Lesley Jackson has a chat with one of her training partners, Ruth Chare, who recently came out of retirement from competition to win gold at the 2008 TAGB British championships. Lesley finds out that experience comes before youth as Ruth gave the rest of the field a good lesson in taekwondo.
Ruth Chare is the comeback queen; there is no doubt about that. After retiring from competitive taekwondo five years ago and winning multiple international titles, she has recently came back to have a bit of fun in the TAGB 2008 British championships where she could, “do a competition where you had no pressure.” Well readers, fun she had as Ruth plunged straight into the Ladies individual lightweight sparring and fought through to the final, winning that as well to take the gold. Not bad for someone who was just having a bit of fun, particularly as she was competing against some fresh faced hopefuls who were several years younger than her. It was experience that came through in the end though, as Ruth explains, “with experience you learn a lot and I am quite a tactical fighter so with the experience of all the different people I have fought, it makes it easier for me than someone who is new to the sport. I can suss out the person I am fighting and then change my strategy accordingly. My experience counted for a lot and even when I was competing previously it was not until I had been competing for quite a while was I getting consistent results and that was down to gaining experience, using that experience and thinking about what I was doing.”
I don’t train anything like the way I did when I was competing; I was training six days a week then, sometimes twice a day. I look back now and think how on earth did I manage to do all that! - Ruth Chare
The ladies lightweight final was a gripping affair where Ruth fought against Katie Elliot, herself a Scottish squad member and winner of several national titles. Ruth describes her strategy in that two-round final, “I hadn’t fought her before but I had trained with her so I knew she had a good side kick. One of my strong points is my hands so I was trying to get inside her side kick and capitalise on using my hands. Towards the end of the round she started to tire and that made it a bit easier for me.”
Although Ruth hadn’t competed seriously for several years now, she still had not lost her touch. Whilst also running her own taekwondo school, her connection with the martial was maintained, thus enabling her to keep her conditioning to a good level. “I did not totally have a break from training but I was still training for myself. I was attending national squad session occasionally and training with my students but as it was the 25anniversary for the TAGB and they were doing the event with the regional teams, Kenny Walton (the national coach) asked me if I would like to be on the north of England team so that gave me an incentive to get fit again and something to aim for. When we were doing the training it went really well so I thought that I would like to have a go at the individuals. I was just interested to see how I would get on as the fighters now are different to those I was fighting when I retired five years ago. It was a test for myself really.”
Career Highlights
Ruth has had a long and illustrious career in ITF Taekwondo, spanning from when she started training in 1989 alongside her brother. Although her brother went off to university, Ruth was hooked from the start and since starting in taekwondo she, “hasn’t looked back really.” Ruth tells Martial Edge what were some of the highlights of her career: “The things that stand out would be the first world championships in Holland in 2000. Before that I had been thinking about retiring for various reasons; I was starting to get stale, I’d been in lightweight for a long time and so I decided to move up to middleweight. My weight put me right at the bottom of the division, I actually weighed in as lightweight but it paid off as I won at middleweight as well. From other people’s points of view, it was a bit unexpected so it was really good to prove that, I had a good plan and I stuck to it. Then at Miami in 2002, I came back and won at lightweight. The Argentinean girl I fought in the final was probably the best fighter I have ever fought. It was a real cat and mouse match and again it was tactics that won it. That and the two head kicks in the second round were the difference between winning and losing. That was another real achievement for me.
I don’t train anything like the way I did when I was competing; I was training six days a week then, sometimes twice a day. I look back now and think how on earth did I manage to do all that! I used to travel down to squad training every week as well; it is funny though that when you stop doing that you still manage to fill your time. I’m just a person who likes to keep busy; I don’t have a massive amount of sitting around time so when I do I enjoy it all the more.”
Goal Setting
Although Ruth is still distinctly involved in the world of taekwondo, she has found her priorities have changed considerably over time. “When I was competing my goals were always the next competition and once I got on the team, I wanted to maintain my place and get consistent results. With this in mind I did quite a lot of sports psychology such as setting goals and working towards them. Generally at this stage they were competition orientated although I have always graded on time. I’m a fifth Dan now so I don’t actually have anymore gradings to do. Now I have retired from competition itself it is now more about coaching my students; passing on some of my experience and getting them through. It isn’t just about competing, although that is my speciality, but even just seeing them progress through the grades, that’s what motivates me now. I do still train for myself to keep fit, it would be a shame not to but my main motivation now is to see my students develop.”
Gary Hall Taekwondo Performance Director for the British Olympic Team
In the second of her interviews at the British International Open Taekwondo Championships held in Manchester at the beginning of November, Lesley Jackson speaks to Gary Hall, the Performance Director at Sport Taekwondo UK.
From her years of international competition, Ruth has some good advice for those competitive beans at Martial Edge, “Persevere with it, I went through several stages where you feel like giving up especially if you are not achieving the results you would like. Sometimes I would feel that when I went up to fight I didn’t perform to the extent that I thought I was capable of. Don’t be afraid to take on ideas from outside the sport, for example I worked with a sports psychologist that did a lot of work with UK athletics. He taught me a lot of things like Olympic lifting and explosive power. Be open really and look at other ideas from other sources; some you might need to adapt as a sport and some you might be able to take on as they are. Finally, always try and learn from your experiences, don’t just pass them off. Spend a bit of time thinking about them and what you can take away from them, as even the worst experience you can still learn something from.”
Thanks for your time Ruth, let us hope that you may become the TAGB’s first female 6th Dan!
Interviews 
Lesley Jackson has a chat with one of her training partners, Ruth Chare, who recently came out of retirement from competition to win gold at the 2008 
TAGB and they were doing the event with the regional teams, Kenny Walton (the national coach) asked me if I would like to be on the north of England team so that gave me an incentive to get fit again and something to aim for. When we were doing the training it went really well so I thought that I would like to have a go at the individuals. I was just interested to see how I would get on as the fighters now are different to those I was fighting when I retired five years ago. It was a test for myself really.”
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