It could accurately be said that the seeds of The John Ward School of Korean Martial Arts were planted over 18 years ago when John’s five year old son, Adam, came home from school asking, “Dad, can I go to cook school one?”
At least, that’s what John THOUGHT he said! Thinking it was some kind of “Junior Masterchef” course, and looking forward to some delicious treats each week when his son returned from his classes, John naturally said “Yes”!
At the time he was working away from home and when he returned the following Friday night, he was extremely surprised to find his son wearing a BLACK uniform. “You can’t cook in that!”
It was quickly pointed out that “CookSchool one” was actually Kuk Sool Won, a Korean martial arts school and furthermore, John would not be getting any of his treats!
However, he did get something much better than that. Eventually.
Working away, John did not have the chance to see just what his son was learning, apart from when he was used as a “willing” training partner. However, after a few months, one weekend when he was home from work, he was able to take Adam to his first grading test for Yellow stripe. This really opened his eyes and aroused his interest in the Korean Martial Art of Kuk Sool. This interest was further ignited when Adam won two tickets to watch the demonstration of Kuk Sool which followed the annual WKSA (World Kuk Sool Association) UK tournament in Norwich. Inspired by seeing some Black Belts who were his own age or older, John Decided to sign up.
A Way to Keep Fit
For some time before this he had been trying to find some kind of fitness regime which he could stick to. He had joined a local Gym, paid for a year in advance and only went a few times. He bought a bicycle but rarely rode it because of the weather. He even tried an exercise bike which he used only twice. But he just didn’t have the self-discipline needed to continue with such regimes. What he needed, he decided was someone else to tell him what to do! And of course, with martial arts training, that is exactly what you get, in a friendly but well structured way you are coerced into doing enjoying exercise which you would never had even thought about doing otherwise.
SO, what do I do to open a club, Sir?! 
It wasn’t long before John was taking his own first grading test, for Yellow Belt. A short while after this test (which he passed) inspired by his success, John asked his Instructor, then a 3^rd Dahn, Philip Hinchliffe what he had to do in order to open his own Kuk Sool club. PSBN Philip laughed and said, “You need to get to Black Belt first, John”, to which he replied, “Yes, but once I have done THAT, what do I have to do next?”
Realising that John meant what he said, PSBN Philip explained the procedure and four years later, shortly after gaining his 1st Dahn Black Belt, John was making plans to open Kuk Sool Won of Dereham, Norfolk. This was followed by clubs in Swaffham and Downham Market. After he had promoted to Second Dahn, John decided to take the big step of leaving his job to become a full-time Martial Arts instructor. After a few years he realised that the Norfolk area was so saturated with clubs that it was going to be hard to make a reasonable living from the art he had grown to love. He decided to look further afield and settled on the Lancaster area. Unfortunately the WKSA would not allow him to continue to hold the position of school owner for his previous clubs. He managed to find a replacement instructor for DerehamSchool, which is still thriving today under the guidance of SBN Chris Winter, one of John’s classmates at Beccles Dojahng where he began. The other schools sadly, had to close. This is something which John will always regret.
Moving Home for Kuk Sool! 
Therefore John sold his house and moved to Heysham, near Morecambe in order to start a new Kuk Sool Won school. Being a bit out on a limb, John had to build the school with very little help from anyone other than his own family. However, it has since grown to become a very successful enterprise.
The school has seen over 300 students pass through its doors over the past 6 years and has a current membership of around 100 students. The school has entered many competitions and had some notable successes. It has been placed in the top five clubs in the UK Tournament on 5 occasions and in 2007 the club actually won the competition outright, despite being 3 hours drive away from the venue.
They have also come in the top 5 in the Scottish Championships for each of the three years it has been running and came 6^th in the Spanish Tournament and 5^th in the World Championships held in Texas USA in 2008, in the “Rest of the World” category which excludes schools from the USA.
Full-time Premises
Just 18 months after starting the Lancaster school, John looked out for some full-time premises and after a couple of false starts he found the unit in which the school is now based. Initially it was a car body repair workshop and not in very good condition. But with a little TLC and a LOT of help from his students, John managed to turn it into a very well fitted out training venue.
Since moving to the Lancaster area, John has seen two more promotions to 3^rd and eventually 4^th Dahn in 2009. Over the past six years the schools demonstrations have become a popular feature of many local events as diverse as the Lancaster Festival, the West End Festival and the Heysham Village Vintage Car Show and Rally.
Schools Programmes 
John has also formed a strong relationship with the local education department and has run many popular after school clubs in Primary Schools throughout the area and at MorecambeHigh School. Several of the students from these after school clubs have gone on to become regular students of the school and in December 2009 two of them promoted to 1^st Dahn Black Belt.
A Difficult Decision 
Following increasing restrictions placed on students and school owners; in August 2009 John decided that, the best interest of his students and of the school was no longer served by remaining within the WKSA. Therefore he resigned from the organisation and the school joined the NKMAA (National Korean Martial Arts Association) as a charter school. This was a very difficult decision and one which he did not take lightly. From now on, all certification will come from this organisation and not from the WKSA. The NKMAA allows their students and instructors much more freedom to obtain training from other Instructors where necessary and also has a much wider syllabus, including many techniques and forms which are not available through the WKSA. At the same time, the entire published WKSA syllabus is available through the NKMAA so it really offers the best of both worlds.
The NKMAA recognises all grades from the WKSA, subject to the school owners discretion, however the school is required to send regular video footage of coloured belt and Dahn grading tests for scrutiny by Grand Master Timmerman, to show that the required standard is being maintained. Additionally, the school owner may require new students coming from a different certifying body to re-test for their current rank to ensure that our quality is maintained and that the students is able to continue with his or her studies effectively.
John now receives his training directly from GM Timmerman and is looking forward to being able to share his growing martial arts knowledge with his loyal students in the future.
Open Tournaments 
As far as tournaments are concerned, although the school has had notable success, this has always been within “closed” competitions as the WKSA do not allow non-member schools to compete in their tournaments. From now on the school will be able to compete against other martial arts clubs from varying styles. Their first such tournament took place on 24 October when they competed in the NAS (National All Styles) competition in Birmingham. Not only did they do well, but every single student who enteredfor the club came back with a trophy! SBN Joh had no less than THREE first place trophies to add to his collection.
The basic syllabus remains broadly similar, although John has made a few changes to ensure that students can carry out self-defence effectively, and to ensure that they have a valuable syllabus to learn at all coloured belt levels and Dahn grades. He has also introduced an amended coloured belt system which will help to encourage students to keep training and improving.
Planned Expansion 
John is planning to expand the school by opening classes in other areas and at will also be bringing other instructors in to teach those few areas of martial arts which the new syllabus does not cover. This is something which previously was not allowed with the WKSA (Kuk Sool Won) Therefore, his students now have the opportunity to make their training as complete as possible. The expansion process has already begun with classses now being run near Carnforth at Crag Bank Village Hall. Again, due to their rules and the cost of new licences this would not have been practical with the old organisation.
A Brighter Future 
In August 2010 along with 1^st Dahn instructor, Angela Prince, John will be travelling to the USA and Canada for two week long trip training and testing with many Masters of Korean Martial Arts, and Grandmaster Timmerman himself. The pair hope to bring back a wealth of knowledge to help the students become the very best that they can be.
John is very optimistic about the schools future and about the future of Korean Martial Arts in the Lancaster area. Classes now run 5 days a week Tuesday to Saturday. Watch out for classes opening near YOU soon!