There was a fantastic turn-out for the Patterns & Power Seminar hosted by St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do School on Sunday May 24th. 

An annual feature in the R.I.T.A calendar it really is an essential Seminar for every dedicated Taekwon-Do student in Ireland to attend.  This year’s seminar saw students ranging in grade from IV Deg Black Belts right through to 10th Kup beginners.

Taking part in this year’s seminar were Senior Master Robert Howard, Senior Master Anthony Phelan and Senior Masters Francis Barrett all VIII degrees.  These Senior Masters dedicated their entire day to focus on each pattern for every single grade who attended.  This made for a patterns seminar that was very challenging both mentally and physically with the rewards far outweighing the effort.  Time and focus was spent patiently and clearly explaining the theories of Sine-wave, breathing and power through each move of every pattern. 

The power section of the Seminar was even more rewarding with the Senior Masters on hand offering encouragement and tuition on every breaking technique.  All students were given a display of various breaks along with a full explanation of the technique and the breaking Tool.  The atmosphere of the power seminar was very open and relaxed with both Black Belts and Senior Masters leaving themselves entirely open to any and all questions that students had on power.  The result was the opportunity to benefit from the vast experience of these Senior Masters and to enjoy some of the highest quality of instruction as well as some simply astonishing examples of power.

As 1st Kups attending the Seminar my Husband and I arrived with a lot of questions in mind.  We are both, like many other 1st Kups looking at that elusive Black Belt and wondering what type of instructor will I be. At last year’s seminar Senior Master Phelan stated that as 1st Kups we owe it to our Schools to be the best students we can be, to know as much as we can and to guide and instruct our Juniors by setting a proper example- in short we are the future of Taekwon-Do.  These were strong words that we carried with us from the Seminar last year. 

This year’s seminar saw us as 1st Kups take most of our instruction from Senior Master Howard.  Under his guidance and supervision through the entire day we were guided through our patterns, with various moves, turns and reactions explained to us.  At various times Senior Master Howard simply stated “it’s common sense really”.  His various instructions were so clear and so simple that just about every question we had on the day was answered without the need to even ask a question.  From his instructions and guidance we learned that we already knew the answers to our questions and now need to learn to trust in our abilities and trust that what we’ve learned we can pass on to others.  In short when we really understand Taekwon Do it is common sense and can be passed on through very simple and clear instruction.

On behalf of all who attended we would like to take the time to thank St. Mark’s Taekwon Do School for the all of the time and hard work they put into this Seminar and all the other Seminars and Competitions they host during the year.  Their hard work does not go unnoticed or unappreciated by us.

We would also like to thank the Senior Masters for all of their time and instruction given to us all.  I am sure that every single student who attended came away from this seminar with a greater understanding and appreciation of Taekwon Do and at least one piece of broken timber as a personal trophy.

Joan Wiseman & Brian Kenny 1st Kup
Boyne Valley Tae Kwon School, Drogheda