Inducted into the A.M.A.H.O.F.(Inc) for 2011
Martial Artist of the Year – Taekwondo
Inducted into the W.K.U.H.O.F. for 2011
Martial Artist of the Year – Taekwondo
Master Ross Hartnett 7th Dan Black Belt and 2000 Olympic Head Coach is one of Australia’s most successful instructors, coaches and former competitors. Master Hartnett who has practiced Martial Arts for some 37 years has taught thousands of students both through his clubs and the education system the art of Taekwondo. As a coach he was the first Australian born National Coach to a World Taekwondo Federation benchmark event in 1996. He became the first Australian born Head Coach for the WTF National Governing body in Australia in 1997.
As National Head Coach for Australia, he took Australia from an international ranking of 40 in the World in 1996 to the number 2 ranked Taekwondo Nation at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, where he was Taekwondo’s Olympic Head Coach. 2nd place at the Olympics is the highest ranking Australia has achieved at a Major Benchmark event and has never been surpassed.
During his 4 year tenure as Head Coach and Director for Australia he led National teams to success at various World Championships, World Cup Championships, Asian Championships and a variety of Major International Open Championships. In fact Australia was overall champion nation for the first time at a major International Open under his tenure, when it beat some 40 other countries to lift the 1998 US International Open 1st Place Team Trophy.
Master Hartnett has also excelled with coaching his personal Oh Do Kwan club members, with students selected for Olympics, producing a 1991 World Open Champion, a 1989 World Invitational Champion, Asian Champion, Oceania Champion, Several Commonwealth Champions among several hundred international open medal winners. Over the year his students have won more than 300 National Title Gold Medals and over 600 State Title Gold Medals.
In 2006 he was honoured for his success with induction into the Australian Taekwondo Coaches Hall of Fame. He has also been awarded in three separate years the WA Sport Federations WA Taekwondo Coach of the year and was the first WA Taekwondo Instructor to win the prestigious Blitz Martial Arts Magazine Australian Taekwondo Instructor of the Year.
Master Hartnett himself was a former 7 time National Champion, World Invitational Championship Bronze Medal Winner, European Invitational Championship Bronze Medal winner, both Singapore and Malaysian Invitational Champion. His international renown is such that he was elected the inaugural President of the Commonwealth Taekwondo Union and received various citations from the World Taekwondo Federation and Asian Taekwondo Union. Master Hartnett is a National Coaching Accreditation Scheme qualified Coach and a World Taekwondo Federation recognised examiner. Ross teaches at the Maddington and Victoria Park Oh Do Kwan clubs.