How martial arts continues to help the community in Gobowen

One Martial Arts can lay claim to helping pave the way for two-time Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones and 2024 Paris Paralympic gold medallist Amy Truesdale. 

But for instructor Richard Morris, who has spearheaded a local martial arts club in Gobowen, the primary aim is to improve lives and provide a source of social inclusion for the local community. 

The roots of the club stem from teaching self defence and discipline for young people after Morris was made aware of a local child who had experienced bullying at school. 

And since then, Morris has established two clubs aimed at three to five-years-olds and from ages to six and above.

He said: "In July last year, there was a post that someone was being bullied at school on a social post in Gobowen on Facebook. So I put down, let me know who is it and we'll let the child go for six months free at our academy and teach them self defence. 

"And from there, the response was that it was a pity we couldn't do anything in Gobowen. At that stage, I spoke to Master Jones as I had my instructor's status anyway, and I said that I was happy to do it, if he was happy to sanction it. 

"He said yes so we've started the club now in Gobowen with the primary aim. We've got two groups, one is for three to five-years-olds and that's just really teaching them a bit of social discipline. 

"Obviously we do taekwondo with them but at a much lower and less intense level but we'll have little things like mat chat talking about stranger danger, the environment and what happens if you're in the park and someone comes to take you away. 

"Then the other part is for anyone from six upwards. So we have got people who're age six and we've got people who're 40 that are training. They're all white belts at the moment because they've only been going a couple of months but it gives a real social inclusion to it." 

Jade Jones spent her formative years with One Martial Arts and did her sparring with Master Ady Jones before being selected for the GB Elite Team. 

While Morris is proud of the roots to both the Olympics and Paralympics, he insists that the primary focus is on helping young people and the community as a whole.

"The wider club has about 600 members and we're part of One Martial Arts which is 2,000 members," he continued.

"Jade Jones won Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016 in taekwondo and she was trained by the master that teaches me, Ady Jones, before she was picked up on the GB squad. 

"So when she was in her formative years up to 16, she got picked up when she was 15-16 but she would do all of her sparring with Master Jones. Then Amy Truisdale who just won gold in the Paralympics, so you may have seen the story of the one-handed girl that did the one-handed cartwheel. She came up through our academy as well. 

"There are even roots to the Olympics via what we're doing but for most people it's just about having that confidence of being able to walk down the street and creating that five to 10 second window if someone does come at you just to be able to do enough. 

"Not to be able to knock someone, not to put someone in hospital, but just to be able to create that window of opportunity where you can absolutely leg it the other way and get to safety. That's the primary function of what we're trying to achieve." 

Clubs run on Sunday mornings with the '1000 for Tigers' for three to five-years-olds taking place between 9:15am and 10:00am while the class for six years upwards starts at 10am and finishes at 11am. 

If you would like to get involved, you can contact richiegmorris@gmail.com or the main academy by contacting Sarah Jones at enquiries@livetaekwondo.co.uk.

Morris will also be running the London Marathon in April 2025 to raise funds for Children Cancer and Leukaemia group (CCLG) after a student of the parent academy was diagnosed with leukaemia and has been fighting to stay alive for the past two years. 

If you would like to donate, you can do so by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/page/richard-morris-1719310024687.