Get Higher Kicks for Patterns

We are proud to present our second ITF PATTERNS UNLEASHED videos with Master Lylian Doulay.

In this video you will find out his methods of developing HIGHER KICKS for patterns. The session is focused on the senior patterns so will be of most interest to black belts second degree and higher.

Master Doulay takes us through some great new warm up stretches and drills to help with developing height in Taekwon-Do kicks.

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Get Higher Kicks for Patterns

We are proud to present our second ITF PATTERNS UNLEASHED videos with Master Lylian Doulay.

In this video you will find out his methods of developing HIGHER KICKS for patterns. The session is focused on the senior patterns so will be of most interest to black belts second degree and higher.

Please note that the quality of this video is not perfect, as it was recorded from a live Zoom session. Please persevere with it – as the content is simply brilliant.

Master Doulay takes us through some great new warm up stretches and drills to help with developing height in Taekwon-Do kicks.

Physical Preparation for Patterns

We are proud to present the first in our ITF PATTERNS UNLEASHED videos with Master Lylian Doulay.

In this video you will find out the training secrets of world-class competitor Lylian Doulay on how he prepares for his patterns performance.

Please note that the quality of this video is not perfect, as it was recorded from a live Zoom session. Please persevere with it – as the content is simply brilliant.

Master Doulay takes us through some great warm ups for patterns, drills to help with the difficult kicks in Taekwon-Do patterns, plus sone excellent balance and strengthening work with the use of bands.

Snippets of amazing old footage

DON’T FORGET TO WATCH No. 10 – Paul McPhail performs Juche forwards and backwards

For my 5th degree black belt grading in 1993 I thought it would be a cool idea to perform Juche Tul forwards then backwards for General Choi.

The plan failed miserably as I started the backwards part… I hadn’t even considered the possibility that General Choi would take offence to it. He turned his head and refused to watch. I figured… well… I may as well carry on now and struggled through to the end.

I passed the grading so I guess the General had forgiven me by the day the results were announced.

Here is the footage of the pattern at the grading.

ITF Technical Seminar On-line

In December 2020 the ITF Hosted an On-line Technical Seminar. We had well over 1000 participants from 60 countries take part.

Here is a bit of behind the scenes background… and some new videos to come out of it.

This course came about due to Covid19. Around the world we were starting to get a backlog of people who wanted to grade for higher degrees but couldn’t, due to the requirement to do an IIC. So originally the idea was to do an on-line IIC.

After some discussion it was decided by the Technical Committee and the ITF Board to do a qualifying course for gradings… but it would be different from an IIC (obviously), so wouldn’t be called one.

The plan was for each of the technical committee members to create videos of our subject matter, and use those videos in conjunction with live Q&As. So we all set about doing that – only to find on our first practice that the videos would be too unreliable to use. Depending on the connection, they could be shaky and with bad audio.

So two weeks out, and already 800 registrations, we had to change our plan.

So we each then had to find people to work with, either in person or remotely, to demonstrate the patterns and do corrections with them. Master Judet and GM Lan were able to do that in person, but the rest of us had to work with people in remote locations.

In a way it worked out well as our sessions took on a different feel as we brought in some of the best pattern performers from around the world. I got to work with some world champions from Argentina and it was nice to meet and practice with them on-line.

Leading up to the seminar I have to tell you we were nervous. How would Zoom cope with 1000 participants… and how would we? With the help of the chairman of the Communications Committee we practiced being able to find the people in Zoom, Spotlighting them to full screen and so on. I also used some slides to try and make the most of what Zoom can do.

In the end we were happy with the way it all went. Everyone was so positive and we hardly had anyone drop off over the four hour sessions each day.

So some of the videos I prepared that didn’t end up being used, so I have uploading those for Members to watch.

This videos ended up being quite different from the Live version so should be of value even if you were at the seminar.

Movement Relaxation

Movement Relaxation with World Champion Mira Sjövall

Miss Mira Sjövall is a ITF Taekwon-Do World Champion in patterns. Her powerful yet relaxed style is something to behold, and obviously in favour with the judges.

Mira is the student of Master Thierry Meyour, 7th dan from Finland. Master Meyour has always made good use of sport science and other disciplines to assist in his Taekwon-Do coaching and instructing,  with a particular interest in thinking “outside the box”. This led him to experimenting with Alexander technique and other methods used by dancers and other athletes.

Master Meyour and his team of enthusiastic instructors and practitioners are always pushing the boundary of knowledge, and Mira is a good example of some of the amazing results they have achieved. Of course much of it is Mira’s hard work herself – as with any world champion, it is the hours and hours of repetition we don’t get to see that makes the difference.

This video was filmed as a part of the ITF  Patterns Unleashed series of on-line courses. We are proud to be partnering with ITF Patterns Unleashed and have some new projects planned for the near future.

Mira Sjövall – Finland

World Champion 2019 (2nd dan patterns)

European Champion 2019 (2nd dan patterns)

European Champion 2018 (1st dan patterns)

World Champion 2017 (1st dan patterns)

European Cup gold 2018 (2nd dan patterns)

Double European Champion 2016 (1st dan patterns and sparring)

We apologise for the quality of the video, as this was recorded from an on-line Zoom seminar. We are working on improving the quality in the fut

Relaxation : the key to power and performance

Spend any amount of time in a dojang  and you will see some guy (and it is more often than not a guy) whose moves look, well, clunky. They have a tense stiffness about them, a forced attempt to generate power. Trust me I know I was that guy (and still am on occasions).

Instructors faced with the clunky guy almost invariably say “try to relax”. Of course as soon as anyone tells you to relax you are likely to find yourself completely unable to do so, in fact, you are likely to actually stiffen up more. Akin to the experience of being told not to think of a pink elephant, the first thing that pops into your mind is a pink elephant.