Dale Exon, 36, recently launched the Melton branch of the DD Taekwondo club. He speaks with Esther Lauaki.
What’s your connection to Melton?
I live in Kurunjang, and I have family who live here in Melton and surrounding areas, as far as Ballarat and Bendigo.
How did you become involved in taekwondo?
I started taekwondo as a young boy and have been training ever since. Now, I have 10 year’s teaching experience.
Can you tell me about your background in the sport?
Some of my achievements include a third dan black belt, an Australia Day 2015 regional award winner as Coach/Administrator of the Year, four-times national Poomsae champion, and I was a Queensland state champion in taekwondo for five years in a row from 2008. I’m also Kukkiwon registered and have a level one National Coaching Accreditation Scheme accreditation.
I’m an experienced referee and have also competed in more than 50 club championships in the last 10 years, and won medals in every event. And I’ve had the pleasure of coaching more than 50 state champions and 15 national champion competitors in the past few years.
What do you do outside of the sport?
Outside of taekwondo, I am a plumber and gasfitter by trade.
What was the appeal of setting up a taekwondo club in Melton?
Melton is a great little city, with so much potential for a taekwondo club to be successful. We recently opened a new club in Melton teaching both kids and adults. Taekwondo gives people the mental attitude of modesty; modesty and generosity are fundamentally based on self-confidence.
Why would you encourage people, especially children, to get into a sport like taekwondo?
It’s simple, confidence is the one thing that just about everyone starts taekwondo for, and then self-defence or anti-bullying would have to be the next reasons people start.
What is it that you like about the Melton taekwondo community?
It is such a diverse community and, although the club is only young here in Melton, it is already starting to get the family atmosphere that we want. We want families to be involved with the club and we take pride in the fact that we encourage this and actively promote it.
In fact, we encourage parents to start a class with their children and allow it to be bonding time as a family or maybe father-son, father-daughter [time] or any combination for that matter.
Taekwondo classes are at Melton Primary School, 6-7.30pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Details: 0428 938 244 or www.ddtkd.org
