16th National Instructors Course

Harelbeke, Sunday May 19th

After 16 times we can consider it to be a tradition: the ITF-Belgium NIC, open to black belt instructors only.

On the program this Sunday: 3 tul sessions conducted by GrandMaster Frank Vanberghen & Eddy Van Damme: Kwang-gae up to Juche, Sam-il up to Yon-gae (while the I° and II° degrees continued with Chon-ji to Choong-moo) & So-san up to Tong-il and a session of step sparring (sambo, ibo, ilbo matsogi) conducted by Master Annick Van Driessche.

As always with enough time for questions and discussions, participation certificats and snacks/drinks provided by the federation.

International Do Course

Report by Esther Meulemeester

The weekend of May 11-12th the second International Do Course took place in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). The course was conducted by Master Trân, Master Martinez and Professor Gauthier. During the weekend 29 particpants attended the IDC from different countries: the Netherlands, Germany, England, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala and of course Belgium (Nico Tunyck from Chon-ji and Esther Meulemeester from Ge-Baek). It was also an honour that Grandmaster Weiler, Grandmaster Lan and Grandmaster Tjin-a-Ton participated to this course. During the 2 days we got more information about the understanding and how to teach the tenets of Taekwon-Do. The first day Master Trân started the course with the right words that after this course we are more than ever ambassadors of the DO. We already knew that Taekwon-Do isn’t just about kicking and punching. During the first day we trained the different disciplines of Taekwon-Do and we tried to look which of the Tenets were involved during each exercise. After each exercise there was time to discuss our experiences. The second day was for instructors and we received tools how to teach Taekwon-Do. We got information about the Socratic approach, the psychology of human behaviour, motivation and goal-setting, perceived self-efficacy and how to integrate the Do in Taekwon-Do. But maybe more important we did not only got the information. We also discussed moral dillemma’s in smaller groups, did some role playing, practiced the different tools,…

The instructors conducted the course in a very inspirational manner and everyone had the opportunity to learn and to ask questions. This way we were teached how to teach the different tenets. I’m really looking forward to participate at the next IDC!                   

11th International Harmony Course in Italy

Report by Sabum Virginia Dionisi:

The 11th ITF Harmony Course was held on 13th and 14th of October in Buccinasco (Milan area), Italy. The Harmony course is the specific program that ITF designed together with a team of professionals to teach Taekwon-Do to seniors. The Course was organized by FITAE (the Italian Federation), GM Bos and Master Saccomanno, and was conducted by Sabum Gastón Casero.

Participants from Italy, Norway, Switzerland, France and Belgium were present. There was a special guest from Scotland, 79 years old that practices Taekwon-Do in Spain and who came specially for the course. On Sunday there were also senior helpers that came to take part in an Harmony class. The course was well structured and theoretical sessions were alternated with practical ones. Participants also had the opportunity to discuss, share knowledge and ideas.

On Saturday evening there was a very nice banquet where we celebrated the course and the 25th years of the school of Master Saccomanno. It was emotional and fun as well.

I really recommend this course. In addition of the practical and technical part, it offers room to generate debate and to understand Taekwon-Do in a different way.

National Umpire Course at Oostakker

Today on Sunday 23rd of September another National Umpire Course was conducted by sabum Eddy Van Damme VI° degree and sabum Benito Martinez IV°  degree, hosted at sportshall “De Wolfput” in Oostakker from 10 am until 4 pm, thanks to Chon-Ji!  There were nearly 70 people who subscribed for this course, which is a record up till now! All rules were explained from individual pattern, team pattern, sparring, team sparring and pre-arranged sparring.  As there were many detailed and specialised questions asked by the ITF members, there was no time left to go into specific details about special techniques and power breaking.  It was a long day with all the theory and a lot of practice and a lot of people!  Many thanks to the ITF-B umpire committee and a special thanks for boosabum Sophie Ardenoy for the catering and the cookies! The majority of the course was conducted in Dutch due to the vast majority of Dutch speakers. Boosabum Juan Martinez translated where necessary to other languages 😉 . Please do not forget to send back your feedback forms to sabum Eddy!  Many thanks for showing up! 

Link to the hand signals and scoring procedure:

National tul seminar for red & black belts

Sunday September 9th Master Frank Vanberghen, VIII°degree, technical director of ITF-Belgium conducted a tul course open to red & black belts in Sint-Lievens-Houtem. He was assited by Master Annick Van Driessche and Sabum Eddy Van Damme.

The class started at 10.00 and only ended at 13.00h.