Thirty Years Later: Returning to Haram Taekwon-Do Club

This weekend was a special one for me.

In 1996, I started Haram Taekwon-Do Club on the west coast of Norway. This weekend, thirty years later, I returned to Haram to teach NTN Instructor Course 6, our instructor course dedicated to self defense in Taekwon-Do.

There is something quite special about walking into a club you started three decades ago and seeing that it has grown into something much bigger than you could ever have imagined at the beginning.

We had 25 participants attending the course from Haram, Ålesund, Volda, Surnadal, Åndalsnes, and Sandnes Taekwon-Do clubs. Different generations, different backgrounds, different levels of experience, all spending a weekend together exploring self defense and how we can teach it within Taekwon-Do.

For me, that felt like a very appropriate way to celebrate 30 years.

From the First Students to a New Generation

One person who makes the story of Haram particularly special is Ronny Eidsvik.

Ronny was one of the first students in the club and became the first Haram student to reach black belt. Today he is a 6th Dan and has become one of the most important people in the development of Taekwon-Do in the Sunnmøre region.

I sometimes refer to him simply as “the main man” on Sunnmøre.

Seeing someone who started as one of your students develop into a highly experienced instructor and leader is probably one of the greatest rewards you can have as an instructor.

Today, Haram Taekwon-Do Club is led by Håkon Brenden, 4th Dan. Under his leadership, the club continues to develop and currently has around 150 members.

That number says something about what has happened since 1996.

But the people say much more.

Students became black belts. Black belts became instructors. Young students grew into adults who took responsibility for the next generation. New people came in and added their own ideas, energy, and personality to the club.

That is how a martial arts club becomes something that can survive for decades.

Celebrating With Taekwon-Do

During lunch on Saturday, a large cake appeared with the words:

Haram Taekwon-Do Club 30 Years
1996–2026

It was a simple moment, but for me quite an emotional one.

Thirty years is a long time.

When I started the club in 1996, I was simply trying to create a place where people could train Taekwon-Do. I could never have known exactly where it would lead or who would eventually carry the club forward.

Standing there thirty years later, surrounded by instructors and practitioners from several clubs, I could see part of the answer.

The club had continued without depending on the person who started it.

And that is exactly how it should be.

Coming Back With Instructor Course 6

There was also something fitting about returning with NTN Instructor Course 6.

I have been involved with self defense in Taekwon-Do for many years, both through National Taekwon-Do Norway and through the work we do in ITF Radix.

Instructor Course 6 looks at how we understand and teach the self defense part of our art. We work with distance, movement, releases, controlling techniques, striking, takedowns, ground situations, and different forms of pressure and resistance.

More importantly, we try to understand how these elements connect.

For me, self defense should never become a collection of isolated tricks. It should be built on principles, movement, timing, adaptability, and an understanding of what happens when another person is actively trying to prevent you from succeeding.

That philosophy is also at the heart of ITF Radix.

Learn the movement.

Understand its function.

Explore it with a partner.

Add freedom and resistance.

Then see what remains when the situation becomes less predictable.

Returning to Haram with this course therefore connected several parts of my own Taekwon-Do journey.

The young instructor who started a club in 1996 could hardly have imagined returning thirty years later as a 6th Dan to teach instructors about an area of Taekwon-Do that has become such an important part of my life.

We Are Only Borrowing the Club

The weekend also reminded me of something I believe strongly about martial arts leadership.

We never really own a club.

We are only borrowing it for a while.

Someone teaches us. We build something from what we have learned. Other people join us. Eventually, some of them become instructors and leaders themselves. At some point, they will carry things further than we can.

That is healthy.

Haram Taekwon-Do Club belongs to the people who train there today and to those who will train there tomorrow.

I may have started the club in 1996, but Ronny, Håkon, and many others have written most of the story that followed.

And somewhere among the children training in Haram today may be the person who will lead the club when it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

That thought makes me smile.

Thirty years after the beginning, Haram Taekwon-Do Club is alive, growing, and still developing.

I cannot think of a better anniversary gift than that.

Happy 30th anniversary, Haram Taekwon-Do Club.

Here’s to the next thirty years.

Roy Rolstad