Lawson adorned in gold and silver after taekwondo state championship

TORQUAY Taekwondo instructor Alistair Lawson emerged from the recent State Championship with a gold medal in the team event, and silver in the individual one.

This follows on from late June when Alistair earned the bronze in President’s Cup Oceania, and also came third in the Australian Open, which saw competitors from over 50 countries face-off against one another.

Alistair’s recent form has been no coincidence.

He has recently re-branded his Taekwondo school to Endurance Taekwondo, saying that the name was chosen because he wanted to encourage “improvement through endurance”.

Alistair has certainly put his words into practice, having spent much of the year training with Taekwondo grandmasters and ninth dans, the highest rank awarded to people in Taekwondo.

Alistair also spent a month training with ninth dan Sim Pan, who recently came second in the World Taekwondo Hanmadang competition.
Alistair spent 2-3 hours a day, five days a week, training with Sim Pan, who Alistair described as a hard taskmaster, but a superb teacher.

However, despite his recent achievements, Alistair is still most passionate when speaking about his students.

He has recently been taking his students to club competitions in Melbourne, and says he has been delighted at the growth they have shown.

“There’s nothing better than seeing your students develop, take in all the information and use that to progress.”

His time training with the Sim Pan and the other grandmasters has given Alistair a more allencompassing view of the martial art, not only improving techniques, but his understanding of Taekwondo too.

He is now eager to impart this knowledge onto his students, ensuring his teachings are as comprehensive as possible.

For Alistair, Taekwondo is not about reaching a certain skilllevel, but rather about improvement through endurance, not only in Taekwondo, but in life in general.