Thornton

Paul Whyatt

As a member of the Eclpise Tae Kwon Do instructor team, it's my honour to help train and guide our students.

To pass on my own enthusiasm for Tae Kwon Do and the skill it teaches and to help instill discipline, self control and respect for themselves and for others.

Core values, all of which Tae Kwon Do embodies.

My Journey

I began learning Tae Kwon Do back in 1984 after walking into and enrolling at what was then, Fleetwood Tae Kwon Do Academy, training then under the tuition and guidance of Master Terry Clark.

However, after 6 years at the club and attaining 1st kup (red belt black tag), I would go on to be successful in my application to become a police officer, joining the Lancashire Constabulary in 1991.

A 30 year career in policing followed, and despite finding time to train sporadically, the commitment to this role and shift work meant regular training proved to be difficult to manage and regular attendance not possible to maintain.

This all changed however in 2022 after I had retired from Lancashire police.

My daughter had been training in Tae Kwon Do for several years by this point and was a member of Cleveleys Tae Kwon Do club.

I no longer had a reason not to reignite the passion I had never really lost and return to regular training, but found myself full of self doubt.

I had been a long time out, I was now the wrong side of 50, could I still even jump properly? And despite regular training in Home Office approved police defensive tactics and self defence skills, it was not the "dynamic Tae Kwon Do" I had regularly trained at in the 80s.

Eventually, I was able to shelve that doubt and with encouraging words from my family, I joined my daughter one evening in attending one of her Tae Kwon Do classes.

Its fair to say, that from that point on I was very much back!

I went on to train under Master Corinna Broadbent and Master Andrew Warwick at Cleveleys Tae Kwon Do, attaing 1st dan black belt under their guidance and training.

Sadly, both Master Corinna and Master Andrew would go on to announce their retirement in 2023.

Thankfully though Grand Master Lomax had offered to take students from the club into his own and after just one session with GM Lomax, my daughter, my wife and I became members of Eclipse Tae Kwon Do.

Since then, with regular training and under the guidance of Grand Master Lomax I have achieved kukkiwon certified 1st Dan and 2nd Dan black belts and become a BTC certified Tae Kwon Do instructor at the club.