Goulburn Martial Arts Academy owner and head instructor, Craig Harmer, was recently voted the vice president of the Chan Hun International Taekwon-do Federation Australia.
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Following his appointment, Harmer said it was "nice" to be recognised by his peers for the role he plays in the Australian taekwon-do fraternity.
"It's just nice to be seen as a leader within the taekwon-do community in Australia," he said.
Harmer's election to the role followed the decision by Australian taekwon-do clubs to unify under the CHITF international banner.
That decision, Harmer explained, came because the clubs were uncomfortable with the leadership of the All Australian National Taekwon-do Federation, the former governing body for Australian taekwon-do, a significant portion of which was North Korean.
"We felt that that was unethical for us to continue down that line, so we decided to join a gentleman by the name of senior grandmaster Phap Lu," Harmer said.
"He was a senior pioneer in taekwon-do, and he assisted the founder of taekwon-do in his seminars, so he's one of the most senior taekwon-do members in the world.
"It's a really strong affiliation technically, he's a very highly esteemed member of the taekwon-do fraternity so we decided to go in that direction."
The change in affiliation was one that had been coming, Harmer said, for "five or six years".
With his new national role, Harmer said one of the biggest differences has been the need to think about the development of Australian students nation-wide instead of on a local scale.
"Instead of just trying to develop your own students and members locally, it really puts it on you to think on a more national and international scale," he said.
CHITF Australia has already outlined several goals which it will begin working towards in the near future.
"[The emphasis is] really on the art and the members, initially locally, then nationally and internationally," he said.
"The executive committee are already in discussion about what we can provide for our members and how we can affect change in the community as a wider group ... we'd like to start some instructor training and [focus on] retention of wider members as well.
"Tournaments are great, but not everybody wants or desires to do that, but training camps are something else we can offer our members."
These training camps, Harmer said, would aim to bring in experts from across Australia and the world to conduct seminars.
Though the first step, before any of these plans can be implemented, is to standardise what the students have learned.
CHITF Australia hopes to release a new handbook for instructors containing a syllabus which will guide students in their development, "so everyone is on the same page and learning the same knowledge and skill set," Harmer said.
With his responsibilities broadened and time stretched thin, Harmer has begun training instructors at GMAA to help ease his transition onto the national team.
"Last year I started developing a junior leadership program with my junior blackbelts, so during this holiday period they've all been running classes," Harmer said.
"Last year they were in classes with me modeling how the class structure goes and how to teach, and now they're creating their own lesson plans and learning how to teach themselves.
That's something we need to develop, leaders. [Head instructors] can't be the gatekeeper, you need to teach other people to pass it on."
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