given the chance to be a student again I jump in deep with both feet.

TaeKwon-Do Impact, the governing body we're a member of, provide us with many opportunities in TaeKwon-Do and one of those is an annual event where we train under the three most senior instructors in Impact and even the country. This is called, Impact Day.

2024's event took place on November 17th between 10am and 4pm.

The 3 Instructors

Grand Master Nardizzi is at the very top of TaeKwon-Do in the UK and the World. He is the 3rd person in Great Britain to achieve the highest rank in TaeKwon-Do, Grand Master 9th Degree.

Senior Master Anderson, 8th Degree Senior Master, the 11th person in Great Britain to have achieved 8th Degree in TaeKwon-Do. Master Anderson is also celebrating a tremendous 50 YEARS of TaeKwon-Do during 2024.

Senior Master Dennis, 8th Degree Senior Master, is the 12th person in Great Britain to have achieved 8th Degree in TaeKwon-Do.

Training with Peers

Many instructors feel the same as me, evidently. There were many 4th Degree and higher blackbelts at Impact Day this year, two 6th Degrees too so I was 3rd in line this time.

I was very pleased also that two students from Banstead TKD took part, Anna and Hadeel - well done to you guys.

The order of the day

I think it went like this:

Warm Up
Patterns
Applications
Step Sparring
Self Defence
Power Production

Grand Master Nardizzi took us higher grades for our patterns, and it was such a valuable session for technique, understanding, they why and how. It became apparent I have much to work on to see improvement.

Master Anderson took the Step Sparring and Power Production Sessions. I enjoyed these a great deal and had the chance to demonstrate some technique too. It's also clear that many Blackbelt level strikes are very difficult to produce sufficient power, and this is another area where personal work is required to find skill improvement.

Master Dennis took the self defence session, and I got the opportunity to show some skill set here too while Master Dennis used me to demonstrate the self defence applications and techniques. The practical application of TaeKwon-Do is one of my my most highly prioritised interests in the martial art.

50 Years of TaeKwon-Do - Master Anderson

Everyone was invited to attend an evening meal with the instructors to celebrate Master Anderson's 50 Years of TaeKwon-Do. We went to a Chinese restaurant close to the Impact HQ in Croydon and celebrated and talked TaeKwon-Do and got to hear many stories from Master Anderson and Grand Master Nardizzi about their time involved in TaeKwon-Do.