Sparring seminar in Bastogne

Report by Marco Gaspar.

Saturday 28 December took place the first seminar organized by the club Bushido Bastogne. The city of Bastogne hosted a 3 hours sparring seminar with 36 participants who met for a learning moment with guest SabumNim Yves Pollefeyt. Without needing much introduction, SabumNim Yves Pollefeyt, well known to all participants, began by demonstrating that mental work in combat is the basis and that along with speed and strength provide the good results. Many kicks, many punches, many techniques with a training intensity that characterizes him made him believe that ‘Be Your Own Hero is to keep in mind. At the end of the seminar the opinion was unanimous, an excellent sparring seminar with an excellent reception by Bushido Bastogne.

20th International Christmas Cup Minsk

Minsk, Belarus December 14-15 2019

Report by Nicolas Taylor:

Friday December 13th I traveled to Minsk (Belarus) for the 20th International Christmas Cup and my last competition for 2019! On Saturday early afternoon I participated to a 3-hours umpire seminar given by Sergey Saulite from Latvia (4th Dan) and acting as Chief Referee for this competition. Afterwards there was an exam (maybe an idea for future umpire seminar in Belgium).  In the late afternoon I attended a sparring seminar given by Oleg and Katya Solovey. In the evening there was a dinner party with representatives of the different countries participating to this tournament. Sunday was the big day. Despite 8 rings, with 800 participants from 12 countries, we knew it would be a long day. Competition started at 8.30 AM and finished at 10.00 PM. In tul I obtained the 3rd place, losing against the winner of the category. And in sparring I lost the final with golden point. My categories were in the morning. So, as from 1.00 PM to the end, I’ve been acting as referee. I had the opportunity to be the centre referee for tuls (coloured belts youth and juniors) as well as corner referee in sparring. It has been a busy weekend but also a very interesting one with lots of experiences. Now it’s time to take a small break before preparing next year!


Fuji Mae Kids Cup

The Netherlands, December 8th 2019

Results members ITF-Belgium:

  • Jef Gerits: gold tul, gold sparring, gold special techniques
  • Mattiz Verbraeken: gold sparring, silver tul
  • Jesse Deschryver: gold tul, gold sparring
  • Suela De Messemaeker: gold tul, silver sparring, silver special techniques
  • Noah De Messemaeker: bronze tul, bronze sparring
  • Jessica Geerinck: gold tul, gold special techniques, silver sparring, silver power breaking