Autobiography of Master Faryad Goudarzi

From as far as I can remember, Taekwondo has always played an important role and has been very significant in my life.
I was born into a family that had already practiced the art of Taekwondo and I was fortunate enough to learn from my brothers at the start of my training.

From the age of 12, I started training in Taekwondo more seriously and found myself immersed in all its glory and teachings.
This was the start of a beautiful relationship which has given me the life skills I acquire today.

A year after I participated in the national regional competitions when I was only a blue belt and I became the champion in my region. After my achievement I found that I had a talent for sparring and with the support and help of my family I excelled in my training further and much quicker than the rest of my team mates.

I was awarded my black belt at the age of 15 and I regularly participated in national Taekwondo tournaments. This fuelled my passion further and I dedicated more and more of my time towards my training. I even trained my two sisters who were much older than me into blue belt level within 2 month of intensive private lessons.
My dedication to Taekwondo at this time was so immense that I even partook in a competition with a broken foot when I was 16 years of age and won the fight and became third overall champion in the Iranian Club Championships.

At the age of 17, I was invited to participate in the Best of the Best Championships held in Iran which was held between all the national, World and Asian champions. Within this championship I became third overall and I was invited to join the Iranian national Taekwondo team. This was a tremendous honour and the training I received has been an integral part of my life.

At the time I was also asked by my Master to train and coach the junior and under 15s class and prepare them for competitions. This gave me first hand, a sense of responsibility and discipline at a young age and it sparked my creativity for incorporating new methods of training which I had seen within the fighters of the Iranian national team.

By the age of 18, between 1994-1995 I was offered a contract to participate in the Iranian national League and I was fighting in competitions weekly. Within these competitions I won 60% of my fights and this was including defeating Asian and World champions at the time.
I was offered my 2nd Dan in 1996 and still continued to partake in national competitions regularly and won numerous titles.

In 1998 I was selected for the 10th World Military Championships (CISM) which took place in USA but due to political complications at the time between Iran and USA, no team from Iran was sent. This emotionally devastated me and I took a break from training for a couple of months. During this tough time, I was contemplating what I wanted to do with my Taekwondo career and in 2000 I decided to immigrate to United Kingdom and continue my training and studies here.

In 2014 I founded Westminster Taekwondo Academy. Today I proudly teach over 75 students from all ages and walks of life. I am a qualified Personal Trainer and Strength & Conditioning coach. I am currently finishing my studies in Movement Optimisation for Prehab & Performance.