The ITF have produced an Introduction to Tournaments video. It shows all the events in a ITF Tournament. Videos from the 2006-2009 Junior, Veteran and Adult World Championships are used and contain clips of Irish competitors such as World and European Champion Ms Audrey Condon and World & European Silver Medallist Mr David Freeman. Click the links below to view the videos.

• ITF Introdution to Tournaments part 1
• ITF Introdution to Tournaments part 2
• ITF Introdution to Tournaments part 3
  
  

At a recent grading held in Naas some of our young brothers and sisters successfully achieved their new grades, entering the Green Growth exciting stages of their training. Well Done Jeanne Kenyon who progressed to 7th Kup Green tag and Reece Sheridan and Suzanne Benny who received their Green Belt 6th Kup. All your brothers and sisters in Taekwon-Do are proud of you.

Members from Galway, Athlone, Cork and Dublin travelled to Athlone for a Black Belt class under one of Irelands most experienced Instructors, 8th Degree Black Belt Senior Master Anthony Phelan. Those attending ranged from 1st to 7th Degree Master and all enjoyed the class. Senior Master Phelan focused on Black Belt techniques with advanced kicking, foot sparring and all the Black Belt Patterns were covered from Kwang-Gae to Tong-Il.

Senior Master Phelan emphasised the importance of continuous correction as an Instructor and took time to correct everyone's mistakes no matter how small. Those attending all learned a great deal in the short space of time and would have gladly trained for longer under the very experienced instructor.   The next national Black Belts class will be before the RITA’s AGM on the 27th of November.

About 40 children between ages 6 and 11 successfully completed year 1 of the RITA’s children’s development programme.  The new children’s programme is being piloted in three of the RITA’s schools (Athlone, Galway and Senior Master Howard’s School).   The children were examined in the new syllabus by Senior Master Phelan, Master Howard and Mr O’Donnell and the Taekwon-Do Tigers (aged 6-8) and Dragons (9-11 years) and all passed their first grading with flying colours. 

The Dragons were promoted to their next kup grade while the Tigers were promoted to white belt black stripe.  The new programme is closely aligned with TAB’s Introduction to Coaching Course and is aimed at developing the core Taekwon-Do skills in young children.  Congratulations to all the Tigers, Dragons, parents and instructors.

The Taekwon-Do Advisory Board (TAB) of the Irish Martial Arts Commission (IMAC) ran the first of this year's Introduction to Coaching Courses over the weekend of the 10th & 11th July 2010 in Mulhuddart Sport Taekwon-Do Club in Dublin. Nineteen instructors and assistant instructors from all over Ireland took part in the course which is the first step in the Taekwon-Do Advisory Board's Coaching Education Programme. This course was especially enjoyable as there was a very broad range of experience among the delegates which ranged from Blue Belt to 7th Dan Black Belts. The course included 12 contact hours over the weekend, which is split 50/50 between classroom workshops, presentations and mat based exercises. What makes this course particularly interesting is that actual Taekwon-Do students take part in modules prepared and coached by the various instructors and assistant
instructors on the course and then give feedback to the coaches. The course was presented by TAB Tutors; Mr. Adrian Byrne and Mr. Donal O'Donoghue.

Some areas covered included; coaching skills; coaching process, key factors in working with beginners, learning needs of participants aged 6-8 years; technical, tactical, physical, mental, lifestyle and personal capacities related to the development of this age demographic. The course participants will next complete the IMAC Coach Level 1 course which will be conducted by the Taekwon-Do Advisory Board in 2011. The atmosphere of the course was very positive and enjoyable for all taking part and it was a great opportunity to see olds friends and make new acquaintances with fellow instructors from around the country. This was the first major event since the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association (RITA) rejoined IMAC and the TAB. It was great to see the camaraderie and cooperation between all participants.

Photos from the course can be viewed here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/IrishTKD/CoachingIntroCourse#

There will be a Black Belt Squad session on Saturday 31st July in Carlow from 12.30 to 3pm. All ITF Junior, Adult and Veteran Black Belts are invited. Selection for both the 4 Nations in October and the European Championships in February will begin.

Please note there will be a new childrens division introduced at the Europeans. This is for ages 10-13 and will include 1st kups and Black Belts.

Junior: 1st-3rd Dan,14-17 years
Adult: 1st-6th Dan, 18-39 years
Veteran: 1st-6th Dan 40+ years (3 classes)

Recently St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do School’s newest members took their first grading.  The grading was overseen by examiner and senior instructor Ms. Valerie Keane 6th degree.  Ms. Keane examined both the beginners & colour belt students on the fundamental movements, terminology of Taekwon-Do and some destruction for the more senior grades.  The evening proved extremely successful with all students being promoted.  Special congratulations to Lucas Moraes who won the award for “Most Progressed Student”.  Ms. Keane congratulated all of the students on their success and told them to continue training hard.

Promotions included:

Michael Sweeney: 2nd kup
Cara Ronan: 4th kup
Kelsie Dunne: 4th kup
Alyssa Valencia: 5th kup
Tanya De La Vega: 5th kup
Lucas Moraes: 8th kup
Dylan Grogan: 9th kup
Januel Lojo: 9th kup
Jan Fiel Zetazate: 9th kup

On Sunday 4th of July, the RITA held its National Instructors course in the Lucan Spa hotel.  The course was conducted by RITA President, Senior Master Howard 8th degree and also Senior Master Barrett 8th degree.  After a brief warm-up the morning started off with basic instruction on how to address a class for the first time followed by explaining the fundamental movements correctly.  Attendance included black belts from all over the country with each member being given the opportunity to instruct students through a colour belt pattern under the guidance of the senior masters.  Syllabus content was then covered with all members being made aware of the requirements for colour belt gradings.  After lunch, the course resumed with the rest of the colour belt patterns being covered and a focus on destruction requirements for each of the grades.  The day finished out with Senior Master Howard emphasising the importance of stretching in classes to improve overall standard of a student’s ability.  An excellent day’s instruction was enjoyed by all.

Congratulations to all the students of Enniscorthy and Bunclody Taekwon-Do Schools who successfully passed a Grading on the 24th June. The Grading was held in Enniscorthy under their Senior Instructor Mr Martin Murphy 6th Degree.

Pictured in side photo: From Enniscorthy are Lisa Bolger, Denise Bolger, Deirdre Corrigan, Caoimhe Murphy, Kerri McGran, Geoiroid Murphy, William Bolger, Sean McGran, David Farrell, Linda Byrne Mr. O'Brien & Mr Murphy. From Bunclody are : James O'Tool, Chris Redmond, & missing from photo were Arran Lyness, Simon Lyness, Gary Murphy, Niall O'Loughlin

Pictured in main photo: Mr. John Byrne & Mr Laurence O'Brien 3rd Dan, Mr. John Redmond 1st Dan, Lisa Bolger, Denise Bolger, Deirdre Corrigan, Caoimhe Murphy, Kerri McGran, Gearoid Murphy, William Bolger, Sean McGran, Christopher Boyce, Callum Boyce, John Byrne junior, Kevin Byrne, Rahat Hadev, David Farrell, Linda Byrne, Anna Dodor, Steven O'Sullivan, Michael Farrell, David, Amy & Seamus McAlister, Jason Rigley.

Maynooth Taekwon-Do School are celebrating their latest Black Belt. Ciaran Hickey was promoted to 1st Degree Black Belt at the recent International Instructors Course. Ciaran had to perform in front of Senior Master Phelan, Senior Master Barrett, Master Howard and Master Jacob plus an audience including 6th, 5th and 4th Degrees. He overcame his nerves to pass the grading and get promoted to the coveted Black Belt rank.

His Instructor Mr Stephen Doyle 6th Degree presented him with the Black Belt during training to a round of applause from the rest of the Maynooth students.

The Lucan Spa Hotel in Dublin was the venue for the third ITF International Course conducted by the RITA’s Senior Master Francis Barrett VIII Degree.  Members of the association from all parts of Ireland and ranging from 8th Kup Yellow Belt to VII Degree Master gathered in the hall on the first day of the two-day event.  Seniors in attendance on the course included Master Robert Howard VII and the RITA’s most recently promoted VII Degree, Master John Jacob.

After the official introductions, Snr. Mst. Barrett began proceedings by explaining that the main purpose of the course was to ensure that all Black Belts were teaching technique and tuls correctly.  Starting off with fundamental movements, he made the point that students must clearly understand the purpose and method of each movement performed, and emphasised that Taekwon-Do techniques are all based on practical applications – in other words, if you’re in doubt about how to perform a technique, practice it with a partner and find out what works and what doesn’t.  Snr Mst Barrett reinforced this point over the course of the weekend and urged the members not to simply repeat techniques, but to practice and improve them constantly.

He then moved on to pattern practice and used Black Belt ‘volunteers’ to teach additional movements for each pattern, and then the pattern itself to the entire group, giving advice and suggestions for improvement in terms of instructing methods, as well as clarification and explanation of many technical points.  Again, drawing on his 37 years experience in Taekwon-Do, and many seminars under both General Choi and First Grandmaster Rhee, Snr Mst Barrett emphasised and explained in detail the application of the movements.  As everyone was engrossed in the business of the day, the time flew and before we knew it, having completed patterns as far as Choong-Moo tul, it was time to finish.  All the participants eagerly looked forward to the second day of the course.  A relaxed chat followed in the hotel, and Snr Mst Barrett enjoyed a meal with some of his Taekwon-Do family who were staying overnight at the venue.

Sunday kicked off with a recap on the first day’s content, and more practice of Hwa-Rang and Choong-Moo tuls, before moving on to the Black Belt patterns.  Fourth degrees and higher were each asked to teach additional movements and a pattern to a single Black Belt volunteer, while the rest of the group watched attentively, and Snr Mst Barrett oversaw proceedings and again gave advice and clarification as we went along.  This was a great learning experience.  As Snr Mst Barrett pointed out, when you are performing patterns, your mind is completely focused on executing the techniques, but when you have a chance to observe a pattern being taught and performed, you have the chance to pick up on a lot of finer points. 

As with all good Taekwon-Do events, the time went by so quickly, and having completed 23 tuls, the 7th and 6th Degrees performed Tong-Il tul as the course neared its end.  Snr Mst Barrett finished up by reminding everyone of the key points covered over the weekend.  After some presentations of certificates, the course officially closed.  Congratulations to Ciaran Hickey from Maynooth who was promoted to 1st Degree Black Belt at a Grading Under The Masters at the end of the course.

Sincere thanks to Snr Mst Barrett from everyone who attended for a fantastic, educational and informative ITF International Course.

Click here to view photos