1. From the Office of the President
Dear Taekwon-Do Practitioners and Friends, It has been a year since the world has been hit by the COVID19 pandemic which has affected everybody and very part of life. It was no exception to our beloved martial art Taekwon-Do. Many instructors, students, and organizations have been facing all kinds of challenges. The lack of face-to-face classes and online classes have created a new test for all. Instructors had to learn how to adapt to the new conditions quickly in spite of the fact that not everybody has the appropriate infrastructure and is skilled to teach via digital media.
Therefore, I would like to complement our masters and instructors who in spite of these all challenges have been successful in maintaining and motivating Taekwon-Do practitioners around the world and keeping General Choi’s Art alive.
Here in Korea, it is no different. Schools have been closed from the beginning of December 2020 and mass gatherings of over 4 persons are prohibited. The Korean government is doing everything to get the pandemic under control. So, the vaccination program will start from the beginning of February, with over 70 million vaccine doses exceeding by approximately 20 million the entire Korean population, will be inoculated for free. Therefore, there is a chance that this year things will ease in the homeland of Taekwon-Do.
We have been receiving many letters and messages regarding our Tul Tour programs. As of now, four teams would love to come to Korea in 2021 for the program. We hope that this will be possible as we would like to get back to the pre-pandemic way of training and enjoyment of Taekwon-Do.
I wish you all a lot of strength and indomitable spirit in these very challenging times. Do not lose your motivation, do not lose the love for the art many of you have been enjoying for a long time.
Stay safe and strong. Happy New Year 2021.
Oh Chang Jin – ITF HQ President
2. ITFHQ Council of Masters Zoom Meeting
The Council of Masters (COM) is the executive decision-making body of ITF HQ Korea and deals with important matters that cannot be dealt with by the day-to-day administrative team. The COM consists of up to 9 Masters or Grand Master who voluntarily contribute their time to assist in the oversight of ITF HQ. Recently the COM has been meeting using Zoom to make plans for the future of the body and to adjudicate on matters where members need clarification of the rules and regulations for ITF HQ. Many of the items you see in this newsletter are dealt with by the COM and in particular the recognition of rank for new members is often brought to the COM for clarification. It also handles the more complex matters regarding membership of larger groups who wish to join ITF HQ and works together to encourage new members into our growing body.
The COM commonly meets every two months via Zoom unless urgent matters arise that need decisions made quickly. Appointment to the COM is usually via a vote at Congress unless a position becomes vacant in which case the COM itself can appoint a new member until the next Congress meeting is held. The COM however requires that its members contribute actively and if a member is not participating then the Council itself will replace the member with a more enthusiastic member. Membership of the COM is considered to be a great privilege and the office holders should be regarded as the premium members of ITF HQ since these members give their time and efforts without any remuneration or compensation.
3. ITA-IQ-USA- NEWS
General Choi Hong Hi Awards were presented by GM Jamie Moore to the following ITF HQ & ITFHQUSA members: Grandmasters Jeffrey Helaney, Robert Dunn, Henrik Kaedrup, Grandmaster Orlando Vega, and Masters Chuck Gorino, Michael Munyon, Harry Van Schaik, Colin Bakker and Ad Dekker.
Master Munyon, ITF HQ North America Regional Director and Member of the Council of Masters, shares his thoughts on Leadership in the Martial Arts. As you gain increased rank there is an expectation of increased responsibility. Learn more at https://itfofficial.org/leadership-in-the-martial-arts/ ITF-HQ.
Welcome our newest members: Master Chuck Gorino, VIII Dan out of New York, USA, Master Rob Zang, VIII out of Pennsylvania, USA, Sabumnim Costello out of New York, USA and Master Olaf Henderson, VIII out of Texas, USA.
EVENTS: Februarv: Benton Martial Arts and Bellaire ITF Taekwon-Do will be hosting Master Munyon for a Skills Development seminar in Louisiana.
June: Depending on the COVID situation in the United States, Master Michael Munyon is looking to host his annual
ITF HQ-USA Summer Camp. Details coming soon.
July: ITF HQ-USA hosts the ITF HQ International/Domestic Instructor Course. Details coming soon.
4. ITF HQ EUROPE – NEWS
ITFHQ EUROPE is not an official ITFHQ Korea entity. It’s a form of cooperation that arose from the will to be able to work together to build our beautiful Taekwon-Do in Europe. This resulted in a strong bond between the various committee members from this 50-country big continent.
Now the time has come to connect these committees even more and structure the work all these passionate members did in the last years. Saturday January 30th the committee members will come together in a Zoom meeting and discuss the future. The idea is to produce a 3-year marketing plan for the European Continent. All members already submitted their status reports which showed a lot of work has been done and a lot of plans are waiting on the shelf. The combination of all these reports and plans will form the beginning of the composition of this marketing plan.
As noted above ITFHQ Europe is not an official entity in the ITF HQ Korea structure. However, appreciating the hard work of all these committee members, it commands us to look for a way to give this a place within the ITF HQ Korea structure. The following committee members have been invited for the meeting:
Grandmasters – Sanders, Mazaheri, Kaerdrup,
Masters – Stokhof, Hodson, Uichonaola, Dekker, Manavaki, Thompson,
Sabums – Danskin, Kent-Marrast, Siemon, Walkinshaw, Kaszmarek and Davies.
Boosabum – Stewart
5. Approval for ITF HQ Korea Sanctioned Events
It has been extremely pleasing to see how our members have been so pro-actively running events using streaming services and social media to promote both their own schools and ITF HQ Korea. We would like to encourage this to continue during these difficult pandemic times however it is important to remember that for International events there must be some procedures followed to gain approval to gain ITF HQ sanctioning and support for an event. If a group or association wishes
to run an international or continental event such as a competition or teaching seminar it is necessary to contact the Secretary General (Master Zibby Kruk) in the first instance, who will provide the contact details of the appropriate Committee Chair
responsible for the area of interest. This will allow IT F HQ to provide guidance and assistance and ensure that
appropriate standards for such prestigious events are maintained in line with ITF HQ policy. The Council of Masters
and the ITF HQ committees wish to encourage the work of our members in the promotion of events and will
provide as much support as possible for all proposals. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
6. Grand Master Rudolf Kang – Zoom Course “Taekwon-Do Patterns Explanation”
Following the success of his previous “Biomechanics in Taekwon-Do” courses Grand Master Kang presented a new course, this time focusing on the first 12 patterns of Taekwon-Do-ITF. The three, two-hour sessions, over three days, covered detailed explanation of how to perform the movements and their application. He particularly emphasized the foot placement and movement when moving to explain how to generate the most power using sine wave and whole of body application of mass. He underpins his explanations using his extensive studies into the biomechanics of Taekwon-Do movements in which he has used sophisticated measuring devices to examine the power being produced by the practitioner when performing the movements in a number of different ways. He often refers to his work that is covered in his book “How to learn Taekwon-Do”
(www.Tkdbook.info.com) that has been published in both Russian and English. With the assistance of his extraordinary daughter, Aleksandra Kang, who acts as a demonstrator and English language translator and who is a former ITF World Champion, he is able to show how movements in patterns should be performed properly and many of the common mistakes that many practitioners exhibit.
G. M. Kang’s courses provide people not only with the opportunity to interact live with him but also provide additional resources such as access to video patterns from four directions and question and Taekwon-Do Patterns footage of the answer sessions both live and via social media. These courses are a terrific adjunct to his book and allow him to continue to fulfil his role as Chair of ITF HQ’s technical committee in these challenging COVID 19 times.
7. Upcoming IIC to Be Held in Queensland, the Sunshine State of Australia
G M Jamie Moore, Master Steven Weston (Member of the Council of Masters) and possibly Master Peter Wong will be presenting an International Instructor Course for ITF HQ Korea around the middle of 2021 (COVID 19 situation permitting) that will allow ITF HQ 4th degrees and above to apply for their International Instructor qualification and for those below this rank to gain valuable teaching skills and to receive recognition of their attendance via a reduction of time for their next “Dan” grading. All of these Masters have extensive experience in running Master Classes to teach ITF technique and have collaborated for over 25 years in the Oceania region. Since Australia has an enviable record in dealing with the Corona virus it is likely this will be one of the few face to face IIC courses run by any organization in 2021 that allows participants from throughout the country to attend the event. Enquiries can be directed to both G M Moore on Weston on gm09.moore@gmail.com or steve@southernitf.com
8. Online Lessons in COVID Lock Down
by sabomnim peter Kent-Marrast
COVID has been a trying time for all of us, no one has escaped the effects from it. Especially us at Taekwon-do-WaIes whose numbers depend on after school clubs etc, which were all cancelled back in March 2020. For our school to survive before the date for the March Lockdown I had to work on a plan for our schools to endure, so playing about with “YouTube” and watching a martial arts instructor do an online class in China, straight away I thought this was the way to go. So, three days before the lock down I met my instructors and said “For us to survive the COVID Lockdown we have to go online, or we will not have any schools left at the end of it. So, we looked at to platforms Google Meet and Zoom it worked out Zoom was the better platform, so I signed up paid my fees to Zoom since the free version would not have worked for us.
As 90% of my students are children, I had to work out how long to run a class and what content to use. We kept the classes to 30 minutes and put background music in as silent patches would make it boring for the students. We did 5 days a week 4 half hour classes per day we separated the belt colours and age groups and did our best to keep the content of the lessons interesting. It was not completely fail safe as we still lost a number of students in the first lock down of which we got one third back. This time around we prepared the students for the online classes for the second and third lockdown so losses this time
around are very low. Fingers crossed and with the three vaccines I am hoping that this is our last lockdown.
9. Latest ITF HQ Master Promotions
Congratulations to Mr Ad Dekker from the Netherlands who was recently promoted to Master level by the examination committee consisting of Grand Master Peter Sanders [9 Degree Black Belt] and Master Collin Bakker [7 Degree Black Belt]. Master Dekker has been involved in Taekwon-Do for 41 years and this new achievement is the effect of his continuous training and involvement in the promotion and development of Taekwon-Do in Europe. Master Dekker attended seminars with the Founder of Taekwon-Do (General Choi Hong Hi) and was greatly influenced by him. Master Dekker’s desire in Taekwon-Do is to harness and control techniques as well as to research the DO which is very important. However, to be ready to assist his students and anybody who would like to learn Taekwon-Do is the first priority. He says: “For me as a Master, besides having all technical skills under control, the Do principles mean a lot to me. To be there for our students, our fellow Taekwon-do colleagues and fellow human beings (Society), is my goal in my existence.” He also concluded that Taekwon-Do is the way Cartga Lia as of his life.
10. Job Opportunity in Korea after COVID-19 Recovery — Expression of Interest
Teaching Taekwon-Do in English in South Korea. The International Taekwon-Do Federation Headquarters in Korea is looking for young, energetic and experienced Taekwon-Do instructors (males or females), who are native English speakers and would like to come to Korea and test their teaching skills utilizing a Taekwon-Do curriculum and a specially designed English language program.
The essential criteria are:
- being a native English speaker
- a minimum 1 Dan in Taekwon-Do ITF,
- experience in conducting classes for children and teenagers.
For more information, please contact via email: korea@itfmail.org. The position(s) will be available as soon as the government regulation allow group activities to be conducted and COVID-19 restrictions eased.
11. Get Yourself and Your Members in Print
If you’re an ITF HQ member and have news, updates or events you’d like to have published in our newsletter please send us a brief (1 paragraph) submission with photos to korea@itfmail.org. Please note your club news should stay within your club but anything else, we’d love to share with the Taekwon-Do community. You’ve worked hard to build your club and your students. Let ITF HQ help recognize your outstanding accomplishments along with your members.
A surprise visitor to our ITFHQ Center of Excellence
