Annick Van Driessche

ITF Fight Evolution Summer Camp

by

Report by Nicolas Taylor (Samjok-O):

Back from my second Ukraine ITF Fight Evolution summer camp. As last year, it has been a great experience, with lots of fun and plenty of memories. They were about 80 participants from 14 different countries, coming as far as Argentina, and plenty of international competitors training to be ready for the World Championship in Dublin. Two Masters were present as well : Master Stephen Cooley from Ireland and Master Alexandru Muresan from Romania. 

The camp took place at the same location as the previous year, in the Carpathian Mountains. Depending the day, we started either by a run in the mountain or by a crossfit session before breakfast. Then, after some rest, we had a morning session where we were doing exercises for sparring with shields, rackets,… In the afternoon, we had a last session where we were only doing sparring. I liked that session as it gave opportunity to practice sparring with different people and without the pressure of competition. Sessions were of a very good quality but exhausting. We could use the swimming pool after a training session. For the two daily Taekwon-do trainings, we were divided in 3 groups: coloured belts, black belt female, black belt male. We also had a day off to rest where we went to Bukovel to walk in a natural park. At the end of the camp, we had a black belt team sparring competition. It followed the ITF competition rules for team sparring with the exception that each team was composed of 6 persons and therefore there where 6 matches. Plus teams were composed of male and female (male vs female match were not allowed). Cups were given for the 3 first places, with only 1 third place. During the competition, I’ve been corner referee, also a nice experience. That evening, we had a celebration party. Like last year, I really enjoyed my time there and learned a lot.

World Championships 2017 ITF Taekwon-Do

by

De national coaches announced the selection for the WC 2017 (October 9th-15th in Dublin, Ireland) on July 2th:

  • Hans Rombaut: senior male tul 4°-6°degree
  • Andreea Musca: senior female tul 4°-6°degree & senior pre-arranged free sparring
  • Erika Knihti-Van Driessche: senior female power breaking
  • Leen Walraeve: senior female tul 1°degree & senior pre-arranged free sparring
  • Hans Van Lierde: senior male power breaking
  • Margaux Pollefeyt: junior female tul 1°degree, junior female sparring -55kg & junior female power breaking

The coaches during the WC: Yves Pollefeyt & Bob Wigman.

They will be accompagnied by

  • Eddy Van Damme: umpire
  • Annick Van Driessche: official
  • Master Frank Vanberghen: official

Iudith Rita Musca and Liviu Musca will travel with the team as supporters.

Ladies Only Seminar in Ireland

by

The weekend of June 24th-25th Annick Van Driessche was invited by Master Terry Donnelly to conduct a seminar in Skerries, Dublin, Ireland. At first the seminar was open to all practioners, but soon the idea grew to have a ‘Ladies Only’ seminar, as some women tend to feel more comfortable to practise certain disciplines of Taekwon-Do without having male practioners around.

Over the weekend all different aspects of ITF were covered: sparring exercises and ‘sparring with a twist’, tul and tul ‘games’, strength & conditioning, balance exercises, hosinsul from a more female point of view, jumping techniques & special techniques, application of movements with also step sparring and pre-arranged free sparring and so on.

The main purpose of the seminar however was to have fun during the classes, although the girls and women worked really hard. There was lots of sweat.

Report of the 2017 European Cup

by

Report by Sabum Virginia Dionisi:

Gold in Team Sparring at the European Cup 2017!

9th -11th June 2017

Thibaut De Preter (ITF Etterbeek), Nicolas Taylor (Samjok-O) and Omar El Ferkhani (ITF Brussels) did it! They defeated the team sparring coloured belts from Finland winning three times.

Each team had three competitors. We put the first competitor on the ring: it was Omar. He fought against a competitor of the -70 category. Omar moved very well and countered attacked effectively. He scored almost every time he attacked. He won the match 4-0. Our second competitor was Thibaut. He fought against the competitor that defeated him in individual sparring. This time the combat was different. He corrected the mistakes of the first fight and changed the strategy. He won the combat 4-0! Our third competitor was Nicolas. But the Finnish competitor was injured and preferred not to compete. So, it was 4-0 again for Belgium.

Thibaut, Nicolas and Omar also got a bronze medal in individual sparring in the categories coloured belts -78, -85 and -63 respectevely.

Alice Vrinat and Pablo Pascuzzo also competed in individual sparring. Alice did a good fight in a mixed weight category (+62) where there were another six Polish competitors. It was her first time with lighter competitors. She did well but could not win this time. Pablo competed against Russia (-63). He did a great fight, but the umpires did not see the so many clear points he did and he lost…

In patterns, Alice defeated Poland in the first round and lost with Poland in the second round against the lady that won the category. Nico lost against Finland in a very close match. Thibaut defeated Poland and then lost against Poland with the one that won the category. Finally, Omar did a good tul but lost against Poland.

Bo Sabum Benito Martínez worked as umpire in the Children and Cadets competition on Friday and at the European Cup on Saturday and Sunday. Sabum Pablo Pascuzzo and myself were coaches, while Leonor Garcia helped us taking pictures and making videos.

We felt a lot of mixed emotions at the European Cup held in Lublin (Poland), which had 379 competitors from 22 countries, 66 clubs from Europe and 6 competition areas. It was a good international experience for our team, and the athletes came back home very motivated!

Yours in Taekwon-Do,

Sabum Virginia Dionisi (ITF Brussels)