© Marc Wickert
It was through a chance meeting that Bill Boyd's English-born mother and Australian father met in Canada. Bill's Father was working as a teacher chasing work, and his mother was a nurse helping the indigenous Indians in remote Canadian villages. They married and later settled in Surrey England, where Bill was born. When Bill was five his family moved to The Dandenongs in Australia.
"It was a time when governments poached for school teachers. As a result, we lived a nomadic lifestyle, leaving Victoria in search of work in Western Australia, then returning to The Dandenongs, before heading to Canberra," says Bill Boyd. Bill's mother had a life-long love of horses, which he inherited. And Bill set his sights on pursuing a career as a jockey, but his large frame denied him this goal, and at an early age, Bill went bush, and worked on a number of sheep and cattle stations in Kenambil, Tenterfield and Stanthorpe.
When Bill turned twenty, he took up Tang So Do (TSD) after trying unsuccessfully to wrestle a mate of his to the ground. The Mate was a practitioner of the art of TSD, and was quite competent at defending himself, so Bill thought he'd give the martial art a go.
Tang So Do is a traditional Korean martial art. Its history can be traced back 2000 years to the days of the Hwrang Warriors. It is different to other arts systems, and yet all martial arts are similar in that they all teach combative skills and philosophies. An over-simplification would be to say that you can see the strong linear movements usually associated with many Japanese systems. It also contains the dynamic kicks associated with Tae Kwon Do, and fluidity similar to that of Chinese Kung Fu. TSD also shares a number of similarities with the Korean art of Hapkido."
Bill commenced training at Canberra's YMCA under the tuition of Kriton Glenn, who was a student of Tang Soo Tao's founder Robert Caputo. Eventually Bill relocated to Darwin where Tang Soo Tao's headquarters were situated, and he took up residence in a caravan park next door to the dojo. When Robert Caputo passed away, Tang Soo Tao was taken over by Mark King who invited Bill to further his studies and instruct in the art at Maroochydore on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. "That worked out well for about eighteen months until I was involved in an accident after my car centre-punched a telegraph pole. I sustained some cerebral nerve damage, which affected my eyesight. I was unconscious for a couple of days, and the doctors didn't know if my sight would return. Eventually my vision came back, but my body was in a mess, so I'd drag myself out of bed each morning, and practise my katas as a form of physiotherapy.
"I took up a twelve month course in Health, Fitness and Recreation at Canberra TAFE, whilst staying with my parents. After dropping out of school at an early age, it was a real shock to be studying again at twenty-four years of age." It was during this period in Bill Boyd's life that he commenced training with an Australian Olympic judo competitor to broaden his martial arts background. Bill also believed that if he was to make a career of martial arts it was important that he complete the full-time course at TAFE so as to have a better understanding of business administration, marketing and human-relations skills. Because Bill was still recuperating from the car accident, he was determined to utilize this time for gaining knowledge and making the most of the moment.
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