Interview with Master Per Andresen

History > Hall of Fame > Masters > Interview with Master Per Andresen

Interview made by: Petra Dydiszko, Sweden, October 2006

Master Per Andresen at his 40-years birthday

Name?

Per Andresen.

Degree?

7 Dan.

Can you tell us a little bit about your self and your family?

I am 46 years old, married and have two sons who are 17 and 15 years old.

I am educated lawyer from the University in Bergen.

I have been doing Taekwon-Do more or less full time since 1981.

When and why did you start practicing Taekwon-Do?

I started to train ITF Taekwon-Do in 1976 so this year I have been training for 30 years.

Per Andresen receives his third degree certificate from Gen. Choi Hong Hi in Rome. To the left Master Lim Won Sup, right Jan-Erik Lehn.

Who were your instructors and who has meant the most for you during your career?

My first instructor was Master Jan Erik Lehn who was a brown belt in Karate at that time. Taekwon-Do was linked up with Karate in the 70ties in Norway, and that was the reason he had a brown belt. I also trained under Master Lim Won Sup who was the chief instructor for Scandinavia at that time, and Master Rhee Ki Ha.

The instructor who has meant most for me is however Master Park Jung Tae. I participated at two 14 days international instructor courses in Vienna in 1986 and 1988 and I must say that at those courses I really felt I learned Taekwon-Do.

International instructors Course, Vienna 1988

International instructors Course, Vienna 1988

From black belt grading at the international instructor course, Vienna 1988, Per Andresen promoted to fifth degree

What did you at first find most interesting with Taekwon-Do?

As many other young boys in the 70ties I was a big fan of Bruce Lee and I was inspired from his movies and wanted to start training martial arts. So I must admit that it was the fancy techniques which I found most interesting in the beginning. Now it is complete different.

When did you receive your first degree?

I received my first degree in the beginning of 1979. My instructor and a training mate of me travelled to Stockholm, Sweden and took the grading in front of Master Lim Won Sup. We then became number 2 and 3 as ITF black belts in Norway.

Demonstration at the 20th anniversary of the ITF in 1986, Vienna

From 1981, in the first school Master Per Andresen started, Bergen Taekwon-Do Club.

When and where did you start your first TKD school?

I started my first school in 1981 in Bergen at the same time I started to study at the University. I stayed in Bergen until 1986 and by then I had 3 schools in Bergen. I left the schools to my black belt students, and moved to another town on the west coast of Norway called Molde where I stayed for another 3 years. I opened 3 schools in that area too, before I went back for my home town Trondheim. I am now running a school with 1000 students in Trondheim.

Which international ITF championships have you attended and as what function?

I participated as a competitor in European championships in London in England 1981 and in Napoli, Italy in 1983. I also participated at the World championships in Glasgow in 1984. In 1984 I was the head of the Norwegian team at the European Championships in Budapest, where we did quite well and took a lot of medals including gold in the team pattern. I participated as a referee at the world championships in Athens 1987 and Budapest in 1988.

What is your most memorable moment in your TKD career?

It is very hard to say because I have had so many memorable moments in Taekwon-Do. But if I am going to choose one moment, it must be when I met Gen. Choi Hong Hi for the first time together with 9 Korean masters in 1978. It made a major impression to me and it was a great experience for a young Taekwon-Do student.

Why and when did you and your organization leave the ITF?

We left the ITF in 1989 together with 2/3 of the ITF federation in Norway. The reason for leaving was an internal conflict in Norway between most of the senior instructors and Master Jan Erik Lehn who was the president of the ITF federation in Norway. We did not want to leave the ITF but at that time ITF could not accept more than one association in each country. In fact we felt we were forced out of the ITF.

Why did you decide to rejoin the ITF?

After being an independent organisation for some years we felt the need of belonging to an international organisation again. We wanted to give our students a future and looked for the following criterias for an international link:

We wanted to follow the legacy of the founder, Gen. Choi Hong Hi.
We wanted to join a democratic organisation which is not a political tool for any nation.
We wanted to join an organisation with a professional administration which was run in accordance to democratic rules and regulations.
We wanted to join an organisation with a worldwide membership which also was strong in Europe and Scandinavia.
We wanted to join an organisation which holds a high technical standard which would give us possibilities to learn more.
We wanted to join an organisation which holds a high level in competitions.
We wanted to join an organisation which cares about teaching the moral values and the philosophy of Taekwon-Do.

The choice was then very simple to us. The only international organisation which had all these criterias was the ITF under the leadership of Master Tr�n Tri�u Qu�n.

What is your main goal as the leader of one of Europe�s biggest ITF organizations?

Our vision in our organisation is to contribute to the society so it becomes a better and more peaceful place to be. To reach this we have to educate our students so they get strong moral values based on humanism. To have students who act in a nice and friendly way to all people and feel for helping others is the most important part for me. Compassion is a keyword in my way of teaching Taekwon-Do.

Left: Split kick in 1985; Right: Centre referee in World Championships in Budapest, Hungary 1988.

What do you personally like the most about TKD?

When I was younger I was very interested in the technical part of Taekwon-Do. Don�t misunderstand me, I am still very interested in that part, but my focus is more and more on the philosophical part of Taekwon-Do. I see Taekwon-Do first of all as a way to help the students to have a good life outside the training hall. Just face it, the �real life� is not in the do-jang but �outside�. The main thing is that they do well at school, or at work and have good realisations with their family and friends. What does a �high kick� in the do-jang mean if you can not handle your life? As Gen. Choi said: �it is a waste of time�. In other words I see Taekwon-Do training first of all as an instrument to help people to have a good and happy life and to become good human beings. It is a bonus if they in addition to this also manage to �kick high�.

What do you think about the Swedish TKD ITF? Do you know some names from Swedish TKD?

The Swedish ITF Taekwon-Do holds a very high standard, especially in sparring. I am impressed about their results in international competitions and I can see we have a lot to learn from them competition wise. It has been a pleasure to learn to know many of the Swedish instructors and leaders over the last years. |

There are many good personalities and they all work very hard to promote ITF Taekwon-Do in Sweden. I know a lot of the Swedish instructors, but if I have to mention somebody it has to be the President of ITF in Sweden, Mr. �rjan Eriksson who is a very nice person, and the national team coach Mr. Swavek Dydiszko.

Mr. Dydiszko has been helping us a lot by training our national team and he was also teaching at our summer camp. We have become close friends and it has been a pleasure to work with him. He is a very humble person with a lot of knowledge about Taekwon-Do.

Summer camp 2006