Grandmaster Hee Il Cho

In a previous post I mentioned Grandmaster Hee Il Cho and how my principle instructor, Sabeomnim Johan Bolton, often quoted him. Sabeominm Bolton had a number of books by Grandmaster Cho, including The Complete Martial Artist series. Later when Sabeomnim Bolton retired from the martial arts he gave his books to my brother and I. When I went through these books I realised how strongly Grandmaster Hee Il Cho's methods influenced my instructor; and consequently also influenced me. At the moment I am very much an ITF Taekwon-Do stylist; nevertheless, Grandmaster Hee Il Cho's influence on me cannot be denied. By implication the same can be said of my students.

In this post I'm embedding some YouTube-videos showing Grandmaster Cho in action:



The video below shows Grandmaster Cho teaching a seminar he taught last year. He is currently 70 years old; it was his birthday a few weeks back (October 13).



Even at his age, he still regularly trains by himself. The next video shows him training at his dojang in Hawaii; keep his age in mind.



The next video shows Grandmaster Cho doing some hand conditioning; the video was taken about 12 years ago.



You can read an interview with Grandmaster Cho here and here, an article here and here, and a short profile here.