European Project: Taekwon-Do for the Rights

Report by Master Virginia Dionisi:

ITF Brussels is one of the partners of the Project “Taekwon-Do For The Rights” (№ 101133552) which is co-funded by the Erasmus + Program of the European Union and coordinated by the Central Police Taekwon-Do Club of Bulgaria. It aims to encourage young people actively practicing sports to be socially engaged by interacting with law enforcement authorities and thus engage more effectively in public life. Master Virginia Dionisi, acts as project manager in Brussels, while Andreea Musca represents the police force and Omar El Ferkhani acts as volunteer.

This Project is carried out in partnership between 10 countries: Bulgaria, Slovenia, Greece, Romania, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Serbia, Poland. Characteristic of the project is the key role assigned to the police and fire protection. Many volunteers will help in the realization of “Taekwon-Do For The Rights”, but also parents acting as volunteers.
Parents will get a vital role, as they will need to evaluate their children on different activity indicators, outside of sports training, when coaches have no supervision over the children.

Some activities will be carried out locally in Belgium like trainings, inspirational talks, visits to the police station in Vilvoorde and European Parliament in Brussels, etc.
Bulgaria will host the larger events from the 17th till 20th October, like a visit of the Academy of the Interior and the G. Stadium. S. Rakovsky. There will be presentations by each participating team, with each module corresponding to a letter from the acronym RIGHTS:

-R /Role Model/ – A role model: a role model from the National Police or NPP/Fire Protection/ who has made a special contribution to the democratic life in his community and who will talk about his sports regime and also how this regime helps to have a healthy lifestyle and stress management.
-Inspiring Stories: video or podcast with the inspiring story of journalists’ participation in democratic elections and how they were reported – the challenges journalists face and how they engage with the community and the PPO.
-G /Growing up/ – Growing up: the profile of a famous athlete and the motivation to change careers by becoming a part of the police, fire or youth service.
-H /Heroine/ – Heroine: A woman with achievements in Taekwon-Do and her professional career will be invited to share the values of the sport and how they have helped her career and whether there is any discrimination related to gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, etc.
-T /Taekwon-Do: European, world and national champions will present their sporting path explaining her/his challenges, achievements, highlights.
-S /Sustainability: A social or environmental cause associated with local youth communities will be represented by young Taekwon-Do players. The relevant associate partner is engaged to the cause in the future.

The thematic presentations are in line with Taekwon-Do’s role to cultivate various qualities such as tolerance, discipline, combativeness, responsibility, etc.

The final huge and fantastic activity will be on October 17th and 18th at the Arena Asics, where 300 Taekwon-Do young players coming from ten European countries will compete in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The Project will cover the travel expenses and the inscription fees of all young athletes, and in addition they will receive a dobok and sparring protections.

ITF Brussels, in collaboration with ITF Belgium, will open some places for young Belgian athletes coming from different clubs to be part of the competitor’s team.
If Belgian instructors are interested to include some students in the selection process, please contact Master Virginia Dionisi, Sabum Andreea Musca or Bo Sabum Omar El Ferkhani as soon as possible. Please note that places are limited, as only 15 young athletes will be selected.

We also need your help to support the Project. How? Following the official pages on social media (we need 2.000 followers!): https://www.facebook.com/taekwondofortherights; sharing it within your students and friends and putting likes in all publications about it!

Yours in Taekwon-Do,

Master Virginia Dionisi

National Umpire Course (Dutch)

On Sunday 03/03/2024, the TUIC ITF Belgium hosted a National Umpire Course in Lokeren. The course, in Dutch language, was conducted by Master Eddy Van Damme and Boosabum Sophie Ardenoy from the Tournament Umpire and IT Comitee. There was a first part for beginners and a second part for advanced umpires.

How to set a ring, the protocols, the rules for tul, teamtul, sparring, teamsparring, pre-arranged free sparring, power and specials were covered. Also the behaviour of the umpires and coaches, the differents duties in the different positions or functions in the ring, hand signals and other procedures were part of the content of the course. In total 32 participants made a lot of questions and showed a great motivation and interest. As TUIC we hope this can bring more potential umpires to our championship and help to improve their quality.

We’re looking for you!

ITF-Belgium is always looking for persons that want to engage and show commitment to the federation.

The PR committee is in full expansion. Juan and Tabitha would be happy to welcome 1 or 2 new colleagues in the committee, persons that can help them cover the many interesting tasks in public relations.

ITF-Belgium also have 2 vacant positions:

  • We are looking for a new national coach sparring, as part of the national coaching team.
  • We’re also on the search of a new anti-doping officer, to keep updated with the WADA rules and inform the members.

For more information, or if interested in one of the positions: contact taekwondo1@telenet.be or get in direct contact with the committee involved.