Tomaž Barada

Tomaž Barada is probably the most famous ITF Taekwon-Do sparring competitor. Apart from numerous European and World Champion titles, he is also a 5 x W.A.K.O Word Champion.

Seoul Dojang

A friend took this photo of me in the main dojang in Seoul, South Korea. The main dojang has two senior classes in the evening, one at 19:00-20:30 and the next from 21:00-22:30. When I go, I often attend both classes and as an assistant instructor I also occasionally teach.

Sabeomnim Kim Hoon, the Secretary General for ITF Korea, has co-opted me into an ad hoc position on the Korean executive as "International Liaison Officer". Basically this means that I help with international correspondences in English.

Model Sparring

These YouTube-videos show examples of "Model Sparring", which involves the demonstration of basic techniques in a fluid sequence. Model Sparring is often used for demonstration exhibitions. In other words, it is used to "show off" Taekwon-Do techniques. For Model Sparring the sequence of techniques is often shown slowly at first, and then repeated in real (i.e. fast) time. This helps the audience to get a better idea, since Taekwon-Do techniques are frequently very fast, and an untrained eye might not appreciate the dexterity and skill of the practitioners. Accuracy and balance are probably the two elements that can make or break good Model Sparring. Also, creativity in counter attacking greatly enhances the performance for the audience, while Taekwon-Do instructors are usually more impressed with the correct use of attacking and blocking tools, targeted at the appropriate vital spots.

Won-Hyo Teul

Won-Hyo was the noted monk who introduced Buddhism to the Silla Dynasty in the year 686.

I've written an article on Won-Hyo in last year's edition of "The Sidekick", which you can download from eSAITF's Files-section. You can read a description of the movements here.

Below are YouTube-videos of Won-Hyo Teul as performed by Jaroslaw Suska and, according to hearsay, Gen. Choi's adopted daughter.

Do-San Teul

Do-San is the pseudonym of the patriot Ahn Chang-Ho (1878-1938). The 24 movements represent his entire life which he devoted to furthering the education of Korea and its independence movement.

You can also read a short history of Ahn Chang-Ho's life at TKDTutor.Com. Read a description of the movements here.

Below are YouTube-videos of Do-San Teul as performed by Jaroslaw Suska and Mike Morningstar.

Hwang Su-Il

(Are you looking for information on Master Hwang Su-Il's gym in Japan? See this post.) 

I've met Master Hwang Su-Il on one or two occasions and found him to be a very friendly and humble person. During one formal occasion he quickly noticed that I do not drink (I'm a teetotaller), so he helped me out in a sticky situation: alcohol is a very integrative part in Korean social life and often at such formal events, a lot of toasting and drinking occurs. If you do not participate, it might be seen as an insult to your guests. First, he indicated to me to allow someone to pour me a drink, and to use this glass to toast with. Then he immediately ordered me some sodas and tea to drink.

Hwang Su-Il is Japanese-Korean; he is Korean but was born in Japan -- 3rd generation -- and still lives there. You might be more familiar with him as the character Hwoarang in the Tekken-game series. He was used for the first motion capture of this fighting game character, introduced in Tekken 3.

My instructor here in Korea told me earlier this week that there is a possibility that Hwang Su-Il will be the chief examiner on the panel to test me for 4th Dan, around September/October. Of course this makes me a little nervous, since the Japanese standard is exceptionally high.

Below is a YouTube-video of Hwang Su-Il in action.

Dan Gun Teul

Dan-Gun is named after the holy Dan-Gun, the legendary founder of Korea in the year of 2,333 B.C.

You can read a description of the movements here. Below are YouTube-videos of Dan-Gun Teul, as performed by Jaroslaw Suska and from The Legacy.

Chon-Ji Teul

Chon-Ji means literally "the Heaven the Earth". It is, in the Orient, interpreted as the creation of the world or the beginning of human history, therefore, it is the initial pattern played by the beginner. This pattern consists of two similar parts; one to represent the Heaven and the other the Earth.

Chon-Ji Teul as performed by Jaroslaw Suska and Master Phap Lu.

Saju Jirugi & Saju Makgi

Saju Jirugi (Four Direction Punch) and Saju Makgi (Four Direction Block) as performed by Mike Morningstar.

Report on a Regional Tournament in Korea

The past weekend I attended a regional ITF Taekwon-Do tournament in Korea as an umpire. Here is just a short report of the event.

The 1st Yeongnam Tournament was held in Daegu, a city in the south-east of Korea. There were just fewer than 300 competitors, with a small number of players from Japan and China. Most of the players were children; however, a good number of adults also competed, including a number of foreigners living in Korea.

I’d like to mention a number of things that I found “different” from the South African tournaments.

All students regardless of age or gender could participate in the power breaking category, which included only one event: boards placed on two bricks and then broken with a downward punch. Players that didn’t accomplish the break were eliminated, and the remaining players had an extra board added. They used wooden boards, not plastic re-breakable boards. I was specifically impressed (or shocked) that small children also participated in this event. For the special technique breaking they also only had one event, the jumping sidekick over a distance. I’m guessing that the national championships would include other breaking events.

In sparring they did not use four corner judges. Only three corner judges and the centre referee. Students without a mouth guard had to wear head gear. Students of all ranges of belt levels, from white belt to black belt, competed together within the same weight division, although there were separate black belt divisions as well. The sparring was hard, with definite contact, but showed good spirit and sportsmanship. There were a couple of injuries, but nothing too serious. Sparring gear was “provided” and shared by all competitors. Special sparring gear officials were on standby on both sides of the ring and helped the players put the gear on and take it off.

In the patterns category the bracketing was fairly large, with players of different ages and genders often competing against each other. In general I thought the patterns were very well judged and only noticed one occasion of obvious bias, where an umpire voted for his own student who was clearly not the better performer. Apparently the bias of instructors was discussed in a meeting during the lunch break.

The Opening Ceremony was quite long, with lots of gifts and plaques being presented to different dignitaries. The demonstration afterwards was excellent, with great areal displays of nakbeop (break falling techniques), team patterns combined into self-defence sequences, and well choreographed self-defence demonstrations, as well as great breaking demonstrations. Most of the demonstrations were performed by school children. Sabeomnim Hwang Taeyong (6th Dan – Japanese-Korean) performed the pattern Se-Jong, although I’ve seen him perform Tong-Il on a previous occasion in Japan (Tokyo Champs, December 2008). Seeing these patterns performed by such an accomplished technician is always a pleasure.

The tournament took quite long, which isn’t anything unusual – or so I thought. However, my instructor (Sabeomnim Kim Hoon, the Secretary-General of ITF-Korea) told me that this was an unusually slow tournament. Apparently they had around 700 students last year at the national champs, which he organized, and they finished the whole tournament on one day, in less the time!