My name is Michael Dew and I hold a 7th degree black belt. I studied judo as a youngster, but apart from that I haven’t practiced any martial art other than tae kwon-do.

I began training in 1969 when I was in Malaysia. It wasn’t something I planned to do, it just happened. I was on secondment duties to the Malaysian Air Force and began training under Master Nam Tai Hee, General Choi’s right hand man.

When I returned to Britain I was a brown belt (the equivalent grade is now a red belt) and remained at that grade for five years. Teh Hok Aun, who was then the instructor at the Glasgow Academy, took me under his wing and gave me a lot of encouragement at that time.

I set up my first tae kwon-do school in 1975 in Weston super Mare, on the RAF camp, and it spread from there until there are now over 100 TAGB schools in the area. So I suppose I have been responsible for the expansion of tae kwon-do in the South West. I am now based in Bristol and run the Academy where our black belt gradings take place.

As Area Co-ordinator I hold regular meetings with local instructors so everyone knows exactly what is going on. The TAGB is very much an instructor’s association. We know that instructors are the people who put in the enthusiasm at ground level, that’s why we look after them.

I am also the vice-chairman of the TAGB, and chairman of the British Tae Kwon-Do Council. That takes up more and more of my time because a large association needs a great deal of managing, so our committee holds regular meetings.

Also the BTC is at long last beginning to make a difference to tae kwon-do in this country so more time is taken up organising BTC policies.

I would like to think that I have been able to influence the TAGB for the better, although I haven’t done that on my own. There are eight guys on the committee and we all have pretty definite ideas. I admire the way the members of the committee are all so very different and yet pull together. There is no one person who dominates the TAGB.

My greatest joy has been to see the TAGB develop in the way it has this past twenty plus years and I would like to see the TAGB continuing along its present lines – progressing steadily and not expanding too quickly.

Membership of the TAGB has several benefits. On the tournament scene, those benefits are obvious because the TAGB is the most internationally recognised organisation for those who want to compete. We produce some top fighters because we have such a depth of talent to choose from – there are so many good tournament fighters who are not yet in the team!

Another benefit of TAGB membership is that being part of a large organisation means you can travel all over Britain with your job or studies and still continue to train in a TAGB dojang.

Finally, my personal message to students out there is: if you are going to take up a martial art, then the most important thing is to join a well-established organisation with a good reputation, made up of schools which are run properly. I think you will find that all TAGB schools are run that way! So, if you want to join an organisation that is still growing and an organisation that looks after its students then the TAGB is for you.

This is not just my opinion, over 20,000 current TAGB members agree with me!