This course is aimed at new assistant coaches/instructors who have little or no experience in teaching Taekwon-Do and at existing/experienced coaches who are engaging with the Taekwon-Do Advisory Board Coach Development Programme for the first time.

Course candidates will be aged 16 years or over and will hold a grade of 4th Kup or higher.

The Course will take place in Donabate & Portrane Community Centre, Donabate, Co. Dublin 12-13 May 2012

Please send your completed application form, enclosing a cheque for €100 made payable to:
Taekwon-Do Advisory board to: Adrian Byrne, Coaching Ireland, University of Limerick,Castletroy, Co. Limerick in advance of April 13th. Places are limited to 20 candidates. Should you have any specific queries, please email: adrian@shannontkd.com

Download application

Get a special souvenir edition of UKTA featuring RITA President Grandmaster Robert J Howard. Also featuring several photos of RITA students. Bring it along to the next RITA and get it autographed by GM Howard.

Instructors please contact Master Howard to order for your students.

On Sunday February 12th St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school hosted the RITA National Sparring Seminar.  Conducted by former RITA coach, 6th degree, Mr. Floyd Keane, the event was attended by students from around the country.  With a packed hall Mr. Keane took the students through a warm up in the morning.  Mr. Keane injected a fun element into the warm up which appealed to all the students and got the day off to an exciting start.  Once everyone was warmed up the students were put to work on developing speed in their kicks.  With the aid of paddles the students were able to practice delivering their kicks without shifting their body weight too much.  Hand speed was next on the list.  Mr. Keane broke the members into groups where he used a coin technique to speed up the members hands.  One student held the coin while an opponent swiped the coin before the other student could close their hand.  This appealed to the juniors and increased the hand speed dramatically.

After lunch Mr. Keane focused on stretching, balance and leg strength combined.  Once warmed up again the members donned their sparring equipment and paired off for sparring drills.  Throughout the afternoon they went out multiple combinations to add to their sparring styles.  To finish off the day Mr. Keane added some conditioning and strengthening to the class.  With some novel techniques used for press ups and leg presses the students once again thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

A very big thank you to Mr. Keane for an excellent seminar and special thanks also to Ms. Keane for hosting the event.

Click here to view some photos on our Facebook page

St. Mark's Taekwon- Do School Instructors & Students are all so excited to announce that Musashi Sweeney is now promoted to 3rd Kup (Red Tag) at the ripe old age of 8 years "Congrats" & Well Done from your Taekwon- Do  Brothers & Sisters!

It was a fresh, sunny Sunday morning when Mr.Tobin 4th Degree RITA National Colour Belt Coach arrived at St.Mark's Taekwon-Do School with an army of students from Carrick-On-Suir, Galway, Old Bawn, Rowlagh, Naas & St.Mark's for Squad training in preparation for the European Championships to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria from 14th-20th May. Students selected to represent Ireland to date are Kia Conaty & Hannah Eade, congrats & well done we are all very proud of you and wish you every success at the Championships!

There was great buzz and excitement amongst the Taekwon-Do Brothers & Sisters as they went through some very intensive squad training under the watchful eyes of the National Coach and his assistant Mr.Adam Fox.
 
Before the tired & hungry students departed Grandmaster Howard presented Mr.Tobin with his ITF International Instructor & Umpire "A" Certificates "Congratulations" & sincere thanks from St. Mark's & Naas Instructors & Students.

Grand Masters, Senior Masters, Masters and NGB Presidents,

It is with regret that we have to inform you that due to the change of dates for the Olympic qualifications to obtain quotas for London 2012, for Bulgaria's national teams in volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling, which now coincide with the announced dates for the European Taekwon-do championship, we have been told that our contract for using “Armeec” sports hall has been terminated.

We sincerely regret this inconvenience to you all, including the huge problem that has been created for us as organizers, but we believe that you will understand the dilemma that we have faced, and together with your help, we will do our best to overcome this unpleasant situation.

After consultation with the EITF HQ and ITF HQ, and new negotiations with the Ministry of Sports for the Republic of Bulgaria, It has been decided that the European Taekwon-do Championships will need to be re- scheduled – from 14th till 20th of May 2012

We can assure you, that the Bulgarian Taekwon-do Federation will do everything within its power to organize a unique European Championship, although we are not an Olympic sport we intend to prove that in technical, sports and organizing level we have achieved is of a standard that is equal to any Olympic event, due to our years of development.

In closing, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you, and would appreciate your help and understanding in this matter.

Yours in Taekwon-do
Mario Bogdanov
Bulgarian Taekwon-Do Federation ITF

St. Mark's Taekwon- Do School is Celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year and to Kick off with, we are hosting the National Colour Belt Squad on Sunday 4th February in preparation for the ITF European Championships to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria from 22nd -29th April, this is the 1st year the Championships will allow Colour Belts compete, (ie 1st Kup ) normally Black Belt only! The Squad will be conducted by Mr. Paul Tobin 4th Degree RITA National Colour Belt Coach & Senior Instructor to Carrick - On Suir & Fethard Taekwon- Do Schools. On the 12th Feb we host a one day "Sparring Seminar" with our very own Mr Floyd Keane 6th Degree & former RITA National Coach conducting this event students will travel from all over the country to attend in preparation for the 1st RITA Tournament of 2012 "ITF Ireland Cup" that will take place on the 31st March in Cork, St.Mark's are gearing up to win lots of trophies at this event.

St. Mark's Taekwon- Do School Student of the Year 2011 Award (photo from left to right Mark Sweeney (Blue Belt) Ms. Keane (6th Deg) Senior Instructor & Peter Downey (Yellow Belt) These students were recently presented with the much sought after "Student of the year Award" Mark for the Adult and Peter for the Junior Award.
Mark the father of 5 children 4 of them are members of St.Marks, the eldest is Michael (9yrs) in training for his Black Belt hopefully this year. Peter only training for a few months, displayed the simple little things in everyday life by following the 5 Tenants of Taekwon- Do in such a short time.

We are currently taking on new members, all ages from 6 upwards with a very special "Sale Offer" for Adult ONLY classes to commence next week, contact
Ms. Keane 4510462 / email secretary@rita-itf.ie

Senior Master Robert J. Howard, was promoted to Taekwon-Do Grandmaster, 9th degree black belt, at the 17th ITF World Championships in Pyongyang, North Korea. 

Grandmaster Howard received his new rank (Sasung, Korean for Grandmaster) from the president of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF), Professor Chang Ung, at the 17th World Championships. The RITA’s president has just returned from the North Korean capital city and his family and students throughout Ireland are already celebrating the fantastic news. He is the first European to be promoted by the Professor Chang Ung and the ITF and, according to the ITF’s website (www.itftkd.org), makes him the 8th worldwide. Also promoted in North Korea to the coveted rank of Grandmaster was Senior Master Phap Lu (Canada), SM Hwang (ITF and Czech technical director), SM Kim (Technical director to Bulgaria).

On his promotion Grandmaster Howard said "I'm so honoured to be promoted to Grandmaster by the ITF. When I started in Taekwon-Do back in the sixties I never thought I’d be still training today, and still with my original instructor First Grandmaster Rhee Ki Ha. Perseverance is one of General Choi’s five tenets and I’ve always tried to live by them.’

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