Interview with Mr. Robin Rafferty
Summer 2002
UKCA: Pil-Sung, Mr. Rafferty. Congratulations on becoming the latest addition to the growing list of CKD schools in the UK. How long have you been training CKD?
RR: I started at Westhill CKD in 1997 under Mr. Ronnie Simpson. Within a year or so, the whole family had started – my wife, Debz (Ms. Rafferty – Chief Instructor of Alford CKD School), our son, Harrison (known as "H", then 4-years old) and our daughter Maximilia joined in from age 2-1/2 (thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Mackie for their patience in those days.)
UKCA: So CKD is a real family affair!
RR: Yes. Once all of us were training, we didn't have childcare to deal with so it was easy to get a bunch of classes in – normal weekends often included Westhill on Saturdays under the Mackies & Mr. Longmire and Airyhall on Sundays under Dr. Wei Peng Yong. We also assisted and trained regularly at Holburn Street under Mr. & Mrs. Simpson (Thursday evenings, sometimes Mondays) and occasionally at Bridge of Don under Mr. Bruce and Newtonhill under The MacArthurs.
Since Debz opened Alford CKD a year ago (2001), we have had Choi Kwang Do just about on our doorstep Sundays and Tuesdays in the village, instead of the 60-mile round trip to most of the other classes. Our training there just stepped up a gear since Debz came back from 10 days of training with Dojunim and Master P. – she came home a very tired and happy Second Degree. (Pil Sung Debz!)
UKCA: So how did you initially discover CKD?
RR: I was training in ITF TKD under Master Gordon Wallace when Maxi was born. I took a year out to get more time at home, and heard of Choi Kwang Do from people I worked with. With the various locations and timings available, Choi Kwang Do was a better fit with my life, so when I was ready to go back to training, I tried it.
UKCA: Have you studied any other styles or self defence systems?
RR: Not properly. In the time under Master Wallace I was working offshore a lot and didn't do justice to the training. At college I had tried a mix of traditional Japanese styles that was called Cheena-Adi – but again I hadn't spent enough time with it to get much out of it.
UKCA: You’ve already mentioned your wife Mrs. Debz Rafferty runs Alford CKD School. What prompted you to become a school owner yourself?
RR: I started out wanting to improve my personal lunchtime training. There was a spare room at work, next to the gym, that I had used for training - often as not with other people doing their own free training - T'ai-Chi and other styles. That room got converted, so we couldn't use it, and the gym at work is just too small for four directional patterns. One of my colleagues is into fitness and running, but wanted something more symmetrical – instead of the legs and cardio-vascular work he was used to. He was interested in Choi Kwang Do, but with the commitments he had, he couldn't manage classes in the evenings. I started training with him, but we never had enough space, then I really was inspired by Debz.
Debz started the Alford school a year ago (Happy Birthday! Pil Sung to everyone who made the birthday party and sponsored kick. Pil Sung to Mrs Marie Gardiner for organising the fund-raising party last Friday! …and an extra Pil Sung to everyone who graded at Alford on Sunday!)
Debz made it all look so easy, I thought if nobody was running the school I needed, then I might as well just start it myself. I put a note on the electronic notice board to see if anyone was interested, and a few weeks later there were 14 people in the process of starting.
UKCA: You’ve been officially open for about a month now. How are the classes going?
RR: We started Tuesday 23 April 2002, (auspiciously the 9th birthday of "H" - our little Jedi 1st Dan - and within a couple of days of Alford CKD’s 1st birthday). Numbers were fairly low for the first few classes (special thanks to Alford CKD’s very own A/I and brown belt senior Mr Richard Nicol who volunteered for the 60-mile round trip just to help out - Pil Sung!) but we now have 12 names in the book – and enquiries most days. I was on a training course recently, so Debz covered the class for me – there were 6 visitors training too, from 3 different schools, so it’s also good for bringing schools together.
The school only runs at lunchtimes – our family doesn't have any spare evenings anyway - so it fills a niche. That said, we will run gradings when required, so the students can still progress. Some will find that training at lunchtimes only will be too slow for them, and I will pass them on to their local classes for evening training. I welcome anyone who wants to train with us. We've just moved out of the office into Kincorth Sports Centre, so that has made the school more accessible.
UKCA: That’s great! Is there any one thing you would say you like most about CKD?
RR: That's an easy one – the people. The punching and kicking is great. The new patterns are so dynamic, they are a like high-energy dance. The martial arts in general are fantastic for so much 'indirect' learning - I use board-breaking in my professional life as a real "hands-on" (or "hands-through"?) example of where to set business targets.
At Choi Kwang Do, I used to just turn up, train, and go home. That's fine, but I get a lot more out of it now - with the whole family training, every class is a social event where we meet our friends. It's all really about a bunch of people with a shared passion and shared goals. The benefits are easy to see in all ages.
I get a real buzz out of gradings - I don't quite understand the physics of it, something about all the positive energy. So many people pushing themselves in the same direction (9th degree!) and overcoming the obstacles together. The best bit for me is holding boards and sharing that excitement and relief when they break - that's a real high. That and getting everyone together at the Chinese buffet for dinner afterwards.
UKCA: Like many Instructors, we understand that you also have a favourite saying?
RR: Yes. I really liked the "rising tide raises all ships" quote that I kept hearing at the Atlanta seminar.
UKCA: What do you like about it?
RR: It goes beyond the common "scarcity" philosophy – where everything is limited, so everything is a win-lose competition. With that mentality, people want to hold each other back, in case there isn't enough to go around.
If we can all live by the philosophy of "rising tide raises all ships", then we can do so much more. It is an "abundance" philosophy where everyone wins - we strive to make our students better than we are, to reach higher than us, so we get better ourselves. All we have to do is help each other to achieve our goals, and consequently everyone helps us to achieve our goals.
UKCA: I couldn’t have said it better myself! Good luck with Hess CKD School and please send our regards to everyone in Aberdeen. Pil-Suhng!