25th Belgian Championships

bk2015In 2015 ITF-Belgium is existing 25 years, so this 22nd February the 25th Belgian Championships were organized. Location was the youth & sportscomplex of Lokeren, the organisation was done by the club Ge-Baek in cooperation with the ITF-Belgium Umpire & Tournament Committee.

It was a great honour to have 2 Masters present : Master Frank Vanberghen, 8th degree, pioneer of the federation and Master Stefan Schmitt, 7th degree, already member of ITF for years. Both Masters were helping out as umpires, a good example for the members.

This edition of the BC had a record number of participants : 164 competitors, 20 coaches, 30 umpires, and a number of assistants and volunteers. There was competition in tul, teamtul, pre-arranged sparring, sparring, special techniques and power breaking.
It was great to see that so many youth members competed, this is the future of ITF-Belgium.

The level was very high in all disciplines, and it was good to notice that medals were won by competitors of all participating clubs : Taekwon-Do Norden, Bushido, Samjok-O, ITF Brussels, ITF Etterbeek, ITF Woluwe, Hodori, So-San, Chon-ji, Won-Hyo and Ge-Baek.

Besides the medals there were certificates for all competitors and coaches, and for all the umpires. There were also trophees for the overall winners, the schools with the most points, with separate categories for youth and juniors/seniors.

At the opening of the competition, there was the opportunity not only to thank some persons, to present the schools, but also to announce the team that will represent Belgium at the upcoming World Championships.

Results

Many thanks to the sponsors : Tabdesign, Quisto & Stad Lokeren.

Chon-Ji winner of the Bloso campaign ‘Goed bezig’

chon-ji goebezigGentse Taekwon-Do sportclub wint prijscheque.

Aan de Gentse Taekwon-Do Sportclub Chon-Ji uit Oostakker werd deze maandag door Bloso een prijscheque overhandigd. Bloso, de sportadministratie van de Vlaamse overheid, schreef eind vorig jaar een wedstrijd uit waaraan alle Vlaamse sportclubs konden deelnemen. De wedstrijd heet ‘Sportclubs Zijn Goed Bezig’. Elke club kon een foto opsturen naar Bloso. Deze foto moest voldoen aan een van de volgende categorieën:

‘Samen Goed Bezig’, ‘Vrijwillig Goed Bezig’, ‘Goed Begeleid Bezig’ en ‘Fair Play’.

Uit alle inzendingen werden een aantal winnaars verkozen door middel stemming.

Van de 519 deelnemende clubs is Taekwon-Do Sportclub Chon-Ji is de enige Gentse winnaar in deze wedstrijd.

De prijscheque werd persoonlijk tijdens een Taekwon-Do training overhandigd door Bloso, in het bijzijn van Gents Schepen van Sport Resul Tapmaz, het hoofd van de Sportdienst Gent Wim Vandendriessche, de uitgenodigde pers en de familie en vrienden van de Taekwondoka’s.

Het prijzengeld zal gebruikt worden om extra materiaal aan te kopen voor de sportclub, zodat de leden nog beter en veiliger kunnen sporten. Kwaliteit en veiligheid staan centraal tijdens elke training.

De aanwezigen hadden naast het overhandigen van de cheque ook de mogelijkheid tot het bijwonen van de training. De jeugdafdeling (7-12j), de junioren (12-18j) en senioren (18+) zijn momenteel druk aan het trainen voor het Belgisch Kampioenschap dat op 22 februari in Lokeren plaatsvindt.

– Meer informatie over Bloso en de winnaars van de wedstrijd? www.sportclubszijngoedbezig.be.

International Umpire Course

iuc21st International Umpire Course, Budapest, Hungary

150 umpires from the whole of Europe attended the 21st International Umpire Course at the Danubius Helia hotel in Budapest on February 13 to 15, with the presence of Grand Master Wim Bos, ITF Director, Master Alberto Katz, head of ITF Umpire Committee, Master Harry Vones and some of the highest representatives of our federation.

ITF-Belgium was represented this time by Sabum Eddy Van Damme, Boosabum Sotirios Pagalis and Boosabum Benito Martinez. Since their arriving, thje participants realized the excellency of the organization and reception and enjoyed the welcome of the hungarian organizers.
All items in ITF Taekwon-Do rules and procedures were reviewed, especially the amendements decided for the 2015 World Championships in Jesolo, Italy.
Many questions were asked by the very motivated participants, especially in new issues like the concept of « Unsportmanlike conduct » to sanctione with a minus point or « being negatively responsable for causing conciousness » debates were very dynamic and learning very intensive during all the time of the seminar.

The whole event ruled in a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere, where the use of videos for excersice and perceive details in Tuls or Sparring was very usefull as a pedagogic method. A
t the end, every participant received a certificate of participation.

Benito Martinez

Dangrading 4th degree

itf2Sunday February 15th, in Lokeren, Tom Van De Sijpe did grading for IV°degree.

Tuls (Sam-il, Yoo-sin, Choi-yong and Juche), sambo-ibo-ilbo matsogi, hosinsul, 3 breaking techniques, sparring and theory were the disciplines Tom had to perform before succeeding.

tom4

National Umpire Course

nucOn Sunday February 8th, the ITF-B Umpire Committee organized a National Umpire Course (NUC) in Sint-Lievens-Houtem from 10:00 to 16:00 hosted by Hodori.

23 participants were inscribed from x different schools: Ge-Baek, Hodori, Won-Hyo, So-San, Samjok-O, Chon-Ji, ITF Brussels,.. Besides black belts and coloured belts, there was also a parent that took part of it.

The teachers were VIth degree, sabum Eddy Van Damme, chairman of the Umpire Committee and IInd degree, boosabum Sotirios Pagalis.

First on the agenda was a general introduction about an umpire’s responsibilities.

Afterwards the theory to judge tuls was explained and put into practice later on, when the group was separated in two.

After lunch time, most of the afternoon was spent on the different roles in sparring for an umpire: jury president, time keeper, jury member tracking warnings and minus points, center referee and corner referee.  Several participants volunteered for giving a sparring demo, so that the others could assume the referee roles they wanted to.

By the end of the afternoon, some more information was given about judging teamtul, pre-arranged free sparring and specials.

Everybody could still ask questions, but was fulfilled by this very interesting and animated course.

The documents from the course can be found at the following link.