My name is Jozef Klimkiewicz. I started training at the age of 55 under Grand Master Wahid Halimee and Master Carol Halimee.
World Taekwondo was a huge addition to my physical lifestyle. With years of training I realized how much it meant, and still does, to me and how much it changed my life.
World Taekwondo is not merely a physical fighting skill; it is also a way of thought and life.
The addition of “power breaking or board breaking” lessons to our training is a great contribution to compliment and reassure us that our constant practicing of kicking and punching is rewarded with a success. Knowing that we can break boards barefooted or barehanded is the best encouragement that our hard training does not go to waste, and we also learn how to improve our kicking and punching if we do not break them. It's a win-win situation.
Patience and Perseverance have their rewards.
I always set the crossbar a notch higher each time I practise, but I frequently learned that patience, proper warm-ups, and strict conditioning of your body parts are vital to your success. It is a never ending learning curve; therefore I am so much hooked on it.
I am neither a coward nor a hero; I have been in difficult situations many times in my life. Over the years I have learned that if you look and behave like a victim you are a victim. So the mental self-assurance, in my opinion, is the key word of confronting any situation, however difficult it maybe. I often try to anticipate what would I do and how would I react to defend myself if it came to the critical situation? However, there are no winners in a fight, so the best way to win a fight is to avoid a fight. Having said that, the opportunity of having been able to practise my World Taekwondo skills under Grand Master Wahid Halimee and Master Carol Halimee gives me a mental strength and physical ability to walk into the dark corners of my life with a peace of mind.