By David Nagel
Excitement is building for five martial artists from Heenan Taekwondo in Pakenham who are about to embark on a history making journey to South Korea.
Master James Heenan, Master Cassandra Heenan, Master Damian Grange and teenagers Maxwell Monteith and Marisa Rinaldi are part of a 22-strong Australian team that will compete in the 2024 Haidong Gumdo World Championships from July 26 to 28 in Jeju.
They will become the first Victorians to ever compete in the World Championships in Korea, the traditional home of Haidong Gumdo; an ancient form of martial arts and an extension of Taekwondo.
Translated, Haidong means ‘rays off sunlight at dawn’, while Gumdo represents the Samarai Sword and the spirit; or the way.
Haidong Gumdo takes pride in being the most realistic sword art, with some of the most powerful warriors in history using its extraordinary techniques.
Over 1500 competitors will converge on the island of Jeju, having their techniques assessed by Grand Masters, judges and referees from the World Haidong Gumdo Federation.
They will be judged on their individual sword-cutting patterns, with team events being assessed for intricate synchronicity during choreographed sword fighting routines.
Bamboo cutting, paper cutting, straw cutting, candle snuffing and freestyle sparring with swords are other forms of the martial art.
Master James Heenan said his team is ready to perform on the biggest stage of them all after years of preparation.
“Normally they run every two years, but this is the first Haidong Gumdo World Championships since before Covid,” Heenan explained.
“Grand Master Jung-Il Oh, the president of Haidong Gumdo in Australia, oversees more than 1000 students across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand.
“He assesses everyone and nominates the team.
“I’ve been to Korea before, but not for swords, so it’s special for us to be the first Victorians to ever go to Korea for a World Championships.”
Past Australian teams have taken their own swords to overseas competitions, but delays coming through customs saw the most recent team almost miss its connection flights.
Swords will be provided for participants at the event, with Heenan explaining that it won’t be taken as an excuse for poor performance.
“Normally you just have to look at a sword to get an understanding of whether it will suit your style,” Heenan explained.
“Forged-steel swords, timbers swords and bamboo swords are all used, with the bamboo swords probably the sharpest for cutting paper.”
Grand Master Oh visited Heenan’s Bald Hill Road Taekwondo facility last week to fine tune the team’s preparations.
“Normally we work on out techniques for a couple of hours a week, but we trained Saturday and Sunday last weekend; six hours each day,” Heenan said.
“Stance is the most important, but sword control, focus, breathing and bit of meditation are all involved as well.
“It’s important to become at one with the sword, to simulate patterns they are designed to kill or be killed.”
Heenan said expectations were high heading into the World Championships.
“Grand Master Oh would not be taking us if he thought we were not worthy,” he explained.
“Australia has people in Queensland who have already been to World Championships and won world titles.
“A young kid at our sister club in Queensland is a world champion, and another martial artist has competed four times and won a world championship as well.
“In Haidong Gumdo, if a student wins a gold medal, so does the coach, so it’s exciting times for us all.”
Heenan is also looking forward to seeing some amazing athletes on show; athletes he believes could quite easily transition their skills to other sports.
“Taekwondo is a very explosive martial art, it’s high-energy, you have to be super fit, powerful, flexible and fast,” he said.
“These are legitimate athletes; someone like Lauren Burns who won an Olympic Gold Medal in Taekwondo in Sydney.
“It wouldn’t matter what sport they did; they’d be champions in other sports because they are simply elite athletes.
“As we get older we go to the swords; we can’t do what we used to do…but there will still be some amazing athletes on show.”
