Master James Faulkner
Master James Faulkner began learning Taekwon-do in 1981 under Mr Gerry Martin who was a second degree black belt at that time and trained in both Beaumont Club and the Green Street club with Mr Robert Howard who was fourth degree black belt, during this time master Faulkner was awarded an A level pass at the Blue belt test by Master Rhee Ki Ha and tested for first degree black belt in 1987 under GM Hee il Cho.
In 1986 master Faulkner was a member of the Dublin coloured belt team that won the national colour belt team championship in Waterford, after a few successes Faulkner sustained a serious facial injury needing surgery for a broken eye socket at an open styles tournament in Dublin which on medical advice finished his participation in future competition,
Faulkner then decided to teach Tae Kwon -Do and took over the Beaumont club from Mr Martin and ran the club for a number of years he also taught in the only full time Tae Kwon -Do centre in Ireland for a couple of years in Exchequer Street,Faulkner then opened clubs in Greenhills and DIT Kevin Street a third level college in Dublin and Ballymun club quickly followed, he then opened Laytown and now Balbriggan Taekwon-do Academy.
Master Faulkner has produced many National and international champions and has taught many of his students to black belt level at least 3 of whom are Masters, Master Faulkner has been teaching now for 35 years continuously and at 65 years old shows no signs of slowing down!
He hosts an open black belt class every Sunday morning and welcomes everyone to train together no matter their affiliation.
Master Faulkner was successful in having ITF Taekwon-do featured for demonstration at the national Saint Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin and it was televised live all over the world, Faulkner also had Taekwon-do featured live on Irish TV as a demonstration event for Telethon which was a national fundraising event for people in need outside the Lord Mayor’s residence in Dublin raising over €25,000 for people in need a highlight of the demonstration was a five board break with a sidekick by Brendan O Toole which was live on air each board was sponsored for €1,000!
Master Faulkner was on the organising committee for the first European Taekwon-do team championship held in Ireland which seen a guest team also attend from Australia, Master Faulkner wrote to the president of Ireland and all teams were invited to a civic reception at the president’s residential address Aras an Uachtarain in Dublin’s Phoenix Park and welcomed by the then Irish president Mary Robinson who recognised the contribution to ITF Taekwon-do in Ireland by Irish women, President Robinson was presented with an honorary black belt and it made headlines in the national newspapers that evening, Master Faulkner has umpired in many tournaments including two World championships,two European championships in Italy and Romania and international tournaments in England, Scotland, Belgium.
Master Faulkner recently founded the Irish Taekwon-do Council a company limited by guarantee (CLG) bringing together over 140 Taekwon-do schools, 91 instructors and over 5,000 members from multiple associations and independent instructors seeking government recognition and funding from sports Ireland, this organisation is growing and going from strength to strength and Master Faulkner is the ITC chairman.
Master Faulkner recently explained why his group chose to join ITF Union and states ” we wanted to be part of this dynamic group ITF union which is growing rapidly throughout the world, we are really looking forward to working with so many like minded people whose interests are based on what they can do to provide the best service possible for it’s associations.
Instructors and members that represents value for money also the true family feeling from all those involved where there is mutual support and encouragement and respect shown to everyone irrespective of their rank, this is indeed an international organisation working hard to spread Tae Kwon -Do around the world offering world class events such as World and European Taekwon-do championships, International Instructors courses, International Umpire courses and Seminars from some of the best exponents of the Art in the world,
ITF union is an international organisation that puts the members first and that’s clearly evident with their certificate fee structure, Access to top class masters for gradings and advice is also an added bonus,