30 Year Dream Realised

from OCTOBER 2020 About Thetford magazine

Proposed Boundary Changes

A Dream 30 Years In The Making Finally Realised

Master Kris French, 5th degree black belt, Kris to friends, and family, Daddy to his sons and ‘Sir’ to his students has finally realised his dream of opening a Kuk Sool Won Dojahng here in Thetford at the Charles Burrell Centre.

Once such student, Alex, is 17 and has been studying the martial art for 3 years ever since seeing one of their teachers in an end of term showcase, “throwing another teacher about” as they put it, and thought I want to try that! Alex went for a trial lesson and never left. Alex says it has given them a quiet confidence they never realised they had and that they feel supported and at home in the dojahng. Kris would like to thank his wife Jenny, a black belt herself, and numerous other family members, friends and students for all their support and help in getting the space ready to open at CBC. He says he could not have done it without them but that typifies what Kuk Sool Won is all about. Get in touch with Kris to find out more about how this traditional martial art could benefit you through improved fitness, stamina, core strength, meditation, mindfulness and more. He will warmly welcome you to the dojahng and the Kuk Sool Won Family. book a free trial lesson visit:

Kuk Sool Won Master Kris French in the new Dojahng at the Charles Burrell Centre

At the age of 9 Kris had his first taste of Kuk Sool Won, a Korean traditional Martial Art. He had previously been involved with football and bmx biking and whilst he enjoyed those activities he didn’t feel the instant affinity that he felt with Kuk Sool Won. He told himself aged 9 he would be an instructor. His instructor at the time also realised

For more information about Thetford Kuk Sool Won, contact Kris on 07984 494146 or to Kris was a natural.

www.thetfordmartialarts.com

Policing was Kris’ main job for 17 years (instructing Kuk Sool Won and Self Defence during evenings and weekends) and he did many of those years in specialist investigations where he realised he wanted to help people (primarily children) in a very different way by engendering a sense of self belief, esteem, confidence and the ability to defend themselves effectively. The vulnerability of young people really touched Kris. Kuk Sool Won Thetford is a Sport England Safeguarding accredited school because of his background. When asked “Who is a Kuk Sool Won Student?” Kris said “Anyone aged 4 upwards, we have a 70 year old student presently. Most are wanting to learn something new and embrace what becomes a lifestyle in a way. There’s no ego anywhere in the school, a spirit of cooperation, gratitude and mutual respect prevails. It’s amazing to watch students gaining confidence and then helping newer students to improve. Above all of course we have fun.”

SelfEsteem SelfConfidence SelfDefence Some things are more important than learning how to fight

07984 494146 www.theeordmarralarts.com

We’ve all been there, wanting to do something but our minds tell us otherwise, whether it’s the fight or flight feeling, whether we’re concerned, anxious, worried or whether we just cannot be bothered! It’s easy to get inside our own heads when making a choice and I strongly believe that many of us have suffered some form of this over lockdown, usually we make the choice easiest for us; cancel that social gathering, order takeaway instead of cooking a meal, push aside working out. The brain is a magnificent thing, the more I learn about how our brains work the more I’m fascinated with what we, as humans are really capable of! In a training/ workout scenario, our mind will usually give up before our body. It’ll start ringing alarm bells if you get uncomfortable, out of your depth or comfort zone and quite often we will convince ourselves that we are unable to complete what we’ve been tasked or tasked ourselves to do. That’s how many of us give up on our goals, because we think we can’t achieve such things. Key word there being ‘Think’. If we set our mind to achieve something, we will often do it but why? Usually the reason is because we know we can do it, either we’ve done it before or it’s something that doesn’t faze us. How many of you can clean the house from top to toe but can’t catch a spider? We’ve watched our peers clean with no fuss so we just think it’s the norm! When our mothers jump out of their skins because there is a spider in the house, we follow suit, when in fact, we’re not scared of spiders at all, we’re just taught to be. Once you start thinking of the situation, it’s a small insect, that has lost its way in your home and can easily be taken outside without harm. It’s mind over matter. Think about what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it and start to grow strength in your mind and body. Richard Taylor