Master Class with Master Michael Bou Daher 7th degree black belt
It’s not often that one gets to train with a Master Instructor if you live in a small capital city like Hobart but every so often the opportunity arises and you have to grasp it with both hands. This is what the students of Southern ITF Taekwon-Do did when Master Michael Daher graciously offered to assist the senior instructor of SITF, Mr Steve Weston with his preparation for his next grading to Sixth degree black belt and to run a series of workshops for his students. Almost every one of the adult students of the club participated in one of the three Master classes conducted by Master Daher.
Master Daher is a seventh degree black belt and the President of the Oceanic region for the ITF and is also a member of the Board of the ITF. He was able to draw on his recent experiences working with the ITF Technical committee at International Instructor courses in the Oceanic region to put together the workshops and make them not only informative and challenging but also very good fun and interesting.
The early class was designed for junior ranks and covered many of the fundamental techniques including how to use sine wave to generate power and speed. But it also covered some basic stretching and strengthening mechanisms to be able to perform ITF techniques dynamically and with devastating results. By the end of the session Master Daher had demonstrated his teaching ability with even the youngest and oldest white belts being able to perform jumping double front snap kicks.
The second class which included 5th gups and above was even more dynamic and involved many useful competition sparring skills and even more jumping kicks. Master Daher has now developed a formidable array of techniques that he teaches his competitors for international standard competition, and he regularly attends ITF championships all over the world working with some of the most successful ITF coaches including Master Wim Bos, who is the current Secretary General of the International body but until recently was also the head of the competition arm of the ITF in Europe.
The final class was for black belts and became more challenging for the participants with even more complex sparring drills and multiple jumping kicks being the rule for the day. Again Master Daher emphasised the need to become both strong and flexible and spoke about his own routine of rising each day at 5am and spending an hour a day on strength work at the gym and at least twenty minutes on stretching. It was clear that this strategy works for him as can be seen from his remarkable signature kick, the 360 degree jumping high twisting kick.
Master Daher also spent a day refining the techniques of Mr Weston and fourth degree instructor Lindsey Wherrett covering all the patterns from Chon Ji to Se Jong. He explained many of the subtle points to be observed when performing these techniques and greatly assisted both practitioners in their preparation. Given the isolation of Tasmania from not only Mainland Australia but also the rest of the ITF world it was a great privilege to have the attention of one of the foremost Masters in the region. One of the most notable aspects of Master Daher’s personality is his enthusiasm for the art and his willingness to answer and ask questions. These traits which are outlined in General Choi’s Encylopaedia as some of the characteristics of a good instructor, are found in spades in this formidable Master.
This was Master Daher’s first visit to Hobart and although he spent most of his time in the Dojang he did get the chance to see a small part of Salamanca place and the docks and was very impressed with the beauty of one of the oldest towns in Australia. He made comment that he hoped to revisit in the near future and see more of Tasmania. Given the reception he received from the students it is likely he will now become a regular visitor to this fair isle.
Below are a few comments from the students who participated in the classes.
Upon reflection of the seminar I came to realise that Master Daher reinforced that no matter what your age you can achieve great results with practice and perseverance. For example, a slight change in approach under the guidance of Master Daher enabled me to kick at least 30centimetres higher than I thought possible. Master Daher was an inspiration and personifies the tenets of Taekwon-Do.
Kate Fennell 6th gup
Training with Master Daher was an amazing experience. Even carrying an injury, his skills and level of energy was awe inspiring.
Wayne Fehlberg 2nd degree
I found Master Daher's Seminar most rewarding and enjoyable. His insights during the Black Belt Seminar regarding the importance of hand positioning during slow motion kicking techniques I found extremely eye-opening and will be a great benefit to my whole technique of kicking. It was also wonderful that Master Daher was so approachable and willing to answer so many questions in such a genuine way.
Dr Dave Nichols 1st degree