Grand Master Mitchell: How the Founder influenced me and the Caribbean
The Founder of Taekwon-do, General Choi Hong Hi (9 November 1918 – 15 June 2002) was born in South Korea. He developed the martial art of Taekwon-do following early training in other martial arts and established the International Taekwon-do Federation of which he became the Founding President in 1966.
Whilst much can be found on the life and times of General Choi, what is less known is how he influenced Taekwon-do in the Caribbean – and to understand this, is to understand my own journey through Taekwon-do.
I travelled from Grenada to the UK with my family as a child, and whilst I have lived much of my life in the UK, my heart still remains in Grenada, and I have two homes. I started Taekwon-do as a young man in the early 70’s in Oxford, UK. I was awarded my 1st Dan in the 80’s from my instructor, Grand Master Ri Ki Ha, who I closely worked and travelled with over the following years.
Under his instruction, I competed nationally and internationally and received worldwide recognition for my achievements.
Grand Master Ri Ki Ha was a close confidant of General Choi and as a result of this relationship, I was introduced to our Founder for the very first time in Germany in the late 80’s where I was attending a seminar conducted by the Founder. I met him again months later whilst competing in the European Championships as a 3rd Dan.
I continued to participate around the world in competitions and later as an umpire. I recognise that good fortune and the right set of circumstances provided me with these opportunities, but I also worked hard and remained focussed.
I competed in the World Championships in Montreal, Canada and the European Championships in Budapest, Hungary in the 80’s and 90’s amongst others. I won a silver medal in the European Championships in the 90’s.
General Choi promoted me to 5th Dan in 1992 in Reading University, UK.
I met General Choi many times over the years when we both travelled to events across the world and we established a friendly, respectful rapport, where the founder looked to me for an honest opinion, when he often found that the people surrounding him did not.
Over the years, I travelled extensively with General Choi including to the Czech Republic, Canada, North Korea, Poland, France, Germany, UK and Puerto Rico to name just a few countries we travelled to.
However, whilst I did have a genial relationship with General Choi, he was also a demanding instructor. In Vienna, Austria, he asked me to perform the first pattern in Taekwon-do at a Masters Seminar, which I did. He awarded me 7 marks out of 10 – demonstrating I still had more to learn!
In 1993, General Choi was conducting an International Seminar at Loughborough University, UK when he invited me to meet him. He said that ITF needed an expert to work in the Caribbean.
It was here that he told me he wanted me to develop Taekwon-do in the Caribbean and he appointed me as Caribbean Ambassador.
My initial plan was to set up an organisation for each of the different Caribbean islands, but I was met with resistance from some of the Masters in the Pan-Am. Grand Master Park Jong Soo was tasked with attending meetings with me in the Pan-Am region and the Caribbean to support me to set up a Caribbean Federation.
The Pan-Am eventually agreed that I could set up the Federation, as was Gen Choi’s wish, and I went ahead and set up an association with Grenada, Jamaica, Anguilla and Barbados to start with.
As the organisation started to operate, we invited people to conduct seminars and participate in competitions. One of the first dignitaries to attended was Grand Master Hi Ki Ha, followed by Grand Master Park Jong Soo and a few years later, Grand Master Adolfo Villanueva amongst others.
General Choi invited me to Vienna in 1995 when he was encountering conflict with his son, who wanted to take over from his father as leader of the ITF. I worked with Gen Choi and counselled him against being too hasty, but unfortunately his son was steadfast in his ambitions and General Choi ended up expelling his son from ITF and this caused the split.
General Choi came to Jamaica in 2000 to conduct an International Seminar, where he attended social events arranged for him. We cooked, ate, drank too much Saki, had lots of discussion but where there was lots of laughter and happiness. These are some of my fondest memories of our great Founder.
I continued to work, meet and socialise with the Founder until he appointed Prof Chang Ung on his deathbed to take his place and to continue his work and ambitions for Taekwon-do across the world.
General Choi Hong Hi had a huge influence over my life, and consequently the development of Taekwon-do in the Caribbean and he will forever live on in my heart.
Long live our founder.