Local Taekwondo Club kicks goals

Lane Cove Taekwondo kicks goals

Starting from a letterbox flyer drop eight years ago, the Lane Cove Taekwondo Club has grown to become a well-established and influential part of our local community. By Shannen McDonald.

With only five members in 2010, the Lane Cove Taekwondo Club now has over 400 members, with sights set on even further growth in the future.

Fabian Peters is the Club’s founder and head instructor. After moving from Perth to Sydney, Fabian selected Lane Cove as the place to call home - by chance this is also where the new Club would begin.

Amongst the Clubs’ original members are Arran Weir (23) and Tristin Power (12), who have both there since inception. Fabian, Arran and Tristin have all been recognised by Lane Cove Council at the local Citizenship awards for their involvement and efforts not only within the Club itself, but also in the local and wider Sydney community.

Considering the discipline of Taekwondo and the values it instils, it is no surprise that this Club and its members have had such success.

A form of Korean martial arts, Taekwondo is both a discipline and a sport, and was recognised as an Olympic sport in the year 2000. A kicking based art, Taekwondo involves a great deal of discipline, with an emphasis on speed and agility to create power through its movements.

Lane Cove Taekwondo Club teaches the modern, disciplinary form of Taekwondo through incorporation of personal self-defence training, aerobic fitness and boxing. All these elements make it good for the mind and selfconfidence, and it’s a great workout as well.

Taekwondo is unique to many other sports as anyone can get involved, making it ideal for families. With classes offered to kids as young as four, parents soon see how much they themselves can benefit from participating in the sport, with Peters commenting that many of the parents end up signing up too.

Now with 25 classes taught a week, students have the opportunity to rise through the ranks, or ‘belts’, to be more precise. If you pop your head into a class, you can see that anyone can get involved - girls and boys, young and old.

Classes on offer include the popular Wombat Kombat for ages 4-6 years. The Club also offers Junior classes for ages 7+, which involves all the advances through to earning the muchdesired black belt. Adult classes offer plenty of movement and strength building for both body and mind.

A community within a community, this Club strives to push its students to work hard and remain disciplined, emphasising that nothing in the world beyond the classroom comes easy.

Both Arran and Tristin are perfect examples of the positive impact that Taekwondo can have and what can be achieved through hard work.

When Arran started at age 15, he explains that this was a time full of distractions. Keeping him on the “straight and narrow”, Arran credits his involvement with the Club for helping him transition through those teenage years to young adulthood. Now in his last semester of a Bachelor of Science at Macquarie University, Arran won Lane Cove Council's Young Achiever of the Year Award for 2018 for his work and involvement as an instructor at the Lane Cove Taekwondo Club.

Fellow club member Tristin Power is the youngest recipient of the Council’s Young Achiever of the Year Award. Tristin was just eight years old when he was awarded this title in 2014, recognising his efforts to raise money for the Randwick Hospital. Tristin loves being part of the Club and looks up to all his instructors who have helped him through tough times, especially at school.

Fabian explains that there are so many success stories to be celebrated within the Club. Now in his 23rd year of practicing Taekwondo, the personal growth that Fabian - as an instructor - sees in his students is a major perk of what he does. A favourite part of his job is seeing confidence levels grow in his students, which carries on into so many other areas of their lives.

As far as the future success of the Club goes, Fabian along with Arran and Tristin, would like to provide even more people with the opportunity to experience this great sport.

Arran, Tristin and Fabian of Lane Cove Taekwondo Club have each been recognised with Citizenship Awards from Lane Cove Council.