Bernard Major

After being a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992, Taekwon-do made its debut as a full-medal sport at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia in September 2000.

It was the newest of the martial arts established sometime throughout the late 1940’s and early 1950’s by the Korean army. Modern Taekwon-do is no longer a method of defense from invasion but is now an art form, a sport, an excellent form of exercise.

The “Tae” means foot, foot techniques, kicking and jumping. The “Kwon” means hand, hand techniques, punching, blocking and striking. The “Do” means mind, art and way of life. The hyphen represents the balance between mental and physical. It was officially named in 1955 and since has grown to some 30 million practitioners worldwide.

Bernard Major of Williamstown is one of these practitioners. He became interested in Taekwon-do when he was stationed in Alert while with the Canadian Armed Forces. After six years of military service he concentrated on his Taekwon-do school, which he started in 1986.

Team Taekwon-do schools grew to four locations including Kingston, Nepean, Kanata and a satellite school in Vancouver. Major was a school owner and professional instructor for over 10 years.

He was also a coach for the American All Stars martial arts team. This is a company that takes the best competitors out of each martial arts school to form teams that compete from local to national levels.

In competition there are several different categories in which one can compete and Major has competed in them all throughout his Taekwon-do career, doing well in most of them and loving them all. These categories are sparring, patterns, power breaking as well as height competitions for various techniques.

1987 saw Major win the Canadian Taekwon-do Championship in Quebec City, followed by a Canadian Championship in 1989 in Regina and five more Canadian Championships.

In addition he has won two World Championships (in Montreal in 1990 and in Japan in 1992) and many other international challenges. He has competed in close to 200 tournaments and has well over 130 awards in the form of gold, silver and bronze medals, plaques and trophies. He has travelled to England, Scotland, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, the U.S.A and Puerto Rico to compete.

Over the years he has coached individuals and teams. Two of his students have become world champions. He also coached the Ontario ladies team that competed at the Canadian National Championships, receiving an award for coaching from the Olympic Torch Relay committee that year presented to him by the Hon. Flora MacDonald.

At a charity event in 1994, Major mashed an unofficial world record, which he still holds, by breaking 363 boards in one minute. He then broke another 1,00 boards at the event. He states he “still had some kindling.”

Born in Williamstown and now residing in Little Rock, Arkansas, Major would like to continue to teach and coach others to help them achieve their goals. He feels that the years of training have helped him to develop empathy, patience, physical strength, tenacity, a sense of justice, courtesy, integrity, perseverance and the one thing that has been most valuable to him in his day of day life: a positive attitude. Taekwon-do tests every conscious and subconscious action you and your body can generate.

As Taekwon-do becomes an Olympic competition, the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame salutes Bernard Major for his accomplishments.