Universal Taekwondo Federation

Interview with Jason Creighton by Kamalpreet Kaur Badasha

This interview gives an insight into the opinions and background of one of Jaguar Tae Kwon Do's senior instructors, Master Jason Creighton, 5th Dan.

KB: When did you start training Tae Kwon Do?
JC: When I was 13, so 21 - 22 years ago.

KB: What was your main motivation to start?
JC: A friend of mine said there was a class down the road. I didn't have a clue what it was, so he said "Come down and we will have a go at it". We both started training at the same time; both made it to black belt around the same time. He stopped and I carried on.

KB: Why did you carry on? Did you not think that black belt was...
JC: I knew there was more Tae Kwon Do could teach me, so I wanted to keep on learning and that is why I am still training.

KB: What was one of the first lessons you learned in Tae Kwon Do?
JC: Step back arae maki (low section block), ap keubi (long stance). That was the same start for every single lesson for the first six years of my training.

KB: How did that help in other areas of training?
JC: The class I started in was real basics, it was all about basics. So there was very little sparring. We did some competition, but only that it was a sideline. The class was just a basics class. It gave me a really good foundation in basics. Then it took me a while to build up my sparring, to a level that I was happy at.

KB: What was it like competing?
JC: Brilliant, absolutely brilliant it was the best thing ever. Winning is unbelievable, losing is bad but it's still better than not competing. It's bad to stop fighting.

KB: When you compete, what kind of characteristics, do you think help you the most? What do you learn the most when competing?
JC: Determination, focus. The actual competing requires more strength of character than technique. Because the best person in the world can spar brilliantly in the gym, but you stick them in a ring on the mats and they fall to pieces, so it's really just strength of character.

Sometimes the worst person in the gym, turns out to be some sort of animal and just whips ass.

KB: In terms of students, what kind of characteristics makes a good student, in terms of sparring?
JC: Sparring, a bit of natural aggression and confidence.

KB: How would you build that up in someone that was quiet passive to begin with?
JC: Good fighters, really good fighters, you can't.

KB: It's got to be inbuilt, it has got to be instinctive...
JC: It has got to 'be' before you even come to a Tae Kwon Do class. Someone can be taught to spar in a gym really well, put them in a ring and that is when it has to come from within, it can't be taught.

KB: Who were you looking up to when you started training in terms of kyorugi (sparring) and poomsae (patterns)? Was it the same person?
JC: No, no it was different people. Sparring was a guy called Paul Gibson, who was the biggest fella I have ever trained with. He was like 25 stone fighting weight and 6ft 9. He was British Champion for a time.

And patterns it was a guy called Dougie. I don't remember his surname. I saw him take a second Dan grading on my third or fourth class. I just could not believe a man could do these things. And still to this day ...I can now do those things he was doing, but at the time I just could not believe somebody could do them. Breaking wood, jumping high and breaking wood, it was brilliant.

KB: In terms of poomsae or kyorugi which aspect is more important to Tae Kwon Do? Or do they both have equal standing?
JC: It depends on what stage you are, it depends what you are into. So, I don't think either one, one is more important than the other.

When you are young kyorugi is fantastic, fighting. You can train to such a high level. As you get older you just physically can't train, your fighting you probably can still do, but to get yourself to the level where you can compete is so difficult. Your body can't take the training, so that's when you move over to coaching or to the forms or patterns.

They are equally as important it just depends on the person. I don't think either one should be neglected. But if you are into sparring, you should concentrate on sparring, because poomsae is a sidetrack that is not essential for sparring.

KB: Do you think poomsae should be in the Olympics?
JC: No.

KB: Why not?
JC: I think it is a bit like synchronised swimming, that shouldn't be in the Olympics either; ballroom dancing that shouldn't be in the Olympics.

Fighting Tae Kwon Do now that is an Olympic sport that is two people competing.

Doing a series of moves and getting judged on it: aesthetically pleasing, plus technically right and if it all pulls together that is not an Olympic sport. That is not the true nature of what the Olympics are about.

KB: They have made the rules different, to make it more exciting. Do you think that is effective? Should they have left it as it was?
JC: Series of evolution. It is not a static martial art. All changes are good, mixes it up, making it more exciting.

I went to the Sydney Olympics, it was boring and no one understood what was going on, there were bouts of one nil and over 9 minutes, only one point scored, it is just not enough.

So, changing it is good, keeps fighters on their toes, keeps coaches on their toes, mixes it up. So I'm in support of the changes. It is an evolution of the martial art.

KB: If I was a spectator and I had never seen Tae Kwon Do before, how would you describe it?
JC: You would need one of those dictaphone things talking to you, explaining it. You can't punch to the face and the kicks are to the body and head, punches to the body but they don't really score, so no punches to the face -changes everything. If you keep that in mind, you can understand why things happen.

KB: Where do you see the future of Tae Kwon Do going?
JC: Hopefully staying within the Olympics, but I'm not sure it will be in the Olympics. And hopefully again keep evolving, fighters keep getting better and stronger.

Poomsae, I like the idea of having a World Championship in Poomsae. But I don't think it should be in the Olympics. Building the Poomsae as part of competition, as long as it does not become a sport and is still traditional Poomsae.

KB: What aspects of Tae Kwon Do make it sport or what would make it a Martial Art?
JC: The sport is point scoring, fighting is about points. It is not about knocking people out, although that is a brilliant result. But it is about scoring more points than someone else that is not a martial art.

Martial Arts is defending yourself. Patterns build focus, so you can focus strikes. Then Self Defence that is martial arts obviously. But the sparring is not really.

Someone who is good at sparring will probably be good in the street, but not necessarily.

KB: Do you think Martial Artists have an advantage over people who don't do Martial Arts, in terms of character...
JC: That's a very loaded question. I don't think Martial Arts have tapped into some secret knowledge that no one else has. I think there are other ways to get the same sort of self-control that aren't Martial Arts.

But I do think someone who does Martial Arts and someone who does absolutely nothing: first of all they are physical fitter, they understand the limitations of their body, they understand the dimensions of their body, they know how long their arms and legs are. They don't bump into things, stupid accidents tend to happen less to them.

That could be equally said about Yoga, about Tai Chi martial art. There are lots of other ways to build these things, meditation, that builds strength of mind and the knowledge of your body.

KB: When you were competing, how did you control your weight? Did you have any problem with your weight?
JC: My weight was terrible, I was fighting 76 kilos and that was a struggle. I went up to 78 and it was easier. The Olympic weight was 80. By the time I was stopping to finish, at about 28. It was difficult, starvation, I tried all sort of things. In the end it was too difficult.

KB: How do you maintain your flexibility?
JC: Flexibility is really important and you have to keep stretching. As you are performing a technique, you can't be fighting against your own body, your body should flow. If you are throwing a head height kick and your hamstrings are even slightly tight. It slows it down so much it is not going to hit, unless the person standing there is half stunned anyway.

KB: Do you have any regrets within your Martial Arts career?
JC: I think not concentrating on fighting a lot earlier. Whenever most people were at their peak, I was fighting before that, but not really concentrating on sparring. I was still doing techniques, gradings. I just should have stopped all of that ...sought and found the right people to train with. Really just focused my life on it.

KB: What makes a good club? As you said you needed to find the right people to train with.
JC: A club where there is respect for senior grades and respect for the instructor.

Where there is a relaxed atmosphere, in so much that if you are injured you can drop out but not so much with little tiny niggles. People can train, but they are allowed to stop when they are injured.

I think just it revolves around the instructor and the instructor defines the club.

KB: What would make a good instructor?
JC: Someone who is open minded, constantly willing to learn, constantly willing to take on new methods of training. Someone who encourages their students and does not hold them back encourages them to seek out other people to train with.

Someone who is willing too, devotes time to their students and the students are willing to accept that. Someone who is strict enough with people to tell them to stop messing around, this is the way it should it happen and this is the way it is going to happen.

KB: What would say is your biggest achievement?
JC: Representing Ireland for a lot of years in the Worlds and Europeans, that was brilliant. Fighting in the Worlds certainly was an unbelievable experience. I remember I carried the Irish flag out at the start and I really loved that. That was brilliant.

KB: What was the atmosphere like at the Worlds?
JC: It's good a lot of people try to psyche each other up, like any competition, a lot of nervous people.

KB: Top ten tips for sparring?
JC: Be fit, flexible, be extremely focused don't lose your focus, keep it simple, know your distance, work on your timing, listen to your instructors. Fight with as many people as you can, all different grades, shapes, sizes.

KB: Even people who are less able than you?
JC: Definitely, definitely, if you walk into a ring and fight someone who is really awkward, less able but really awkward. You could hurt yourself on them, because they are elbows and knees.

Likewise try and fight people who are a lot better than you, because you only learn by being beaten. Learn from your mistakes. If you are beaten, think about what happened. And number ten, fight as often as you can, go to competitions as often as you can. Experience, if you are at a big competition and if you are anyway awed by it, it is hard to compete

KB: What about for Poomsae?
JC: Again be flexible, be relaxed, your breathing is so important, don't tense your shoulders. Only tense the muscles you need to, when you are actually doing the attack or whatever you are doing. If you tense your bicep when you only need a tricep, in a low section block, then the block becomes slow cumbersome.

Focus your mind, if your mind is wandering than your pattern will look scruffy. Repetition, you just need to keep doing them. If you are even thinking about what the next move is, you have to be well beyond that, you have to just keep doing it.

Break it down into sections that are difficult and then build it back up. Do it slow, go through it slow, so you know what you are doing. Focus on every single inch of your body, so you know the hand slightly turned, everything is in the right position and then move to the next one.

Watch other people and be mindful of what you are doing internally, so it is all about knowledge of yourself where your arms and legs are.

KB: What was your favourite technique when you were sparring?
JC: It changed; it used to be left leg from behind back leg dollyo chagi (turning kick). Then I really liked naeryo chagi (chop kick), right leg from behind chop kick. Left leg dwi chagi (back kick), not one really, so that's why I was not a good sparer because I kept changing. I did not have one that stuck.

KB: How would you describe the people you met through Tae Kwon Do?
JC: On the whole, once people get to a certain level of Tae Kwon Do, it sort of weeds out the nutters. Nutters and weirdos generally, leave before they reach black belt. Once they reach black belt people are usually pretty ok. So the club is a fantastic group of people.

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