Members Watch the Video Series
Many of you have told us you just don’t have time to watch long videos!
So we have been responding with our series on Sparring Quick Tips AND NOW new monthly videos on Technical Quick Tips by Expert Coach Mr Brendan Doogan!
So until you get more time to watch our 250 hours of ITF Content… just enjoy these quick tip videos each month.
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.
These lessons were created for my own clubs while we were closed due to the Covid19.
TKDCoaching Members can gain access to a Full day Kubz Instructors’ course taught by the program creator himself Master Mark Hutton!
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.
The Sharp International Tournament in 1985 was a turning point for Taekwon-Do in New Zealand.
The tournament organiser was Charles Birch, a Miramar member who had experience organising international hockey tournaments. In many ways he helped to get things running well within New Zealand.
As well as achieving national television coverage and a major sponsor for the tournament, he also established organisational systems which were in place for many years, such as the regional “cells”.
Others who made exceptional contributions towards the tournament were Harry Hemana, Sonny Ooi and Steve Mulholland. Seven countries attended the tournament including Japan and the United States. The ITF Vice President, Chon Jin Shik, donated $10 000 to ITFNZ which really enabled the Foundation to make some headway.
Kiwisport is a program from Sport New Zealand aiming to promote sport for school-aged children. Master McPhail, acting as the Kiwisport Coordinator, devised a programme aimed at introducing Taekwon-Do to kids in a fun way. This includes the active sport side, as well as the martial arts discipline and culture. A number of schools initially took up the programme and now the results are beyond expectations. Over a thousand kids are now taking part each year, it has spread to secondary schools, and a number of our instructors are able to be instructors full time because of it. Lianna McCartney, Instructor at Zeal Taekwon-Do Otahuhu, has been at one of the schools and kindly told us how things were going:
The classes run for 45 minutes, giving a brief introduction to a lot of different aspects of Taekwon-Do. They have been learning some of the Korean terminology, and core values (or “Tenets”) of Taekwon-Do
From there they work on technical skills, self-defence, and punching and kicking pads.
As you can see from the Redoubt School newsletter, the kids are really enjoying the classes and eagerly await each lesson.
There has been a lot of interest from students and teachers who have been given a taste of Taekwon-Do, and want to find out more. For them, there are lots of local clubs to visit, try an introductory lesson, and join up. For International Taekwon-Do and Sport New Zealand, this has been the perfect launch to a fun, interesting school sports programme.
