About The Instructor

 Iain Harley… 3rd Degree Black Belt

Iain has been training for over 11 years in Tae Kwon-do although originally has a background in Shukokai and Shotokai Karate. He switched to Tae Kwon-do after his wife, son and daughter started at Prestwick Tae Kwon-do, training under Mr Kulwant Chahal, 5th degree black belt.

Although late to start competing, he has enjoyed some success on the competition circuit with a bronze medal win at the 2013 Welsh Open and in the same year a bronze at the Scottish Open Championship. The following year he again had success at the Scottish Open another bronze medal wins. However, it was in 2014 that saw him gain gold and Scottish Champion at the Scottish Closed Championships along with a bronze medal with his daughter Teagan, in a parent and child synchronous patterns competition. Iain’s final Scottish Open competition saw him gain another bronze medal and now with his black belt grading getting nearer, he decided to take a step back from competition and concentrate on training for that.

He sat and passed his 1st degree black belt grading and in October 2015. Shortly after obtaining this, Iain went on to do official TAGB instructor and umpires courses. He is fully PVG checked and first-aid certified.

He has assisted various instructors throughout Ayrshire, taking their classes if the usual instructor was unable to be there. He has mostly assisted with Mr Chahal’s classes and has run had 1 to 1 session for students approaching grading time who felt they needed the extra tuition.

Iain is particularly proud to have taken part in the 2016 World Tae Kwon-Do Championships and even though he didn’t win a place, the atmosphere and spirit of friendly competition had nothing to compare.

Tae Kwon-do is a great family activity. Iain encourages families to train together as he has seen how much they support each other through the training and grading syllabus.

During the coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, Iain shifted the club training online using Zoom for regular group sessions and also for 1 to 1 sessions with students who wanted to push themselves and be prepared for when classes returned to normal. In October 2020, Iain graded in Edinburgh along with his son Ieuan. Ieuan originally trained over in Prestwick but joined Troon when Iain started the club. Ieuan is the first Troon TaeKwonDo student to be graded to 1st degree black belt and Iain was also successfully promoted to 2nd degree black belt. April 2023 Iain was promoted to 3rd degree black belt at the TAGB National Dan Grading at Hellindon Lakes, Daventry.

As you can see, for some people Tae Kwon-Do can become more that a sport or a martial art, it can become a way of life.