Central Taekwondo Academy: Founder David Bailey's Olympics aim as Carronshore-based club celebrate 30th anniversary

The club’s fantastic and ongoing legacy has seen just under 2,400 people join over the past three decades, since it was initially set up by founder and eighth dan grand master David Bailey.

The 62-year-old told the Falkirk Herald: "Of those 2,400 people, 249 have managed to get to black belt.

“I’m quite proud of the stats. It means that pretty much one in ten people who have taken up taekwondo have got to black belt. It’s not easy because it’s a bit of a commitment.

“Usually it takes around three years to get to black belt but some people like to take their time and maybe take five, six or seven years.”

Bailey, who is originally from Liverpool but has lived in Larbert for three decades, used to work as a staff trainer in the Civil Service but is now a full-time taekwondo coach.

He first moved north in 1993 after meeting his now wife Angie, 57, a nursery learning assistant, on a works training course and established Central Taekwondo Academy later that year.

“Angie was interested in martial arts when we met, and then when I moved to Scotland and started the club she started training, so basically she’s been training for 30 years,” he said.

Admitting the last 30 years have flown past, Bailey added: "We’ve been pretty busy since the club started.

“The only time it flagged was during the Covid era and we managed to survive that by levelling out the ground outside the community centre, putting up a marquee and were able to train using the outdoor training rules.

“At every single level – cadet, junior, senior, we’ve had students – including my daughter Asia and fellow member Jordyn Smith – on the Olympic programme in Manchester.

“I’d really like to get somebody from Central competing at the Olympic Games. We’ve come close in the past.

“We just want to continue getting people onto national teams.”

The club’s 30th anniversary gathering saw their 120 members – who normally train separately – brought together for the special occasion.

Bailey said: “I thought it might be a nice gesture to provide everyone from the club with a T-shirt with the logo on and we all got together and kind of partied.

“It was a training session but we stayed behind afterwards and had a bit of cake.”

Bailey, who fought for Great Britain at three senior world championships in his taekwondo pomp, later made a comeback as a veteran and became world masters games champion in 2013.

Another standout from his time involved in the Korean martial art came in 2007 when he wrote a book about his taekwondo career which was so well received after publication that he won a VIP trip to Korea, where he met grand masters at the Kukkiwon World Taekwondo headquarters in Seoul.

Carronshore Community Centre is the venue on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for Central training, with three sessions each day. To join, email [email protected]