Personal
Qualifications
Umpiring/Coaching
Seminars
Tournaments
Involvement
Personal
- Born in 1971 in South Africa as an Irish citizen
- Started Taekwondo at the age of 12
- Married with six children.
- o Five children participate in Taekwondo.
- o One daughter is a 2nd degree black belt.
- My professional career in Taekwondo started in the late 1980’s
- Moved to Ireland in July 2011
- Presently running two clubs in the Waterford region.
- Affiliated with the Irish National Taekwondo Association (INTA) in Ireland
- On the grading panel for the INTA
- In 1985 received an award as the best Taekwondo Student in South Africa
Qualifications
Black Belt Grading
- 1987 – 1st Degree under the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF)
- 1989 – 2nd Degree Taekwondo Black Belt, under the ITF,
- 1991 – 3rd Degree Taekwondo Black Belt under the ITF Cert No SA -3-3
- 1995 – 4th Degree Taekwondo in Italy Cert. No SA-4-2
- 1999 – 5th Degree Taekwondo with ITF in Dublin Ireland Cert No SA – 5 – 1
- 2005 – 6th Degree Taekwondo Black Belt, under GTF Cert IRE-6-19
- 2011 – 7th Degree Taekwondo Black Belt Master GTF 2011 Cert IRE-7-10
- 2021 – 8th Degree Taekwondo Black Belt, under the ITF,
Umpiring/Coaching
- Qualified international ITF Referee
- Global Taekwon-Do International Referee, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011.
- Selected to coach Irish Team for Patterns in World Championships 2014.
- Selected to referee for ITF at World Championships.
- Refereed at most tournaments attended.
- 2010 – Selected as one of three Instructors across the World to head up the Technical committee of the Global Taekwondo Federation by Technical Chairman Master Ha, 8th Degree Black Belt
- 2014 – Selected to coach Ireland Team to Choi Jung Wha ITF World Championships in Italy, returned with 4 golds, 3 silvers from my personal students including 2 golds from my daughter Christine Franks.
- 2016-Selected to referee for Ireland at Choi Jung Wha ITF World Championships in England.
Seminars
- Attended and completed 5 IICs under General Choi, in
- 1991 North Korea,
- 1992 Moscow,
- 1994 South Africa,
- 1997 Prague
- 1999 Trinity College Dublin.
- Completed 8 IICs with GTF from 2004 to 2011
- 2005 – Technical International Seminar in Johannesburg conducted by Master Xuan Ha, 8th Degree Master and Technical Director of GTF.
- 2012 – January IIC in Tralee
- 2012 – June IUC in Limerick.
- 2013 – IIC under Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa in Dublin.
- Completed IUC under Choi Jung Wha ITF in U.K England.
- 2018 – May IIC in City West Dublin
Tournaments
- The members of our clubs participate as many tournaments as possibly annually These tournaments include.
- INTA tournaments & Championships
- British Open Championship
- The students medal count is generally more that 80%
- For many years have we have organised annual tournaments & Championships
- The Crystal Classic Tournament we host for the last five years is an annual event on the INTA tournament calendar.
- Personal Participation in
- 1991 Taekwon-Do Championships in Pyong Yang, North Korea
- 1991 – Selected as Springbok to represent South Africa at the World
- 1993 – Selected at Protea to represent South Africa at the World Taekwon-Do Championships in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
- 1995 – Won the Australasian Championships for Sparring and Patterns in Melbourne
- Since 2000 have been to more than 14 international and world championships, taking anything from 8 to 25 participants to these tournaments with a high medal count.
- 2006 – Six of my Black Belt students became World Champions at the GTF Taekwon-Do World Championships in Italy
- 2009 – Eight of my Black Belt students became World Champions at the GTF Taekwon-Do World Championships in Malaysia
- 2018 – Nov coached my own club team to UK open in Scotland- returning with 3 Golds, 2 Silvers and 2 bronzes.
- 2019 – Nov Coached my own club team to UK Open in Crawley – returned home with 4 Golds, 3 silvers and 4 Bronze.
Involvement
- While in South Africa I trained more than 45 black belts from 1st to 4th degree many of whom are still involved in the Taekwondo.
- Established the Global Taekwondo Federation of South Africa in 2004.
- Played a major role on request Grand Master Paul Weiler in the establishment of the South African Taekwondo Association in 2019
- Giving seminars on a regular basis in South Africa
- A working model has been developed to assist clubs in being successful. This includes the technical and operational side (Admin and Finance)