Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy

My name is Vikram Gautam and I am the Assistant instructor of the Rayners
Lane Taekwon-do Academy. I am currently a 3rd degree Black Belt in
Taekwon-do. I have been training now for nearly 18 years.

Before Taekwon-do I was learning Judo. The classes that I had been taking
were a 'short intro into Judo' which had a finite time on them. So after these classes were over, I was on the lookout for somewhere else to train. Luckily, my mum had a friend whose son was learning Taekwon-do and I decided to have a tester class.

My interest of martial arts had initially came from watching martial arts and kung-fu films and then after learning Judo for the short time I did, it made my hunger to learn even greater.

Mr. David Bryan, 6th degree and Mr. John Pepper, 2nd degree took my first lesson at the age of 10. I still remember my first lesson now. I remember sitting on one of the chairs near the back of hall, waiting for the class to start, watching groups of students talking, some stretching and a couple sparring. The lesson zipped passed, I remember warming up one minute and the next leaving to go home. I joined up with the club, not because if was my mum's friend son who introduced me to it, but because I found that the qualities of this club were strong.

I continued to train at this club, with the exceptional guidance of Mr. David Bryan & Mr. John Pepper, and 9 years later I achieved my Black Belt. The average time for a student to go from white to black belt is 4 years. I took over twice as long, not because I was slow learner or because I did not attend regular classes, it was purely based on the fact I didn't want to rush each belt as I wanted to fully understand and practice each syllabus for each belt.

As a coloured belt I was fascinated by the sparring more so than the destruction elements and the patterns. Competitions absolutely amazed me. I used to go down to competitions and sit and watch in awe. The first time I ever competed in a competition was when I was a blue belt. I felt I had that by this time I had enough confidence and experience to have a go. I won two gold's, and from this point onwards I competed at nearly every competition I could, not because I wanted to win more trophies it was because I wanted to test my physical and mental fitness.

As time went on I realized that sparring is not all of what Taekwon-do is all about, though I'm not saying that when I was fascinated by sparring I did nothing but concentrate on that alone. I felt to be a good student you had good knowledge and skill in the many other areas of Taekwon-do.

As time continued on, a senior student (Stuart Anslow) that I trained with, opened a School in Rayners Lane (just round the corner from where I used to live). By this time I was a red belt, I decide that I would utilize his support for extra training towards my black belt and in return help him with the Academy. I continued to train at the Club in Rayners Lane and during my time training there and at my original club I achieved my black belt in 2000.

After staying at 1st degree level for 5 years which I spent revising and studying my new patterns, as well as my terminology, along with other elements of the syllabus, I found myself ready to grade for my 2nd degree and I was examined in March 2006 and successfully passed my 2nd Dan grading. In 2010 I graded for 3rd degree under legendary TKD Pioneer, Master Willie Lim, 8th degree.