When I first began my Tae Kwon Do training in 1987 the name on everybody’s lips at the time was a certain, then Master, Hee II Cho. This continued through out the next six or seven years and only when I reached the grade of Black Tags in 1993 did I finally get to train alongside this true martial arts legend in one of his many international seminars. The venue at the time was the famous Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. Every last inch of flooring in the International athletics venue was filled with eager martial artists, buzzing at the thought of training alongside a man who; to many of them, had been a huge, and in some cases only true inspiration behind their martial arts progress.

I was young at the time, still a junior in fact, but when Grandmaster Cho explod­ed with his first technique it opened my eyes to the true degree of what is possi­ble if you dedicate your whole life to your chosen art. I was exceptionally lucky the following year to grade for the Black belt under Grandmaster Hee II Cho when he held a testing in Gloucestershire, England. I’m sure, like many of those who stood beside me on that day, that the black belt we received for attaining the grade is cherished above all of our other martial arts achievements.

Thousands of people have trained with the Grandmaster since that day but only a privileged few have the honour of being able to not only call Hee II Cho their Grandmaster but also a dear friend and to a large extent - “a second father” figure. I recently had the pleasure of discussing many a martial arts subject with one of these people, sixth Degree Master and AIMAA (Grandmaster Cho’s International Association) European Director, John Darcy. Of course there was only one place to start as Master Darcy elaborates - “It was 1982 at the time and I was part of the A/TA (Irish Tae Kwon Do Assoc), Grandmaster Cho would come over each year to do our testings and then a seminar. That is how I first met Grandmaster Cho.”

“Around 1984 there was a meeting called and the Chairman of the AITA at the time said that he thought we had the experience in Ireland and didn’t need Grandmaster Cho anymore. I knew this was wrong so I stood up at the meeting, I was the only one out of maybe one hundred, and said that my loyalty was with Grandmaster Cho and I would be staying with him. At that stage I decided to walk out of the meeting and since then I have dedicated my Tae Kwon Do life to the AIMAA and Grandmaster Cho. Soon after this I traveled to Los Angeles where Grandmaster Cho had his school at the time. Whilst there I witnessed how he had installed the proper discipline, respect and attitude into his school and it was then I decided I would return and change the face of The Kwon Do in Ireland”.

“Up until this point I had only seen a fraction of what the man had to offer. That trip helped me understand the true nature of the man. He is special, there is nobody in the world like Grandmaster Cho, physically, mentally and spiritually. He is a one off. There has never been anyone like him and there never will be”.

So does this mean that the martial arts world is losing its loyalty and dedication? Surely someone who has dedicated nearly forty years of their life to the martial arts and to one Grandmaster is qualified to answer. “I’ll give you an example,” he says. “Young people today, they go to college and in many cases they gain a better education than their mother and father. Does this mean they don’t need their mother and father any more? It’s the same way that we as martial artist need our masters and our grandmasters.”

“I know of one person who was with me in Ireland up till 2002 and is now calling himself a master although I definitely do not regard him as such.” says Master Darcy. “When he left the AIMAA he was second degree and now he is sixth degree. How can this be? It should take eighteen years between the second degree and the masters degree. He has ‘achieved’ this in only four. It means these people have no integrity for themselves and no integrity for the grade. The Masters is supposed to be an honourable degree. I have also known that people buy these awards from the internet."

So what is the reason behind this ever-increasing trend? Why are we wit­nessing the martial arts diluted and why are we seeing instructor upon instructor leave the founding Associations to set up on their own? Master Darcy has one sug­gestion, “It’s greed, these people get to a certain grade, think they know it all. Like I said before the loyalty is gone. They are lead away by money. My fellow AIMAA Master, Philip Ameris (AIMAA Technical Director based in the US, who has also stood beside Grandmaster Cho for over thirty years) and I have discussed this on numerous occasions.

Master Ameris is like a brother to me, he has also shown what a true master of the martial arts is. We can only describe our feelings by referring it to the meaning behind one of our Tae Kwon Do Forms - Po Eun”- (In Tae Kwon Do each pattern is given a meaning, derived from a historical character of importance in Korean history). Master Darcy continues “Po-Eun was a poet who wrote a poem ‘I shall not serve a second master though I may be crucified one hundred times’. That is how we feel about Grandmaster Cho. I would rather cut my hand off than leave him”.

“Grandmaster Cho lives and breathes his art".  I notice at this point that Master Darcy becomes visibly inspired when he reflects on the attributes that have created one of, if not the, greatest martial artist in history. He continues, “He doesn’t sit behind his desk and say, yes I am the Grandmaster. He has never asked any of his students to do anything that he doesn’t do himself. He will train harder than any one of us and in turn that is where we get it from. This work ethic is passed down from Master to Master. That is the way it is in the AIMAA today”

How about favourite memories? I asked Master Darcy for one or two. “I have lots of memories” he said. I again notice the master’s eyes light up as he struggles to pick just a few. “I remember we took a Christmas vacation to the Bahamas and we were walking together when someone approached us and got down on his knees in front of Grandmaster Cho. He said ‘Sir, I have all your books and videos. It is such an honour to meet you’, at that moment I had to pinch myself to remember the company I was in. Also, learning the pattern, Se-Jong, on the boardwalk before going to swim with the dolphins. Those were the highlights.”

It is very clear from the first moment you meet Master Darcy that this is an individual who is so passionate and dedicated to his chosen art and Grandmaster. There are no gimmicks, with this particular master, what you see is what you get. Master Darcy finished our interview with a little story that sums up what he has created in Ireland, an undisputed loyalty and dedication to, as he puts it, ‘the greatest martial artist living today’.

He continues, “We have an instructor here in Ireland, Mr Finnin, who built a little Do-Jang in his back yard. He told me once that he sometimes trains at one o’clock in the morning.” So I fired a question at him and asked him what inspires him to keep training. “Well sir, I have pic­tures of Grandmaster Cho on the wall, along side one of me and you, and one of me with Grandmaster Cho. Then I look down to the Cho badge on my Do-bok and the AIMAA lettering on my belt. That is the only inspiration I need.”

Surely as we continue through a period where people search for the quick fix, in an area where there are no quick fixes, this should be all the inspiration that any of us true martial artists need.

By Karim Bekgacem