Seminars

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.

ITF-Belgium had the honour to welcome GrandMaster Paul Weiler, IX°degree (Germany), Senior Vice-President of the ITF, to conduct a seminar in Lokeren April 1st-2nd. The seminar was open to red and black belts only. Nearly 60 participants subscribed, coming from Belgium, GD Luxembourg, Czech Republic and The Netherlands. It was also an honour that Master Vladimir Machota, VII°degree and 3 of his students from the Czech Republic were present. Master Machota is a real exemple for all Taekwon-Do practitioners.

On Saturday the seminar was covering warming-up & stretching, common mistakes and how to do it correctly, with exercises to stabilize the muscles and some theory, followed by common mistakes in the sine wave, step sparring, hosinsul and patterns from Chon-ji up to Juche. GrandMaster Weiler was the whole time available to answer the many questions, conducting the seminar with a lot of knowledge and dedication, always humble and respectful.

On Sunday the seminar was only open to participants III°degree and above, coverning patterns Sam-il to Tong-il.

The feedback and comments of the participants was very positive.

Report by Nicolas Taylor, student of Samjok-O:

Here is my summary from the Winter Camp.
Back again in Poland for my second Winter Camp. I went again after discussing with friends from abroad and we decided to meet there. As previously, the organization was very good and transfer is organized between Katowice airport and Szczryk.
There were 2 training per day. Although you can decide to skip the morning training and go for skiing instead. This year, contrary to last year, I used that option and took the opportunity to learn snowboarding. It was quite nice.
Most of the training were directed by Master Jedut and were more sparring oriented.
In the evening, there was the possibility to train by yourself or asking for a consultation. Even if the Masters were not always available, you can find easily people ready to help you when you’re practicing your patterns.
Winter Camp is more relaxed than Summer Camp but it’s a nice way to spend holidays. It is also a great opportunity to train with different people and learn new things. Last but not least, it allows to see your Taekwon-do friends.
More likely, next year will be my 3rd time.