Check out our YouTube channel for all the recent media appearances for the 40th Anniversary plus some vintage films from the last 40 years! Also in the playlists section you can view some International Tournaments. Videos are regularly added.

The 3rd and 4th of May was a busy time for the RITA as we were featured on RTE, TV3, Today FM, 98 FM plus the Irish Times and Irish Daily Mail newspapers!

First off was the feature in the Irish Daily Mail about the Three Generations of the Howard family. Click here to view a scan on our facebook page.

Next was Grand Master Howard, Senior Master Phelan and Master Howard on Dermot & Dave, Dublin’s 98FM doing a live interview & tile breaking. Click here to view the video

Friday started with an appearance on TV3's Ireland AM with First Grand Master Rhee breaking a brick live. Click here to view it on the TV3 website. There are also a couple of photos on our Facebook page

Then it was on to RTE to record a piece for the 6.1 News news. Click here to view the video on our YouTube page.

It was a quick photshoot for the Irish Times then it was off to Today FM for an interview with Matt Cooper for the Last Word. Click here to view that video.

The RITA would like to thank the Senior members who gave up their time to help out.

Basic First Aid.
IMAC are hosting a basic First Aid course on Saturday & Sunday 26th & 27th of May 2012
Venue: IMAC Offices, Aungier Street, Dublin 2
Cost: €65
Places are limited so please book early.
Book by email: admin@imac.ie

Occupational First Aid.
Several members have told us that they need Occupational First Aid - rather than Basic First Aid - as this is whart they need to do for work and other requirements.
Occupational First Aid Courses are currently limited to 10 people.
If there is enough interest IMAC will organisae a once off Occupational First Aid course.
The course would be €100 euro each (which would have to be paid in advance once dates are agreed) and the course would take place over an extended weekend. Friday evening - all day Saturday and all day Sunday.

Please circulate this information within your club/organisation.

Please ensure than anyone within your club or organisation who may be doing a Level 1 Coaching course this year knows about these course or has made arrangements to do their First Aid.

With over 220 competitors the ITF Ireland Cup was a great success. There were 27 Schools taking part from all over the country making it an enjoyable and competitive event. The RITA would like to thank Mr Donal O' Doherty and the Cork Taekwon-Do School for hosting the event, the Tournament committee for organising it and all the Umpires who made it run smoothly.

The overall Junior award went to Alex Nowak from Grandmaster Howard's Dojang and the Senior winner was Magdalena Michalewska from St. Marks Taekwon-Do School. A full list of results can be found on the Tournaments page.

Keep an eye on our facebook page for Videos and Photos.

Congratulations to the following Black Belts who passed their umpire exam after the recent National ITF Umpire Course. * The B class umpires must pass their practical exam in Cork at ITF-Ireland Cup. But they have passed the written exam. I look forward to seeing you all in Cork.
Master Robert Howard , Chair of the Umpire Committee

Jon Mackey (Red Star) National A - 12-UA-01 - Pass
*Laura Tobin (CoS) National B - 12-UB-01 - Pass*
*Neidin Coulahan (Red Star) National B - 12-UB-02 - Pass*
Thomas McGrath (Fethard) National C - 12-UC-01 - Pass
Billy Tobin (CoS) National C 12-UC-02 - Pass
Roisin O’Neill (CoS) National C - 12-UC-03 - Pass
Aisling Finnegan (CoS) National C - 12-UC-04 - Pass

Photos of the umpire course are on the RITA’s facebook page.

Grandmaster Howard Celebrating his promotion gift from the RITA members in the beautiful sunshine in Fuertaventura, joining in with the fun on St.Patrick's Day are GM Howard's wife Sheila & Senior Master Phelan & his wife Bernie, Master John Ward (Kenpo Ireland) & his wife Pat, Ms Keane, (and her son Zac & wife Sylvia) & Mr. Roe.

Grandmaster Howard would like to extend sincere thanks to all the RITA members for this memorable gift.

St. Marks & Old Bawn Taekwon-Do schools joined forces again this year to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  The St. Patrick’s Day Parade event, now in its new stadium format welcomed people from around the Tallaght area to come along and view members of the local groups/schools/bands and organisations in all their glory.  The event was staged in Shamrock Rovers Tallaght stadium where over 1,000 members of the public came along to spectate.

Both St. Marks and Old Bawn students had been training very hard together for a number of weeks leading up to the event to perfect the demonstration.  With just a short time slot allocated, all students needed to know exactly where they were to be at any point in time so there was no margin for error.  Students were placed in the home team’s dressing room in advance of taking to the pitch which served as excellent build up to the excitement.  Shortly afterwards the signal was given to take to the pitch where upon they received massive applause.  All students then began the demonstration with fundamental movements followed quickly by patterns, sparring and finishing off with breaking.  Once finished the students got to enjoy the rest of what the parade had to offer with the event finishing off with a fireworks display.  An excellent day was had by all.  Well done to all members involved.

Tallinn, Estonia will play host to the 10th Junior & 5th Veteran ITF World Championship from the 20th – 26th of August, 2012. It will take place in the impressive Saku Arena.

Those interested in being selected should contact Mr Doyle. Squad training has already begun and the next trial will be at the ITF Ireland Cup in Cork on the 31st March.

Download Information Pack

The New School Grant Scheme is to help black belts to open a new school. A maximum of €1,000 may be requested to help with setting up the new school eg. for insurance, first month’s rent, advertising, equipment etc.  The deadlines for applications throughout 2012 are 20th March 2012, 8th June 2012 and 7th Sept 2012.

• Click here to download the New School Grant Application.

The Existing School Grant Scheme is to help to develop and grow existing schools eg. to introduce a new class for kids / teenagers / adults.  A maximum of €500 may be requested. Applications will be accepted either from the existing school’s chief instructor or an assistant instructor of the school or from any black belt wishing to run a new class in an existing school (with the permission of the school’s chief instructor).  However, only one application will be accepted per school.  The deadline for applications is 8th June 2012.

• Click here to download the Existing School Grant Application

The recent RITA’s National ITF Umpire Course held in Carrick-on-Suir received 5 blue flags from all the participants.
The course was run by the chair (Master Robert Howard) and vice-chair (Master Mark O’Donnell) of the RITA’s Umpire Committee and hosted by Mr Paul Tobin and the Carrick-on-Suir Taekwon-Do School. In attendance were members from Old Bawn Waterford, Carrick-on-Suir, Fethard and Red Star.
The morning started with a power point presentation on the role and duties of an umpire. Master Howard stressed that fairness and unbiased decision making is the corner stone of being a good umpire. He said ‘You can make mistakes, or not know something, or you can be wrong in your understanding of the rules, but we can fix that. What we can’t fix is a biased umpire. We can’t trust you and the competitors and students can’t trust you.’ He added, ‘that is not the Taekwon-Do way’. Over the past 40 years the RITA has built a great reputation, both in Ireland and internationally, of having fair and honest umpires. Competitors from all school and associations know that they will be judged according to the rules and nothing else.
Master O’Donnell continued the presentation with a guide to judging patterns.  The trainee umpires got to practice their scoring by watching videos of patterns and using the electronic scoring (clickers) system. They then got to discuss and share their views, and by the end of the session all the umpires’ scores were converging to a common norm.
Mater Howard led the session on Power Breaking and Special Technique and again the umpires got to practice blue flagging or red flagging competitors (on video) breaking with techniques used at RITA competitions.
The afternoon was focussed on sparring. Both corner judging and centre refereeing was covered in detail. It was clear from the corner judging that many of the participants had extensive tournament experience and were well able to award the correct points.  There B class umpires were guided in the proper hand signals and ring protocol as well as the main fouls and tricks competitors do. The A class umpires covered the Fight System scoring software and Jury President duties.
The day ended with the two Masters thanking the participants for their openness and willingness to learn. They also thanked Mr Paul Tobin and his member for the use of the great facilities at their full time dojang.
The participants will have to complete their theory test and the B class will have to complete their practical test at the ITF-Ireland Cup in Cork on the 31st March. This latest course on the 40th anniversary of the association means that almost all the RITA’s black belts are now qualified umpires and we should have a fair and high standard of judging at the Cork event.

Photos of the umpire course are on the RITA’s facebook page.

On Sunday March 11th, St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do held a black belt class. Instructor for the morning was R.I.T.A Senior Master, 8th degree Senior Master Anthony Phelan. After a warm up Snr. Master Phelan focused on combination fundamental movements which allowed the students to focus and use their imagination in attacking and defence sequences. The black belts were then brought through the first and second degree patterns with an opportunity to ask questions to Snr. Master Phelan. Later in the class the members covered items in the new syllabus then finished the class by returning to the respective patterns of their grade. A very open and enjoyable class was had by all. Many thanks to Senior Master Phelan for an excellent class with thanks also to Ms. Keane for hosting.

The RITA Would like to thank Mr. Gerard Byrne for designing our 40th Anniversary logo. His hard work is very much appreciated. We would like all our Schools to use it in promotional material so if you require a high resolution copy for print please contact Mr Doyle.

Also as part of the 40th Anniversary we will be uploading Photos and Videos from the last 40 years with some special ones to come soon. In the meantime have a look at the video from our 25th Anniversary back in 1997 and see if you recognise some young faces! Apologese for the quality as its from a very well used VHS.

• RTE's Nationwide program celebrating the RITA's 25th Anniversary in 1997

Check out the Youtube and Facebook pages for more

The RITA would like to wish Ms Therese McGrath the best of luck with her new School in Tuam. The grand opening will be on Thursday March 8th, 7-8pm for Children ages 6 to 13yrs in Total Solution Gym, Airglooney Business Park, Ballygaddy Rd, Tuam, Co. Galway.

Check out their Facebook page for more info.

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

On Sunday the 11th of December, Instructors and Students from Stillorgan and Blessington & AIB Taekwon-Do School's completed "The Dublin Santa Dash" in aid of the Irish Heart Foundation.

There was a 5km and 10km run, the Junior members all completed the 5km run while the 4 Instructors that had completed the Dublin Marathon in October ran the 10km. There was over 800 participants all dress from head to toe in Santa suits. (Beards and all)

A great and enjoyable day even if the weather was a little cold.

In the Picture : Left to right. Mr Floyd Keane, Eoin Higgins, Ben Higgins, David Phibbs, Ms Kenrick & Mr Barber.
Not in the picture, Was Mr Colin Jennings, Allanah May Phibbs, Liam Phibbs& the parents. A special mentions goes to Eoin Phibbs (Parent) who carried Sean their 3 month old baby for the 5km run.

On Thursday, December 9th, South Dublin newspaper The Echo held its annual sports awards in The Louis Fitzgerald Hotel in Dublin.  It was a landmark occasion for St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school senior instructor, Ms. Valerie Keane 6th deg. as Ms. Keane was inducted into “The Echo Sports Hall of Fame” for her outstanding contribution to Taekwon-Do over the years.  The function was attended by R.I.T.A. Senior Master Anthony Phelan, 8th deg. along with friend to the R.I.T.A., Professor John Ward 7th degree, (Ward Kenpo).  Black belts from St. Marks & Naas Taekwon-Do schools attended with Ms. Keane’s family and close friends to help celebrate the occasion.

A fantastic achievement and massive congratulations to Ms. Keane from St. Mark’s & Naas Taekwon-Do schools.

Well done to everyone who took part in the recent ITF Irish Open. The event attracted competitors from both North and South of the Island and was an enjoyable day for all taking part. The RITA would like to thank Mr Barber and Ms Kendrick for organising the event and also a big thank you to all the Umpires for helping to make the day run smoothly.

Visit our Facebook page to view the photo album

Full results can be seen on the Tournaments page plus there are some videos on our Facebook page.

I attended my first Self Defence seminar in Naas Taekwon-Do School on November 20th under the instruction of Senior Master Barrett. We were all very excited and looking forward to the day in anticipation of what new techniques we would be learning and practicing.

We started the day by getting into groups to learn each others names which was quickly followed by some warm up exercises under the instruction of Mr. Nestor. Senior Master Barrett then started by pairing us with a partner and showing us various different self defence releases which we had to practice with our partners. These included wrist grabs and releasing from someone holding your Dobok collar with Senior Master Barrett explaining the practical uses in every day situations.

Senior Master Barrett also talked us through the concept of ABR, Attack, Break, Release and the differences between these and when to use each one. We practised releases from various grabs with different partners. Senior Master Barrett came round to everyone individually and spent some time showing us exactly how each move was carried out which I found fascinating. We then practised break falling onto crash mats learning how to land properly. We also practised tumble rolling onto the mats, which was something we don’t get to practise too often.
Throughout the day Senior Master Barrett stressed the importance of getting yourself out of any potential situation before it happened and once you had released from a grab successfully to then run away to safety.
I really enjoyed some of the more difficult grab releases, which I got to practise with both Ms. Keane and my instructor Mr. McSherry which I really enjoyed as they were very helpful and was a pleasure to practise with them. I truly enjoyed myself and am looking forward to next years Self Defence seminar. I would definitely recommend this course to all students of Taekwon-Do as you will definitely come away from the course knowing that you have learnt a lot of new self defence techniques from one of the most senior instructors in the business.

Sandra Curley 8th Kup
Grand Master Howard’s Taekwon-Do School

Visit our Facebook Fanpage for some more photos

Well done to Eanna Hardesty, Carrick TKD and Damien Vaughan, Galway TKD, who took part in the ITA Open Championships in Limerick yesterday, as part of the RITA National Colour Belt Development Squad. Eanna won bronze in red belt patterns and sparring, and Damien won silver in blue belt patterns and bronze in sparring. They are pictured here with Coach, Mr Paul Tobin and Assistant Coach Mr Adam Fox.

Happy Birthday General Choi Hong Hi, 9 November 1918
Spare a moment to day to think of the founder and his wishes - he would have been 93 today.
Taekwon

The RITA are very proud to announce that 4 Black Belt members total dedication and intense training over several months, paid off and they achieved their goal by completing the Dublin City Marathon.

St.Mark's Taekwon -Do School are overjoyed with our senior member Mr. Floyd Keane 6th Degree with his great achievement and raising €600.00 for Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, St.Mark's extended Taekwon -Do family members Mr. Richard Barber 4th Deg Stillorgan TKD School, Mr. Colin Jennings 1st Deg AIB TKD School & Ms. Linda Kenrick 1st Deg Blessington TKD School.

Well Done & Congrats from all your Taekwon -Do Brothers & Sisters

On Sunday November 6th, St. Mark's Taekwon-Do school played host to the first Grandmaster class to the R.I.T.A by a European Grandmaster. The R.I.T.A Master's Council were present for the historic occasion that saw a massive attendance from colour belts and black belts from around the country. After members caught up with their fellow students and instructors, Master O'Donnell began the class with a thorough warm up.

Once all members were prepared for the 2 hour class, Grandmaster Howard, 9th degree entered the dojang to a very warm welcome. The class got underway with fundamental techniques shortly before all members were taken through their patterns.

The class was then split by grade with the Senior Masters and Masters taking the students in groups to focus on various elements including focus pads, stretching, technical analysis and 2 step / 1 step sparring.

As the class drew to a close, students and instructors were given the opportunity to have photographs taken with Grandmaster Howard.

Reflecting on the unprecedented occasion, Grandmaster Howard said "This is a historical day and one never to be repeated again".

A very special thank you to our Grandmaster for an excellent class. Thanks also to Ms. Keane for hosting.

Training for the RITA National Colour Belt Development Squad will take place in Master O'Donnell's Dojang, in the Renmore Community Centre, Renmore, Galway this Saturday, 5th November from 11am to 2pm. The December date for the squad is the RITA Irish Open on 3rd December.The next training session after that will be in Carrick-on-Suir on Saturday, 8th January.

Note re 1st Kups (10-13 years)
The 2012 European ITF Championships will be held from the 22nd to 29th April in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the children's section 1st Kups (10-13 years) can compete. The RITA National Colour Belt Development Squad sessions will be used as a way of assessing 1st Kups, so if you are interested in taking part in the European Championships you are advised to attend training regularly.

For more information please contact Mr Paul Tobin, Coach on 087-2447886 or paultbn@gmail.com, or Mr Adam Fox, Assistant Coach on 087-6900948 or adamrpfox@gmail.com.

30 black belts from the majority of the RITA’s schools attended a Sparring Workshop lat weekend, as part of the roll out of the updated sparring syllabus.  The workshop was conducted  the Masters’ Council and the RITA’s Technical Committee and covered 3 step, 2 step, semi-free, free, 1 step, self-defence, knife defence, two on to one, and foot sparring.

The updated syllabus in more in line Gen Choi’s sparring guidelines and follows a clear and logical development path from 10th kup to 4th degree black belt. The improvements were met with approval from all present and many of the instructors said that they thought that it would be very appealing to the students. The new syllabus will apply to all colour belt and black belt gradings from January 2012.

An RITA Examiner’ course was held in the afternoon. The course was lead by Senior Master Phelan  and 15 examiners from across the country discussed quality assurance and standards in the association. What to mark at a grading, and how to mark on a grading form, were also presented and discussed. Overall the day was another step forward in improving the standards in the association.

Visit our Facebook page to view some photos

On Sunday 16th October, students from R.I.T.A. turned out in force to attend St. Mark's Taekwon-Do School's Annual "Team Challenge" tournament. Competitors from around the country travelled from early morning for the fun event. In keeping with the tradition of the event, students were very creative this year with many donning wigs, masks and even fake moustaches for added entertainment value. Among the sections entered his year there were: Team Patterns, Team Sparring, Team Desctruction, the popular Obstacle Course and Special Technique.

All students competed extremely well and the fun factor was evident for all to see. Trophy winners were presented with their awards at the end of the day by the Senior Masters. Teams not lucky enough to win on the day received a participation medal meaning everyone left with their bags a little heavier.

The event was well attended by many of the R.I.T.A masters including R.I.T.A Vice President, Senior Master Anthony Phelan, 8th degree and Senior Master Francis Barrett 8th degree. Special thanks to the senior umpire on the day, Master John Jacob from Waterford. Ms. Keane was thrilled with the attendance and proud to see the event has grown in popularity every year.

Click here for full results

Visit our Facebook page to viewsome photos

Congratulations to Mr. Kenneth Murphy, 2nd Dan, and his new wife Breda on their recent marriage.

All the members of Enniscorthy & Bunclody Taekwon-Do Schools would like to wish the happy couple the very best for the future.

Congratulations to Hannah Eade, 1st Kup from Carrick-on-Suir Taekwon-Do School who won Best Overall Colour Belt in the Under 13 section of the recent Welsh Open Championships.  Hannah is a member of the RITA National Colour Belt Development Squad "A" Team who represented the RITA at this competition.  She won gold in patterns, gold in sparring and silver in special technique.

Under the guidance of Coach Mr Paul Tobin and Assistant Coach Mr Adam Fox, the 12 member RITA National Colour Belt Development Squad came 4th overall out of 59 schools and 292 competitors.  They brought home a total of 23 medals (9 gold, 5 silver and 9 bronze).  Well done to everyone involved.

Dear Colleagues,

Here are some information for those who haven't participated 17th ITF World Championship held in Pyongyang:

1. ITF Congress has elected Senior Master Michael E. Prewett as the new EITF President.

We wish to congratulate the new president, who will not find it hard to take over tasks of EITF president, because he was already a prominent member of EITF Executive Board.
SM Prewett contact details are:
e-mail: Itfwales@aol.com
phone: +44 292 077 011 1
fax:      +44 292 077 022 2

2. The Congress has accepted new rules called "Power Team Sparring“. These rules will be applied on the European Championship in Bulgaria.

On this occasion, once again, I am sending unedited version of the rules and explanations. Download rules
SM Prewett will prepare official version of the rules in the shortest time.
You can see recordings of the Power TKD on the following link

ITF Vice President
Senior Master Anto Nobilo

The RITA colour belt development squad competed in the Welsh open championships at university welsh institute in Cardiff wales on Sunday the 25th september . Winning a total of 23 medals 9 gold 5 silver 9 bronze . There was 280+ competitors . This was the first outing for the A squad proving to be very successful . Coaches Mr Paul Tobin 4th deg and Mr Adam Fox 4th deg were delighted with the performance.

The schools represented were Grandmaster Howards Dojang, Carrick-on-Suir, Athlone, Galway, Rowlagh, Kilmacow, Firhouse and Fethard. Well done to everyone involved.

To celebrate his historic promotion Grandmaster Howard has appeared on TV3’s The Morning Show and RTE's 6.1 News. There has also been features in most of the National Newspapers. Below are links to some of the articles.

• Watch GM Howard and his Grandson on RTE 2’s Elev8 TV show (Tuesday 18th Oct.skip to 0:15:20)
• Watch GM Howard on RTE Late Late Show(7/10/11 go to 19 mins 20secs)
• Watch the feature on RTE 6.1 News
• Watch the Feature on TV3's The Morning Show (wednesday 21/9/11. skip to 19mins)
• Listen to GM Howard on RTE Radio Morning Show
• Read the article about Grand Master Howard in the Irish Independent
• Read the Irish Times Article

Sunday 18th September St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do School were honoured to have our first visit of Grandmaster Robert J. Howard 9th Degree. Ms. Keane was excited to tell all of her students of our President, her Instructor’s promotion. It was a great opportunity for us to congratulate our Instructor Ms. Keane on her fantastic award which also travelled all the way back from Pyongyang. Ms. Keane was recognised and remembered by the President of the ITF Professor Dr. Chang Ung and Awarded for her Outstanding Contributions to the International Taekwon-Do Federation, and Honoured by the ITF Order. Such a phenomenal acheivenment of a lifetime of work. All of us her students wholeheartedly congratulate Ms. Keane and are so proud of our Instructor on such a High Honour to add to the Legacy.

On Sunday, September 11th, St Mark’s Taekwon-Do  school held the National ITF Black Belt Seminar.  The seminar, conducted by RITA Vice-President and Senior Master, 8th degree Senior Master Anthony Phelan was a day-long seminar which welcomed students from schools around the country.

Senior Master Phelan took the warm up personally ensuring all members were well prepared for the day ahead.  One on the main messages of the day was to focus on relaxation.  Senior Master Phelan repeated this message throughout the day to ensure members were prepared and utilising their energy correctly.  The morning session focused on colour belt patterns with time spent on kicks and combinations. The afternoon session brought the class to the black belt patterns.  Senior Master Phelan placed a lot of the focus on stances.  With repetition being the key, it was clear that students adjusting their stances were making marked improvements from the morning session.  The theory of stances was discussed emphasising the importance of their role in Taekwon-Do again reinforced this throughout the day.

3 step, 2 step 1 step and free sparring were also on the agenda in the afternoon.  Along with different sparring variations it added a great mix of activities to the seminar.

The occasion was topped off when St Marks Senior Instructor, Ms. Keane 6th degree made a special presentation to the RITA’s newest master, 7th degree Master Mark O’Donnell from Galway who was in attendance.  Over the years, Master O’Donnell has been a long time friend to Ms. Keane & St. Mark’s and was delighted with his presentation.

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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On Sunday the 28th Senior Master Francis Barrett VIII degree, traveled to Limerick to conduct an RITA black belt class.  Also present was Mr. Donal O’Doherty VI dan , examiner and instructor to Cork Taekwon-Do school.  The venue was the Moylish - LIT sports hall where Limerick TaeKwon-Do has been based for over twenty years.

The class was well attended with black belts coming from Limerick, Cork, Galway, Kilmacow and Firhouse.  Over the course of the two hours the class covered 1st- 2nd dan patterns and fundamental movements. Senior Master Barrett shared with the participants his encyclopedic knowledge of TaeKwon-Do and constantly stressed that to learn proper technique it is as important to listen to instruction to understand purpose and method and not just practice mere repetition.  Each movement of the six patterns from Kwang- Gae to Juche was broken down movement by movement and the applications were explained and discussed. The instructor to Limerick TaeKwon-Do School Mr Jonathan Mullane 1st degree, would like to express his gratitude to Senior Master Barrett for taking the class and also to those attended. Over the past two years Limerick TaeKwon-Do school has grown steadily and Mr. Mullane hopes to be hosting more events in the future.

The RITA’s Masters’ Council has approved a new sparring syllabus which will be rolled out over 2011 and will apply to all colourbelt and black belt gradings from January 2012. The new syllabus is a complete revamp of the association’s 3-step, 2-step, semi-free, free and self-defence techniques.  The new syllabus is designed to develop the students’ understanding of sparring and self-defence, and introduces self-defence (hosinsul) and knife self-defence to the grading syllabus. ‘The current syllabus has served us well for many years but we feel that it has a few deficiencies. The main one is that colour belt students spend a lot of time trying to memorise 3- and 2-step combinations and they are not really developing an understanding of self-defence’ said Senior Master Howard President of the RITA. ‘The self-defence and knife self-defence for red and black belts will really test the effectiveness of their blocks and counter-attacks, and was a request that arouse from the RITA’s strategy weekend. The level of practice knife defence and release from grabs varies from school to school but it will now be a formal part of the syllabus’ he added. The new syllabus which applies from 10th kup to 4th degree, was tested at a recent training session of the Masters’ Council and will be followed up by a workshop for all instructors and black belts on Sunday the 23rd of October.

Instructors and Blackbelt Workshop
As part of the role out of the new programme there will be a workshop on Sunday 23rd October from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm to update all instructors and black belts.  The workshop will be held at The Lucan Spa Hotel. The changes are significant and it is very important that you attend the workshop. The new syllabus will come into affect on January 2012 and will apply to all colour belt and black belt gradings from that date.  No fees will apply to the workshop (the RITA will pay the costs) for all junior and senior black belts but please post or email the linked form to the National Secretary by Friday the 14th  of October to reserve your place.

Download workshop application

Examiners Course
There will be an Examiners’ Course on Sunday 23rd October from 1.30 pm to 5.00 pm at the Lucan Spa Hotel to update all examiners and current 4th degree black belts.  There are other proposed changed to the grading system which will be discussed on the day.This is the same day (afternoon) as the sparring syllabus workshop. Again, ne fees apply for this course, but please post or email the linked form to the National Secretary by Friday the 14th  of October to reserve your place on the Examiners’ Course.

Download Examiners Course application

Students from St. Mark’s and Naas Taekwon-Do Schools travelled down to meet up with their Taekwon-Do brothers and sisters from Carrick-on-Suir and Fethard Taekwon-Do Schools. It was an action packed weekend full of fun and everyone getting to know each other better. The beautiful weather held for us all to enjoy ourdoor training in the magestic setting of the mountains, through obstacle courses and it even held out for the 2 hour hike and the camp fire late into the night.Not to forget all the indoor fun too from training to fun and games and of course the family atmosphere of all helping out to cook and clean and sitting around together having the craic. A huge thank you to both Ms. Keane and Mr. Tobin for making such a great family gathering possible.

2 Masters, 2 Days, 5 Components  – Athlone Training weekend a great success.

20 Taekwon-Do students from 6 schools travelled to Athlone for the weekend to train hard under the guidance of two ITF masters.  The students from; Athlone, Blessignton, Cork, Galway, Kilmacow, Limerick, and Old Bawn, trained, sweated, learned and laughed as Master Robert Howard and Master Mark O’Donnell drove them through the weekend’s training.

It was a great opportunity for students ranging from 10th kup to 6th degree black belt to train together and cover all the five components of Taekwon-Do.  The goal of the weekend was for students to develop an understanding of how the five components; fundamental movements, patterns, conditioning, sparring and self-defence, are all linked together and that if they leave out one component then they are not doing Taekwon-Do. If they spend all their time doing patterns and omit self-defence, or concentrate on sparring too much at the expense of power breaking (conditioning) then their Taekwon-Do is incomplete. ‘The students got a chance to see all the aspects of Taekwon-Do. It was great, especially for the lower grades who often can’t see the point of doing 3 and 2 step sparring’ said Conor Dunne assistant instructor at Athlone Taekwon-Do School....

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Six of the RITA’s Senior Masters and Masters trained together last Sunday at the first formally arranged Masters Training Session. The members of the Masters’ Council got a chance to escape from the boardroom and do what they love best, train in Taekwon-Do. The historic training session took place in Rowlagh Taekwon-Do School’s dojang (Dublin) as the association’s top grades trained, practiced and clarified their techniques, and also discussed ways to improve and upgrade the technical level within the RITA.

Those present were (see photo L-R) Master Jacob, Senior Master Phelan, Senior Master Howard, Senior Master Barrett, Master Howard, Master O’Donnell. (The RITA’s other senior grade Master Dandy wasn’t present on the day). The number of ITF Masters in the RITA is reflected by the fact that the association will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2012. The six masters have over 200 years of Taekwon-Do experience between them. They’ve done it all and seen it all; world championship medals, travelled the world, trained with the Founder and Taekwon-Do’s pioneers,  broken bricks, broken bones, produced 100’s of black belts, watched them come and go, but still here and still training hard in the martial art they love.

On Sunday the 3rd July the Instructors Course was held in Athlone.  The course was conducted by Senior Master Robert Howard 8th Degree and Senior Master Anthony Phelan 8th Degree and was attended by black belts from Carrick on Suir, Fethard, Galway and Kilmacow Taekwon-Do Schools.

After the warm up it was straight into basic instructions on how to address a class for the first time and then on to fundamental movements, each member in turn was given the opportunity to take the class and instruct a different aspect of the grading syllabus.  The Senior Masters encouraged questions throughout the day and shared their wealth of knowledge guiding the members through patterns, 3 step, 2 step, 1 step and free sparring. 

The course was conducted in a relaxed atmosphere and was highly informative due to the vast experience of the Senior Masters.  Many thanks to Senior Master Robert Howard 8th Degree and Senior Master Anthony Phelan 8th Degree for taking the time to conduct the course and to Mr. Dunne for hosting the event.

Ms Patrice Conaty
1st Degree
Kilmacow TKD

Eleven students from Carrick-on-Suir Taekwon-Do School and one from Fethard Taekwon-Do School, with Instructor Mr Paul Tobin IV Degree, travelled to the UK to compete in the London Open Championships on Sunday 10th July 2011.  Also travelling with them were three students from Kilmacow Taekwon-Do School along with their Instructor Ms Audrey Condon IV Degree. 

On the day there were 310 competitors entered in the competition from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.  The weekend proved to be a very successful one for the 15 Irish competitors.  In total 22 medals were brought home - 7 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze.  Well done to everyone involved.

Taekwon-Do instructors and students from across Ireland and the UK attended the ITF International Instructors Course conducted by Senior Master Francis Barrett 8th Degree in Dublin recently.  As well as the RITA members present, the course was also attended by Mr Jon Mackey of Redstar Taekwon-Do, and Mr Ashley Dowden from Scotland.  All 24 patterns were covered in the course of the two days, and Senior Master Barrett emphasised the importance of understanding and practicing the practical application of pattern movements, and indeed all techniques, rather than just repeating them.  Partner work allowed the participants to get a better understanding of the applications.  Senior Master Barrett kept reminding the members that Taekwon-Do is a self defence art, and that we must constantly practice and improve to sharpen our skills.  He was assisted on the course by Master Howard and Master O’Donnell. 

A Black Belt Grading was held at the end of the weekend’s training, and Aisling Finnegan (Carrick), Andrew Clayton (Old Bawn), John Behan and Corina Cullen (Rowlagh) were all promoted to 1st Degree.  Well done to all.

Everyone who took part would like to extend their thanks to Senior Master Barrett for a very enjoyable and educational course, and also to Ms Valerie Keane, RITA National Secretary for organising the event. 

Congratulations to the RITA's four newest Black Belts who achieved the coveted rank at the grading under Senior Master Phelan and Senior Master Barrett. The Grading took place after the two day International Instructor Course. The students had two days of tuition by Senior Master Barrett in preparation for the exam which gave them a chance to have final corrections to technique and terminology. The following were all promoted to 1st Degree Black Belt.

Aisling Finnegan Carrick-On-Suir TKD School
Andrew Clayton Old Bawn TKD School
John Behan Rowlagh TKD School
Corina Cullen Rowlagh  TKD School

The class started in the morning with a warm-up led, in turn, by Mr Nestor, Ms Manning and Mr McSherry. Mr Nestor started and told the class that it would be like "Britain's Got Talent" - if we didn't like what he was doing we could "buzz" him out. No sooner had he uttered the words, of course, when a "buuuzzz" erupted from the line-up.

After the warm-up, Senior Master Howard and Senior Master Phelan entered and began the class. This started with fundamental movements and continued on through Saju Jirugi and Saju Makgi, with particular emphasis on generating a correct sine wave. The class then progressed on to performing patterns Chon-Ji to Kwang-Gae, in turn, with the Senior Masters giving advice, making corrections, and answering any of the members' questions.

On returning from lunch, Senior Master Phelan taught the colour belt members in one half of the dojang, while Senior Master Howard continued to work through the patterns of all the black belt members present.

Later, the class reunited for the power section of the seminar. The Senior Masters gave members the freedom to choose which techniques they wanted to attempt for destruction. Some members chose to practice the techniques required for their next grading, while others used the opportunity to try techniques with which they'd never broken before.

The Senior Masters were assisted by the black belt members while teaching the colour belt members, and later, the colour belt members helped the black belt members by holding breaking material when the black belts practiced their destruction.

The power section finished with many of the black belt members being encouraged by their seniors to perform impressive, and sometimes spectacular, demonstration-style power techniques. These included breaking with various parts of the hand, such as Umji Joomuk (Thumb-knuckle Fist) or performing various flying kicks, including jumping over other members, flying through human hoops, and performing tandem breaks with another member.

As usual, we ran out of time when everyone was still having fun and the class was ended and broke up with everyone having learnt a lot and had a lot of fun.

Thanks to Senior Master Howard and Senior Master Phelan for conducting an enjoyable seminar, and thanks to Ms Keane and St. Mark's Taekwon-Do School for organising and hosting the event.

Mr. Tim Collins 2nd Degree. Galway

Master Robert Howard and Mr Conor Dunne (Athlone) attended an ITF technical seminar in Holland last weekend (13-15th May).  The seminar was conducted by the ITF’s technical director Senior Master Hwang Ho Yong (8th Degree) and hosted by Taekwon-Do International Nederland.

The main theme of the three day seminar was on the composition of Taekwon-Do; fundamental movements, dallyon (conditioning, power breaking), patterns, sparring, self-defence, and how all five components feed into each other.  If you neglect any of the components then your self-defence, which is the ultimate (physical) goal of Taekwon-Do won’t work. 
With that message in mind SM Hwang started the seminar with instruction on fundamental movements. This included blocks, hand attacks and kicks.  His kicking technique and leg strength put many of the attendees to shame.
In the patterns he gave correction on Chon Ji to Choi-Yong (3rd degree), but unfortunately didn’t get a chance to do the higher degree patterns.
In the sparring the emphasised the importance of following the order of 3-step, 2-step, semi-free sparring, free-sparring, 1 –step. He said that if you learn and teach sparring in this order that you and your students will then be fully prepared for the final component (self-defence).  He said that sparring is not the pinnacle of Taekwon-Do, self-defence is the goal. 
He then brought the class through self-defence (release from grabs etc), defence against a knife (similar to one step), and knife sparring.  It was clear for the logical progress from 3-step to 1 step that all the concepts (strong blocks, inside blocks versus outside blocks, logical counter-attacks, etc) for real self-defence are present. Unfortunately most students don’t see this and view these as just something which they must do to pass their grading. He said that it is important that instructor teach this very well so that the students are really prepared for self-defence.

SM Hwang had a very relaxed and pleasant way about him and all the attendees were relaxed and found it very easy to learn and ask questions. The funniest moment was when he got the class to sing to encourage them use a group rhythm when doing a pattern in class as opposed to 70 individual rhythms.
He presented an ITF distinguished service medal posthumously to Senior Master Bart Stokhoff who sadly died last year.  SM Stokhoff was the chief instructor to Holland and the medal was collected by his daughter. 
The whole weekend was a great success.  Aside from the fantastic Taekwo-Do training and instruction; the accommodation, food and organisation by the Dutch federation was excellent. 

About 60 children from three of the RITA's schools converged on Athlone before the Easter holidays to take part in the Athlone Fun Challenge. The competition was part of the RITA's childrens' development programme and involved Tigers (6 to 8 years) and Dragons (9 to 11 years) from Athlone, Galway and Senior Master Howard's Dojang in Dublin.

The day saw the children compete in three events; technical, flexibility and team sparring. The technical event consisted of patterns and saju maki for higher grades and 4-step punch for the tiger division. The flexibility event gave the children a chance to show off their improved flexibility, where they had 20 seconds to wow the judges with a stretching routine.

The team sparring allowed the children to practice their sparring skills against someone of an equal level. The instructors ensured that each team consisted of children with a mixture of skills and experience and did their best to make the teams as evenly matched as possible. The judges then matched each team member with someone of equal size and ability from the opposing team.

One of the aims of the day was to give the children an event to train for as they only grade once a year on the tiger and dragons' programmes. The children also got to compete and mix with their Taekwon-Do brothers, sisters and cousins in a fair, safe and fun competitive environment. At the end of the day all the children left the event with at least one medal and a great start to their Easter holidays.

Thanks to Mr Conor Dunne (Athlone) for hosting the event, and the instructors, umpires and parents for giving up their time to make the day a great success. The future looks bright.

On Saturday April 9th members of the RITA made their way to Galway to reunite at the greatly anticipated annual Female Training Class. Traditionally, the session was held by its originator, Ms Valerie Keane, 6th degree, whose wealth of experience as a senior instructor combined with an integrative and hands-on approach to teaching made the participation particularly beneficial to all members. As usual, the event gathered a diversity of cultures, ages and grades who all had at least two things in common, being a female and a passion for Taekwon-Do. To further instil the spirit of integration and cooperation, Ms Keane proudly presented the recently promoted black belts and encouraged all participants to reintroduce and acquaint themselves with new members. This encouragement was acted on eagerly, and the room soon filled with lively conversation and laughter........click for more

On Sunday 10th April, Galway Taekwon-Do School was proud to invite female members of the Galway public to take part in a special Ladies Self Defence Class. Also in attendance were female members from Galway, Stillorgan and St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school. The free class was kindly conducted by Ms Valerie Keane 6th Degree, who took time out of her schedule to share her knowledge and expertise.

After a light warm up, everyone paired up and practised simple and effective techniques for releasing their wrists from the tight grip of their partner. The correct techniques for falling forward and backwards were then practised. Next, Ms Keane taught the class to incorporate front kicks into the releases learned at the start of class.
Throughout the day, Ms Keane encouraged everyone to ask any questions they had regarding self defence and used her wealth of knowledge in Taekwon-Do to help advise everyone in the safest and most effective means to defend themselves.

After a short lunch, the class focused on defending against more serious attacks such as strangling. Near the end of the class, time was spent recapping over all the techniques learned during the day and how to incorporate them into different situations. It was an enjoyable experience and was beneficial to all that took part.
Before the day ended, two female Garda from Mill Street Garda Station came to talk to the class on the importance of safety and awareness, with an emphasis on the safety of women at night.

All donations made on the day were in support of Cope Galway and The Galway Women’s Shelter.

Many thanks to Ms Therese McGrath 1st Degree for organising the event, Ms. Keane for conducting the class, and to all who took part and supported the important cause.

On the 11th of April 1955 General Choi gave Taekwon-Do to the world.

"It was with this ambition in mind that I began to develop new techniques, systematically, from March of that same year. By the end of 1954 I had nearly completed the foundation of a new martial art for Korea, and on April 11, 1955, it was given the name "Taekwon-Do". " General Choi Hong Hi. The Condensed Encyclopedia.

On this special day we remember our Founder General Choi and thank him for the Art we love so much.

The RITA would like to thank all the Masters, Instructors and students for making the 2011 ITF Ireland Cup a great success. Without your help and participation there would be no event. All Umpires and Competitors alike showed true Taekwon-Do Spirit. The five Tenets were displayed by all.

The event was hosted by the Athlone Taekwon-Do School and was attended by not only by most RITA Schools but also our friends from Red Star Taekwon-Do and the Elite Taekwon-Do Academy. RITA President Senior Master Robert Howard and RITA Vice President Senior Master Phelan both 8th Degree Black belts were guests of honour.

Also picture to the left are the recent successful promotions at the RITA Black Belt Grading. Mr Thomas McGrath 1st Degree from Fethard and Mr Martin Mahoney 3rd Degree from Galway.

For a full list of results go to the Tournaments page or download a pdf here

Click here to see some photos from the day over at facebook

Congratulations to the following black belts who pass the recent RITA Umpire exam.

Ms Patrice Conaty – Kilmacow – C class umpire
Mr Paul Connelly – Galway - C class umpire
Ms Linda Kenrick – Blessington – C class umpire
Ms Therese McGrath –Galway - C class umpire

Mr Tim Collins from Galway passed his theory exam and will do his practical (B Class) in Athlone at the ITF Ireland Cup.

The 22nd of March marks the 45th Anniversary of the ITF. It was inaugurated in Seoul, South Korea in 1966.

The International Taekwon-Do Federation was formed with associations in Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, West Germany, the United States, Turkey, Italy, Arab Republic of Egypt and South Korea as founding national members.

Happy birthday!

The three Tallaght RITA Taekwon-Do Schools, St. Marks, Old Bawn and Firhouse, took part in the inaugural Tallaght St. Patricks day festival at the Tallaght Stadium. Senior Instructors and Students performed a short demonstration on the pitch for the packed stadium. Everyone enjoyed the day and the crowds were treated to a fireworks display as darkness fell.

Galway Taekwon-Do instructor, Mark O’Donnell achieved his lifelong dream and was promoted to the rank of master (7th degree black belt) at a recent grading in Scotland. Master O’Donnell (36) is now the youngest Taekwon-Do master in Europe, after his recent promotion exam by Grandmaster Rhee Ki Ha (9th degree).

The Galway instructor travelled to Glasgow to train on a two day black belt seminar and to grade under Grandmaster Rhee Ki Ha.  Grandmaster Rhee, the man who introduced Taekwon-Do to Ireland, was impressed by O’Donnell’s technical skill and power breaking demonstration, where he smashed an array of timber and tiles with his hands and feet.

Master O’Donnell  started Taekwon-Do in 1987 in his home town of Clonmel under Mr Billy Keane. He later moved to Galway to study at UCG and set up (with Master Howard) the Galway Taekwon-Do School in 1993, and the Athlone Taekwon-Do School in 1998.  He is a former Irish team member and international gold medallist, who has also trained many students to medals at national level competition, as well as many students to win international & European medals.  Master O’Donnell is the original author of the RITA’s student handbook. He has been the driver of many of the RITA’s developments and initiatives over the years, and is expected to join the association’s Masters’ Council in April. He continues to train and teach his Taekwon-Do to men, women and children, at the Renmore Community Centre, Galway.  After 24 years of pursuing his goal this dedicated martial artist has reached the pinnacle of his career.

On Sunday March 6th, St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school played host to an RITA black belt class. RITA Senior Masters, Senior Master Phelan and Senior Master Howard were the instructors for the morning. Black belts from around the country were in attendance. The class began with an extensive warm up from Master Jacob before handing over to the two Senior Masters. Fundamentals were covered and then followed by each of the black belt patterns. In the second half of the class all students paired off for three step and two step techniques. The class finished with kicking drills using focus pads. A very enjoyable morning was had by all with special thanks to Ms. Keane for hosting the class.

Congratulations to the Irish Team who won 2 Gold and 5 Bronze plus the Overall veteran award for Mr Mark Pollock at the European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. The team also won 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze at the International Martial Arts Games.

The Irish Umpires of Senior Master Barrett, Master Howard and Mr Floyd Keane worked tirelessly for 5 days and were chosen to be Chief Umpires in all their rings.

Full results: Euros.
Gold in Veteran Silver Class 2nd Dan Patterns -Mark Pollock
Gold in 6th Dan Patterns - Stephen Doyle
Bronze in Veteran Silver Class +90kg Sparring - Mark Pollock
Bronze in Veteran Self Defence - Mark Pollock, Martin Mahoney, Conor Dunne, Tim Collins
Bronze in Veteran Breaking - Mark Pollock
Bronze in +85kg Sparring - Krzysztof Misiewicz
Bronze in Team Sparring

Full results: IMAG.
Gold in 6th Dan Patterns - Stephen Doyle
Gold in Cadet Self Defence- Roisin, O'Neill, Martin Mahoney, Tim Collins
Silver in Cadet 1st Dan Patterns - Roisin O'Neill
Bronze in Cadet -55kg Sparring - Roisin O'Neill
Bronze in +85kg Sparring - Krzysztof Misiewicz
Bronze in -85kg Sparring - Tim Collins
Bronze in Team Sparring

Next up for the Irish Team will be the Adult World Championships in North Korea.

This article was published in the Irish Times on 16th February and can be found on the Irish Times website

"Robert Howard can slice tiles and wooden planks with his hands and feet. So how does he do it, asks CLAIRE O’CONNELL 

SMASH! The stacked roof tiles shatter into smithereens as Master Robert G Howard’s hand chops through them. Blocks of timber don’t fare much better either as he breaks them into pieces with his fists and feet.

From where I’m standing (a little scared, actually, but full of respect) it doesn’t look as if a human hand or foot should be able to break such impenetrable-looking objects, but Howard assures that the laws of physics say they can.

I believe him too, and it’s not just because I don’t want to argue with someone who has just broken a pile of roof tiles in front of me without flinching.

It’s because Master Howard not only has a seventh degree black belt in Taekwondo (he was the youngest person in Europe to achieve that level) but he’s also Dr Robert Howard, a lecturer at Dublin Institute of Technology’s school of physics.

Before he explains any of the physics behind the punches and kicks though, Howard sets down a few ground rules. Above all, martial arts in general – and Taekwondo especially – is about self-defence.

“If you are in trouble walk away if you can,” says Howard, who has been practising Taekwondo for over 30 years and whose father is also a Master.

“If you can’t walk away you might have to talk your way out. And if all else fails you use Taekwondo, which is about maximising your body to defend yourself – and that’s related to the physics.”

Taekwondo training involves perfecting patterns of movements (including kicks, turns and punches) and sparring with protective pads. Then you eventually break concrete and timber to demonstrate that your strikes are forceful enough to injure.

So how does physics help you deliver a good punch or kick? It’s down to mass, velocity and positioning, explains Howard.

“The purpose of a strike in self-defence is not to push the bad guy away but to maximise damage, and that involves deformation,” he says.

The deformation energy on impact determines just how damaging that impact is, and factors that affect it include your mass and velocity.

Physics tells us that to pack more power into the punch you increase mass and velocity. So by moving your body forward into the punch, rather than just extending your arm, you can really bump up the deformation energy.

Think about a small rock hitting a can: when the stone smacks into the metal, the rock will most likely lose velocity.

“Ultimately the kinetic energy before the collision has to be the same as the kinetic energy after the collision,” says Howard. “If there’s some missing where has that gone? When it hits the object it might not move as fast, and the energy went into deforming the can.”

A well-executed punch can have a force of almost 5,000 newtons on impact, explains Howard, who puts it into context: “That is the same as the weight of a cow on your head. So you could either punch the bad guy or drop a cow on them if you had it handy.”

He also compares it to the force needed to break a bone, such as a rib, which comes in at around 3,000 newtons. But thankfully he’s not about to demonstrate on a human; instead he smashes some timber and tiles to simulate.

So why don’t his bones break in the process? Positioning is key, he says. “I can chop those tiles but I could also trip over them and break my wrist,” he says.

“So the position of the hand or foot when you strike is important: the muscles need to be tense and the bones need to be straight.”

At this point I’m relieved that Taekwondo instructs practitioners to use their skills with respect and courtesy.

“Whether you are a physicist doing high-level experiments or a martial artist defending yourself, it’s important to remember that with great power comes great responsibility,” he says.

“There’s a potential to do damage to people, so it’s important to take that responsibility seriously.”

Oh and another rule: sweep up the bits of roof tile when you are done."

Click here for the Irish Times website article

Greetings Committee members and friends,

I hope 2011 has started well for you. The women of the ITF now have our own facebook page, officially known as "International Taekwon-Do Federation Women's Page". I hope you can use it and let your clubs, students, instructors and colleagues know about it. It is a fantastic opportunity for women in the ITF to share profiles, information, news and ideas and to get to know one another on a more informal basis. I'm hoping that we can use the site to raise discussion of issues and make women aware of their support network and common goals. What we put in is what we get out, so please spread this site around,

yours in TKD
SM Linda Low
Chairperson ITF Women's Committee

Congratulations to the Organisers, Umpires and Competitors for making the 2010 Irish Open a great success. Nearly 300 competitors from all four provinces took part. As well as RITA members our friends from the ITA, INTA, Elite TKD, NI-ITF UKTC NI and TANI competed making it a special day for all.

Click here to see some photos from the day

Christmas is an exciting time of year to us in Naas Taekwon-Do School it is also more exciting as the Annual Demonstration and Party is here. All the students get to invite their Parents, Aunts, Uncles, brothers, sisters, Granny , anyone they would like to come along to see as they show off their Taekwon-Do. Ms. Keane Welcomes all the spectators and talks through what each student is doing whilst Instructing the students too. Every member shows off what they like, whether its patterns or destruction we all like to do what we are good at. It is fantastic to see both students and spectators smiling and enjoying the art and feeling the family atmosphere. Without the support of the Parents and family we would not be were we are today and Ms. Keane reiterates her thanks to all the parents.

This Year Naas had both a Senior and Junior Student of the Year. Both Students try their best to follow the tenets and help in many capacities, always there to help out when needed usually without being asked. It is great to know we can support each other and only be a phone call away within our family. Peter Gillen Junior Student and Patrick Sheridan our Senior Student of the Year. All your Brothers and Sister in Taekwon-Do are delighted to congratulate on your great achievement. An inspiration to our family to try harder for the coming year. Happy New Year.

The now annual Christmas Demonstration was held on the last night of training. It is a great evening when all the student get to invite their families and show off oll they have learned and impress their families. It always has a great turn out and all the students enjoy showing all the aspects of Taekwon-Do from the little turtles showing how they play and even count in Korean as they high kick to the older students demonstrating their patterns, semi-free sparring and sparring them of course the power of the techniques in thier destruction. Ms. Keane also takes this opportunity to thank all of the Parents for their continued support.

With so many students and families present it was the perfect opportunity to Present the Student of the Year Award. This award is presented to the student that is always showing the Tenents of Taekwon-Do, always ready to help out, first to help with our Fundraising and eager to help in any way. Awards are not always about the best performer physically but Taekwon-Do is about growing in many ways. This year the Award was presented to Tanya De La Vega, all of the Taekwon-Do Family would like to congradulate her on this fantastic achievement. We all look forward to a great family get together next year, maybe we will get a little more practice for our demo if the snow holds. Happy New Year to all of our Brothers and Sisters in Taekwon-Do.

The Student Area has been updated to include videos of the Patterns. These are a great help when learning but are no substitute to practicing with your Instructor.

St. Mark's Black Belts brave the bitter cold Sunday morning and took to the Snow to present their new Junior Black Belts Aidan Kelly & Alexei Kudryashov with their ITF certificates. We are so proud to welcome our new Black Belt Children to St.Mark's Taekwon-Do family!

On Sunday the 21st of November, Naas Taekwon-Do School hosted the RITA annual Self-Defence Seminar.  In a change from the traditional event this year’s event was the first all day Seminar, conducted by ITF 8th Degree Senior Master Barrett.

The morning session begun with eager anticipation for members with no previous experience to learn the fundamentals of Self Defence: “A, B, R” (Attack, Break, Release). For those members who had attended in previous years it was an opportunity to demonstrate and teach their learning’s of wrist holds, locks & grabs and the techniques to Release from these.

Senior Master Barrett demonstrated (on the ever so coy Black Belt members) several different techniques of release from a wrist hold /grab and explained why the movements should be performed in such a specific way. Snr. Master Barrett also highlighted the importance of understanding the movements in our patterns.  Later crash mats were lined up and all students got an opportunity to practice their break falls and rolls both from a standing and an aerial position. The junior members in particular found this element great fun and one of the highlights of the morning session.

Senior Master Barrett continually stressed throughout the day that some of the techniques demonstrated were extremely dangerous and should not be practiced on family members and friends but under the strict supervision of their instructions.

Senior Master Barrett highlighted that practicing Self Defence was not a reason to stand and face your aggressor. The first act of Defence was to run to safety, second was to talk your self out of trouble. Finally do what is necessary to defend your self.

The afternoon advanced session got underway with all members asked to wear casual clothes rather than their uniforms, which brought an element of realism to the seminar. This session concentrated on choke holds which were demonstrated on apprehensive volunteers. These techniques were performed both from a standing and ground position. The crash mats were again utilized to throw members from a standing choke position, with junior members delighted with the opportunity to throw the senior members. Complaints of bad backs (from senior members) were not entertained and all had an occasion to experience this Self Defence technique.

All graded members were encouraged to practice Self Defence techniques as a part of their class training under the correct supervision. Senior Master Barrett said that he would like to see Self Defence techniques added as a requirement for all Black Belt and Color Belt grading and would be suggesting this to the Masters Council.

The day concluded when Senior Master Barrett was applauded for his enthusiasm and effort during the day, as he is indeed an encyclopedia of knowledge of Self Defence techniques.

This year’s annual RITA Self Defence Seminar was educational and thoroughly enjoyable for all. Q&A ended a great day with minor bruising and beaming smiles.

Mr. John Byrne 3rd Degree
Enniscorthy Taekwon-Do School
Ms. Linda Kenrick 1st Degree
Blessington Taekwon-Do School

There is some sad news from our Taekwon-Do family in Holland, our good friend Senior Master Bart Stokhof has passed away. He will be missed by everyone in Taekwon-Do.

All our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. May he rest in peace.

On Sunday October 17th, St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school held its annual Team Challenge.  The popular event was well supported with many schools entering teams this year.  With the new additions of a “Little Giants” (under 8s) and veterans section, this year’s competition had something for everyone.  The day started out with team patterns which was followed by team sparring.  The black belts of St. Mark’s then performed a demonstration for the special guests on the day, 8th degree Senior Master Robert Howard & 8th degree Senior Master Anthony Phelan. 

The afternoon saw the return of the ever popular obstacle course which was one of the largest sections of the tournament.  The spectators who turned out played a pivotal role in egging the students on which made for an energetic fun atmosphere.  The self-defence section promised to be an entertaining feature and it did not disappoint.  Many junior & senior students joined forces to display their attack / defence scenarios, many including humour in their routines much to the appreciation of the watching crowd.  The day ended with the special technique with the awards presentation closing out the day. 

Every student left smiling as this year all students who did not make the winner’s podium received a participation medal.  Host of the event, Ms. Keane, 6th deg made a special presentation to Master Jacob 7th deg who was the chief umpire for the event.  A fun filled day for the R.I.T.A. students and umpires!!  St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school would like to especially thank Mr. Keane 6th deg for overseeing proceedings on the day and many thanks to both students and umpires who supported the event.

Congratulations to the Irish team of David Lanigan, Martin Mahoney, Gerard Byrne, Conor McCormack, Krzysztof Misiewicz and Richard Judge who performed so well at the 4 Nations in Glasgow saturday night. This years event was one of the most open for years with all four teams very evenly matched. Wales won the pattern event earlier in the day with impressive displays of team work against Ireland and then England in the Final.

The main events took place after a black tie dinner that evening in a packed Thistle Hotel. The atmosphere was electric during the fights especially when Scotland were on the mats. Ireland got Wales and it went to all 5 matches in an exciting match. Richard Judge got a draw against Conah Prosser in his first International fight. This was followed by a defeat for Martin Mahoney against European silver medallist Gareth Francis. Krzysztof Misiewicz had an impressive win over Richard Taylor before David Lanigan drew with Luke Wakley. The match went to to the final fight with Conor McCormack producing one of his best performances to beat Tom Harris. Ireland now faced England who had narrowly beat Scotland 3-2. Unfortunately Ireland didnt get the luck they deserved with the results losing 3-0 in three very close matches. Yellow cards and warnings were the difference in each match. The highlight was Martin Mahoney against Carl Davies in a very close match with the local crowd screaming for the Irish captain.

England won the 4 Nations Cup for the fourth time in a row by pipping Scotland in the final event of Breaking. With all 4 teams still with a chance of lifting the trophy everyone of the Irish were successful in their breaks but it wasnt enough as England won that event breaking a greater number of boards.

Irelands umpire Senior Master Francis Barrett and National Coach Mr Stephen Doyle were very proud of the effort of the Irish team!

Black Belts from throughout the RITA gathered in Tallaght over the weekend to create a three year plan for the development of our Association. Before the discussions began Senior Master Howard gave a class to help everyone relax and get focussed for the weekend. Once the workshop started all topics were discussed in detail with everyone present given their chance to have their say on ways to improve the RITA. After two days all the suggestions were grouped into achievable goals which will now be presented to the Masters Council for ratification before being put forward at the AGM.

For some photos click here

On Saturday 9th of October three schools from the R.I.T.A. performed an unprecedented demonstration at the Tallaght Stadium.  Students from Firhouse, Old Bawn and St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do schools had been training & preparing for the last month to perform a half-time demonstration at an Airtricity League of Ireland fixture between Shamrock Rovers & Sporting Fingal.  With 50 members participating in front of 4,500 vocal fans the atmosphere was nothing short of electric.  With the teams leaving the pitch at half-time all students marched onto the pitch to get into position.  Starting off with fundamental movements the students performed Chon-Ji Tul in unison closely followed by free sparring.

The Shamrock Rovers mascot “Hooperman” joined in the demo and did his best to keep up with the synchronised students.  With the home fans egging the students on, the senior members carried out a self defence routine and finished off with destruction and some aerial breaks.  All 50 members marched off to rapturous applause from a roaring crowd.  Although home team Shamrock Rover lost the game 1-2, it did not detract from the enjoyment the students experienced and a day they will not forget any time soon.  Many thanks and congratulations are due for the effort of all students & instructors who participated.  Special thanks to Ms. Keane for supplying St. Mark’s venue for practice and overseeing the choreography of the event.

St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school has two new junior black belts after both Aidan Kelly & Alexei Kudryashav both recently achieved their 1st degree black belts.  The grading held in the Lucan Spa Hotel on Saturday 25th of September was a difficult task for the two Tallaght members.  With months of extra training carried out in preparation, both performed very well on the day in front of a panel of R.I.T.A senior masters.  Reflecting on the day their instructor Ms. Keane 6th deg. said she was very proud of her two new first degrees.  (Both students pictured centre with instructor Ms. Valerie Keane 6th degree.)

Congratulations to all the RITA members who successfully passed the Black Belt Grading held in the Lucan Spa Hotel on Saturday. The grading was conducted by the RITA Masters Panel of Senior Master Robert Howard, Senior Master Anthony Phelan and Senior Master Francis Barrett. The highlight was the promotion of four new 4th Degree Black Belts and Mr O'Doherty to 6th Degree Black Belt.

Before the exam a cheque for the money raised at the recent 4 Nations event was presented to the childrens charity Barnardos. Also certificates were presented on Saturday to Ms. Condon for her ITF International Instructor's & Umpire qualifications certificates, Mr. Martin Murphy for his 6th Degree and ITF certs from ITF International Instructors Course Conducted by Senior Master Barrett in June this year were also presented.

Promoted to 6th Degree:
Mr. Donal O'Doherty Instructor Watergrasshill School Cork

Promoted to 4th Degree:
Mr. Leon Mc Sherry & Mr. Adam Fox students from Master Howard's Dojang.
Mr. Richard Barber Stillorgan TKD School
Mr. Paul Tobin Instructor Carrick-On- Suir & Fethard Schools

Promoted to 2nd Degree
Ms. Niamh Herrity Stillorgan School
Mr. Conor Dunne Athlone School

Promoted to 1st Degree Black Belt
Patrice Conaty Kilmacow School
Linda Kenrick Blessington School
Aidan Kelly St. Mark's School
Alexei Kudryashov St.Mark's School

Congratulations to all the students on their great achievement.

The 2010 annual National Black Belt Seminar was held this year on Sunday the 12th of September. It was an early start on Sunday morning to make the trip to Carrick –On-Suir. This year’s National Black Belt Seminar was hosted by Carrick-On-Suir Taekwon-Do School in their new premises located on North Wall Quay. Upon arrival everyone was greeted by Mr Tobin and given a tour of his new Dojang. Black Belt students ranging from 1st to 7th degree travelled from all over the country to participate in the Seminar which was conducted by Senior Master Howard, Senior Master Phelan and Senior Master Barrett, ITF 8th Degree Senior Masters.

The morning started off with a few basis fundamental techniques. From the very outset Senior Master Howard stressed the importance of sign wave and hip twist in each technique to generate power. The morning continued with all the colour belt patterns, starting with Chon Ji all the way up to Choong Moo. Throughout the Seminar the three Senior Masters went around to individuals correcting any mistakes they may have made. Senior Master Phelan also pointed out the importance of making sure each stance was correct. Throughout the day Senior Masters encouraged students to ask questions in relation to any of the techniques or patterns that we had performed.  

Upon return from lunch for the afternoon session, it was straight back into the patterns, this time all the Black Belt patterns all the way from 1st degree to 6th degree. Senior Master Barrett took the 1st degrees and went through each of their patterns in detail, while Senior Master Phelan took the 2nd degrees. Senior Master Howard continued to go through the remainder of the Black Belt patterns with the remaining students. As the Seminar came to a close, again the Senior Masters encourage students to ask any questions that they might have.  An excellent day’s instruction was enjoyed by all.

Richard Barber 3rd Degree
Stillorgan Taekwon-Do School

RITA Instructor Certificate Mr. McSherry Class "A"	RITA Instructor CertificateMr. Mahoney class "B"
RITA Instructor Certificate Ms. Therese McGrath class "C"	Master Jacob receiving his ITF 7th Deg Masters certificate from Senior Master Robert Howard

The ITF have produced an Introduction to Tournaments video. It shows all the events in a ITF Tournament. Videos from the 2006-2009 Junior, Veteran and Adult World Championships are used and contain clips of Irish competitors such as World and European Champion Ms Audrey Condon and World & European Silver Medallist Mr David Freeman. Click the links below to view the videos.

• ITF Introduction to Tournaments part 1
• ITF Introduction to Tournaments part 2
• ITF Introduction to Tournaments part 3
  
  

Members from Galway, Athlone, Cork and Dublin travelled to Athlone for a Black Belt class under one of Irelands most experienced Instructors, 8th Degree Black Belt Senior Master Anthony Phelan. Those attending ranged from 1st to 7th Degree Master and all enjoyed the class. Senior Master Phelan focused on Black Belt techniques with advanced kicking, foot sparring and all the Black Belt Patterns were covered from Kwang-Gae to Tong-Il.

Senior Master Phelan emphasised the importance of continuous correction as an Instructor and took time to correct everyone's mistakes no matter how small. Those attending all learned a great deal in the short space of time and would have gladly trained for longer under the very experienced instructor.   The next national Black Belts class will be before the RITA’s AGM on the 27th of November.

About 40 children between ages 6 and 11 successfully completed year 1 of the RITA’s children’s development programme.  The new children’s programme is being piloted in three of the RITA’s schools (Athlone, Galway and Senior Master Howard’s School).   The children were examined in the new syllabus by Senior Master Phelan, Master Howard and Mr O’Donnell and the Taekwon-Do Tigers (aged 6-8) and Dragons (9-11 years) and all passed their first grading with flying colours. 

The Dragons were promoted to their next kup grade while the Tigers were promoted to white belt black stripe.  The new programme is closely aligned with TAB’s Introduction to Coaching Course and is aimed at developing the core Taekwon-Do skills in young children.  Congratulations to all the Tigers, Dragons, parents and instructors.

The Taekwon-Do Advisory Board (TAB) of the Irish Martial Arts Commission (IMAC) ran the first of this year's Introduction to Coaching Courses over the weekend of the 10th & 11th July 2010 in Mulhuddart Sport Taekwon-Do Club in Dublin. Nineteen instructors and assistant instructors from all over Ireland took part in the course which is the first step in the Taekwon-Do Advisory Board's Coaching Education Programme. This course was especially enjoyable as there was a very broad range of experience among the delegates which ranged from Blue Belt to 7th Dan Black Belts. The course included 12 contact hours over the weekend, which is split 50/50 between classroom workshops, presentations and mat based exercises. What makes this course particularly interesting is that actual Taekwon-Do students take part in modules prepared and coached by the various instructors and assistant
instructors on the course and then give feedback to the coaches. The course was presented by TAB Tutors; Mr. Adrian Byrne and Mr. Donal O'Donoghue.

Some areas covered included; coaching skills; coaching process, key factors in working with beginners, learning needs of participants aged 6-8 years; technical, tactical, physical, mental, lifestyle and personal capacities related to the development of this age demographic. The course participants will next complete the IMAC Coach Level 1 course which will be conducted by the Taekwon-Do Advisory Board in 2011. The atmosphere of the course was very positive and enjoyable for all taking part and it was a great opportunity to see olds friends and make new acquaintances with fellow instructors from around the country. This was the first major event since the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association (RITA) rejoined IMAC and the TAB. It was great to see the camaraderie and cooperation between all participants.

Photos from the course can be viewed here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/IrishTKD/CoachingIntroCourse#

On Sunday 4th of July, the RITA held its National Instructors course in the Lucan Spa hotel.  The course was conducted by RITA President, Senior Master Howard 8th degree and also Senior Master Barrett 8th degree.  After a brief warm-up the morning started off with basic instruction on how to address a class for the first time followed by explaining the fundamental movements correctly.  Attendance included black belts from all over the country with each member being given the opportunity to instruct students through a colour belt pattern under the guidance of the senior masters.  Syllabus content was then covered with all members being made aware of the requirements for colour belt gradings.  After lunch, the course resumed with the rest of the colour belt patterns being covered and a focus on destruction requirements for each of the grades.  The day finished out with Senior Master Howard emphasising the importance of stretching in classes to improve overall standard of a student’s ability.  An excellent day’s instruction was enjoyed by all.

Maynooth Taekwon-Do School are celebrating their latest Black Belt. Ciaran Hickey was promoted to 1st Degree Black Belt at the recent International Instructors Course. Ciaran had to perform in front of Senior Master Phelan, Senior Master Barrett, Master Howard and Master Jacob plus an audience including 6th, 5th and 4th Degrees. He overcame his nerves to pass the grading and get promoted to the coveted Black Belt rank.

His Instructor Mr Stephen Doyle 6th Degree presented him with the Black Belt during training to a round of applause from the rest of the Maynooth students.

The Lucan Spa Hotel in Dublin was the venue for the third ITF International Course conducted by the RITA’s Senior Master Francis Barrett VIII Degree.  Members of the association from all parts of Ireland and ranging from 8th Kup Yellow Belt to VII Degree Master gathered in the hall on the first day of the two-day event.  Seniors in attendance on the course included Master Robert Howard VII and the RITA’s most recently promoted VII Degree, Master John Jacob.

After the official introductions, Snr. Mst. Barrett began proceedings by explaining that the main purpose of the course was to ensure that all Black Belts were teaching technique and tuls correctly.  Starting off with fundamental movements, he made the point that students must clearly understand the purpose and method of each movement performed, and emphasised that Taekwon-Do techniques are all based on practical applications – in other words, if you’re in doubt about how to perform a technique, practice it with a partner and find out what works and what doesn’t.  Snr Mst Barrett reinforced this point over the course of the weekend and urged the members not to simply repeat techniques, but to practice and improve them constantly.

He then moved on to pattern practice and used Black Belt ‘volunteers’ to teach additional movements for each pattern, and then the pattern itself to the entire group, giving advice and suggestions for improvement in terms of instructing methods, as well as clarification and explanation of many technical points.  Again, drawing on his 37 years experience in Taekwon-Do, and many seminars under both General Choi and First Grandmaster Rhee, Snr Mst Barrett emphasised and explained in detail the application of the movements.  As everyone was engrossed in the business of the day, the time flew and before we knew it, having completed patterns as far as Choong-Moo tul, it was time to finish.  All the participants eagerly looked forward to the second day of the course.  A relaxed chat followed in the hotel, and Snr Mst Barrett enjoyed a meal with some of his Taekwon-Do family who were staying overnight at the venue.

Sunday kicked off with a recap on the first day’s content, and more practice of Hwa-Rang and Choong-Moo tuls, before moving on to the Black Belt patterns.  Fourth degrees and higher were each asked to teach additional movements and a pattern to a single Black Belt volunteer, while the rest of the group watched attentively, and Snr Mst Barrett oversaw proceedings and again gave advice and clarification as we went along.  This was a great learning experience.  As Snr Mst Barrett pointed out, when you are performing patterns, your mind is completely focused on executing the techniques, but when you have a chance to observe a pattern being taught and performed, you have the chance to pick up on a lot of finer points. 

As with all good Taekwon-Do events, the time went by so quickly, and having completed 23 tuls, the 7th and 6th Degrees performed Tong-Il tul as the course neared its end.  Snr Mst Barrett finished up by reminding everyone of the key points covered over the weekend.  After some presentations of certificates, the course officially closed.  Congratulations to Ciaran Hickey from Maynooth who was promoted to 1st Degree Black Belt at a Grading Under The Masters at the end of the course.

Sincere thanks to Snr Mst Barrett from everyone who attended for a fantastic, educational and informative ITF International Course.

Click here to view photos

Congratulations to Mr Paul Tobin, 3rd Degree Black Belt, who was appointed RITA National Colour Belt Coach. Mr Tobin is the Senior Instructor to Carrick-on-Suir and Fethard Taekwon-Do Schools. The Colour Belt Team will represent Ireland at International events and is designed to give experience to future Black belts before moving to the National Team.

The RITA wishes Mr Tobin the best of success.

An idyllic (and rather warm) Sunday May 23rd saw Taekwon-Do students from all over the country descend upon St Mark's Taekwon-Do School for the annual tradition  that is the Senior Masters' Patterns and Power Seminar.

After students and instructors, ranging from 10th Kup to 6th Deg from the various R.I.T.A. Schools met and indeed reacquainted, the lines were assembled and we were ready for the off.

Despite the rather balmy conditions, Mr O' Donnell initiated the warm up, where the effort paid in sweat was well reimbursed with the increased mobility in the (in some cases old and creaking) joints.

Any fears or apprehensions harbored among students who were new to the experience were soon allayed as Senior Master Robert Howard VIII, Senior Master Phelan VIII and Senior Master Francis Barrett VIII, our instructors for the day were introduced, and the Senior Masters introduced themselves and welcomed the students in a warm and cordial manner, an atmosphere that permeated the entire day.

The seminar began with fundamental movements, both defensive and attacking, where particular emphasis was placed on the correct application of the sine wave, hip twist and acceleration of the techniques.  Saju Makgi and Saju Jirugi carried us into the study of the patterns.  Beginning with Chon Ji, the Senior Masters were very generous in dedicating their day to exploring and explaining every nuance of every pattern from Chon Ji all the way up to Tong Il.  They encouraged the students to ask questions about any aspect of the movements and the students were enlightened with the experience and knowledge of the Senior Masters.

The afternoon saw the beginning of the power breaking, which was very exciting particularly for new students who perhaps hadn't seen it before.  Black Belt students were invited to demonstrate various breaking techniques, with the Senior Masters on hand to explain the techniques, the generation of power and the various tools required for the breaks.  The class then dispersed as each student selected their pieces  of timber for their breaking endeavors.  This portion of the class took place in a rather relaxed atmosphere, as the Senior Masters and Black Belts were very generous with their time and encouragement as they assisted each student with their breaking, helping them achieve what for some was their first break.

A very enjoyable day was brought to a close with each student being presented with their certificates as reward for their efforts.  The day ended as it began in a warm cheery manner as the class sang Happy Birthday to Senior Master Phelan.

On behalf of all who took part I would like to thank the Senior Masters for their knowledge  and patience, and to Ms Keane and St Marks for ensuring that the tenth year of this event was as good as ever.

Laurence O' Brien 3rd Deg
Instructor Bunclody School

Member of Enniscorthy Taekwon-Do School

On Saturday the 24th April, 2010 female students from Taekwon-Do Schools through out Ireland descended  upon the Sleepy little village of Kilmacow in the Sunny South East (not so sunny on the day) to attend the Annual Female training day.  The event this year was hosted by Kilmacow
Taekwon-Do School.  The class was conducted by Ms. Valerie Keane 6th Degree, Senior Instructor to Naas and St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do Schools.  In attendance were students from Carrick on Suir, Limerick, Naas, St. Marks, Fethard, Kilmacow and Galway.    
 
Finding the hall was an achievement in its self due to Road Works and diversions.  Once everyone arrived safe and sound the day started with Ms. Keane congratulating Ms. Condon (Instructor to Kilmacow Taekwon-Do School) on her promotion to 4th Degree by presenting her with Flowers and Chocolates.

Ms. Keane then passed on her wealth of knowledge and experience teaching the fundamentals of proper stances, sine wave and technique.  All patterns from Chon Ji through to the 1st Degree Black Belt Patterns were covered.  Ms. Manning and Ms. Condon also performed the 4th Degree pattern Yon-Gae much to our delight as some members would not have seen this pattern before.

After lunch and presents for all from Ms. Keane the day continued in a warm and relaxed atmosphere with three step sparring, two step sparring, semi free and free sparring.  This was followed by break falls and tumbles.  If this wasn’t daunting enough for some we moved on to the power section but with Ms. Keane’s encouragement any fears were quickly dispelled.  Ms. Keane brought every one out of their comfort zone to break with a technique which they had not broken with before and all students both Junior and Senior with Ms. Keane’s guidance managed to break timber and or Tiles much to their delight. 

Before we finished up students were encouraged to suggest various breaking techniques for the Black Belt ladies to demonstrate.  These included hand techniques such as middle knuckle fist , thumb knuckle fist and long fist  through Tiles.  Followed by foot techniques such as flying turning kick, flying high kick and flying two direction kick through timber.  This finished the day on a high note for everyone and gave the junior members plenty to aspire to. 

Once again many thanks to Ms. Keane, Ms. Manning and Ms. Condon as yet again an enjoyable day was had by all.  Due to Ms. Keane's patience and encouragement everyone went home with a sense of achievement, fulfilment and sisterhood.

Patrice Conaty, 1st Kup
Kilmacow Taekwon-Do School

For the past 18 months St.Mark's & Naas Taekwon-Do Brothers & Sisters got together for fundraising events and Training to support General
Choi's Memorial Cup hosted by Grand Master Jong Soo Park in Toronto Canada. In the students own words a fantastic unforgetable experience
with their Canadian Taekwon-Do cousins, creating their own family atmosphere in supporting each other at the Tournament, never letting
each other down by lack of fun and laughs, which was ongoing. A Days trip to Ontario's World famous Science Centre was most educational even for the very young children who literally got lost in their own world of Science!

What can we say about "Niagara Falls" other than breathtaking a natural must see experience! Our day in Niagara will always be remembered as we took the walk under the  Falls, singing you'll never "Beat the IRISH " after our fantastic overall win of 21 Medals on the previous day (not bad for 14 competitors)

We very proudly attended the 55th Taekwon-Do Birthday Banquet in the Shilla Dynasty Korean Restaurant, GM Park presented us with a very special plaque in appreciation for our support. Celebrating the event also was the late General Choi's Son and GM Park and many more Senior Masters & Masters who made our trip so enjoyable from greeting us at the airport on arrival to the same on departure and always on hand with transport as part of the Taekwon-Do family support. Our thanks to Grand Master Jong Soo Park and the Organising Committee for a memorable trip and we look forward to our next visit!

St.Mark's & Naas Students

RITA Development Committee announces Rescue Package / Mentor Scheme

This new RITA scheme aims to help existing schools that are struggling to stay open or struggling with low membership for whatever reason.

The highly successful RITA Instructors listed below have kindly agreed to act as Mentors and will provide support and advice to the Instructor by phone, email or face to face meeting if necessary. The Instructor could also request financial support for the school from the Masters Council (max value €500) on recommendation from the Mentor.

Please note that Instructors should speak to their Chief Instructor/Examiner in the first instance before contacting one of the Mentors.

Contact Details for Mentors:
Master Robert Howard
Mobile: 087 6987624
Email: robert.howard@dit.ie

Mr Mark O’Donnell
Mobile: 087 7970646
Email: instructor@galwaytkd.com

Mr Paul Tobin
Mobile: 087 2447886
Email: paultbn@gmail.com

The RITA Senior Masters attended a Unique event in China. Grand Master Rhee Invited all the Senior Masters in the World to a Seminar in China. Senior Master Howard, Senior Master Phelan and Senior Master Barrett all 8th Degree Black Belts represented Ireland. The seminar was used to standardise Taekwon-Do throughout the ITF. Only those who attended can conduct ITF International Seminars.

ITF Story:
http://www.itftkd.org/?Content=NewsDetail&NewsID=55

Photos:
http://www.itftkd.org/?Content=Photogallery&PhotogalleryID=38

Congratulations to everyone who passed the Black Belt Grading under the panel of RITA Senior Masters.

Promoted to 1st Degree Black Belt
Brian Cusack (Ck-On-Suir School)
Sarah Kirk  (Galway School )

Promoted to 2nd Degree
Mr.Tim Collins (Galway School)
Mr. Patrick Nicholson (Stillorgan School)

Promoted to 3rd Degree
Mr. David Lanigan (CK-On-Suir)

Promoted to 4th Degree
Ms. Audrey Condon (Ursuline School)

Congratulations to the RITA's newest Master, Master John Jacob from Ursuline Taekwon-Do School, Waterford. Master Jacob was promoted to 7th Degree Black Belt at a recent grading in Glasgow under Grand Master Ki Ha Rhee.

During the grading he was asked to perform an number of patterns, two on to one sparring and a breaking demonstration in front of Grand Master Rhee.

From everyone in the RITA we would like to say well done on this momentous achievement!

Congratulations to the RITA members who won 4 Gold and 2 Bronze at the European Championships. The event took place in Barletta, Italy where 29 countries were represented. Ms Audrey Condon from Kilmacow picked up 3 Gold medals in the Silver Class Female Veteran division winning 3rd Degree Patterns, -61kg Sparring and Mixed Self Defence with Mr Martin Mahoney from Galway and Mr Gerard Byrne from Old Bawn. Also winning Gold was Mr Stephen Doyle in the 6th Degree Patterns. In the Male Silver Class Veteran division Mr Mark Pollock won Bronze in +90kg Sparring and Bronze in Self defence with Mr Doyle, Mr Mahoney and Mr Byrne.

Representing Ireland as Umpires were Senior Master Francis Barrett, 8th Degree, Master Robert Howard, 7th Degree and Mr Floyd Keane 6th Degree,

Next up for the Irish Team is the World Junior and Veteran Championships in Belarus at the end of August and the 4 Nations Challenge in Glasgow on October 16th.

On Sunday, March 7th St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school hosted the first RITA black belt class of 2010.  The class attended by members from Dublin, Wexford, Galway, Limerick, Carrick on Suir & Cork was taken by RITA President Senior Master Robert Howard 8th degree & Senior Master Anthony Phelan 8th degree.  Senior Master Howard covered a range from the Taekwon-Do syllabus from fundamental movements through to the complexities of the black belt patterns.  

Black belts were then given the opportunity to interact with their peers through some pad work and then finishing up with free sparring.  The class provided an excellent opportunity for members to come together and interact.  Many thanks to the RITA Senior Masters for their instruction on the day and special thanks to Ms. Valerie Keane, 6th degree for hosting the event.

It is with great sadness that the ITF inform you all of the tragic death of Grand Master TrânTriêu Quân, 9th Degree Black Belt, following the recent earthquake in Haiti.

We have just received information from the Trân family regarding the discovery of Grand Master Trân from the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His body was found under several tons of debris. His death was confirmed by an official of the Embassy of Canada in Haiti. His identity was confirmed by the Disaster Victim Identification assessment team working in Haiti with the Consular Affairs Bureau of Foreign Affairs Canada. His body will be repatriated to Canada on Sunday, February 14.

Our thoughts go to the Trân family. We wish to extend our most sincere condolences to them.

Speaking from Argentina, Grand Master Pablo Trajtenberg stated: "We are so sorry to hear about Grand Master Trân's death. We are still in shock. ITF and Taekwon-Do have lost a very strong and devoted leader, a great defender of our art in the tradition of our Founder, General Choi Hong Hi. He will remain forever a model that will inspire us all. We wish to extend our deepest sympathies to Grand Master Trân's dear wife, Mrs. Nguyen Thi My; his children, Joliette, Cécilia and Nicolas; his son-in-law, François Beaudin; his grandchildren, Jasmine and Sandrine; his brothers, Trân Triêu Cung and Trân Triêu Lân; and all the Trân and Nguyen extended families. The fact that Grand Master Trân lost his life in a country such as Haiti is meaningful because he strongly believed in the contribution of Taekwon-Do to the building of strong citizenship qualities in developing countries. He had set time aside to meet with a group of Taekwon-Do students during his stay in Port-au-Prince. We already miss him"

The RITA would like to thank Ms Niamh Herrity and the organisers for a great show saturday night. The annual 4 nations challenge was incorporated into a gala black tie dinner in aid of the children's charity Barnardos. Those attending were treated to some entertaining sparring matches between the countries as well as the power breaking event.

Earlier on in the day England won the Team Patterns section after beating Wales and then Scotland in a very close final. Scotland had beaten Ireland with a very good performance of the 3rd dan pattern "Sam-Il". In the sparring which was performed after the dinner Ireland again drew Scotland. First to spar was Mr Richard Barber from Stillorgan who lost out to the much taller Mr Andy Adam. Next out was Mr Martin Mahoney from Galway who had to face Mr Alan Rafferty. In an exciting match Mr Mahoney came back from a slow start to just about do enough to win the spar with some clean scoring combinations towards the end. Mr Krzyzstof Misiewicz also from Galway faced Mr Tam McMillan in the third bout. In a brusing heavyweight encounter which got both the Irish and Scottish supporters up on their feet shouting, Mr Misiewicz got the decision in another close match giving Ireland a 2-1 lead. Needing just one more win Ireland sent out their captain Mr Floyd Keane who was competing in his first event in over a decade. He was against the young star of the scottish team Mr Armin Gohsrich. Using his years of experience Mr Keane was able to rack up the points against the younger opponent giving Ireland a 3-1 win.

Ireland then faced England in the Final with the crowd, many of whom had never even seen Taekwon-Do before, at this stage in full voice. Once again Mr Barber went out first for Ireland to face Mr Paul Hutchings. With only a few seconds gone the Englishman was disqualified for excessive contact after knocking out Mr Barber with a heavy punch. Fortunately Mr Barber wasn't too seriously hurt and was able to get back on his feet after a few minutes. Mr Mahoney was next out against the 6'8" Mr Greg Bagwell who used his height advantage to keep his opponent frustrated and gain the win making it 1-1. Mr Misiewicz faced off against the experienced former World and European Champion Mr Ricky Dewinton. Mr Misiewicz was able to use his power advantage to get the upper hand early in the fight causing the Englishman to change tactics to a more counter attacking spar. Unable to get close enough to score clean points Mr Misiewicz lost out in a very close fight giving England a 2-1 lead. Needing to get at least a draw in the fourth spar Mr Gerard Byrne was sent out against the much bigger Mr Tom McCabe. In an exciting match the English competitor was able to get the win giving them a 3-1 lead and also the 4 Nations Cup with two wins from the three events.

The last event was power breaking in which Ireland had to come ahead of Scotland to finish in 2nd. Mr Richard Barber Punch to brick, Mr Mahoney Knifehand to tiles, Mr Misiewicz Side piercing kick, Mr Conor McCormack turning kick and Mr Floyd Keane with reverse turning kick managed to beat the Scots score by 1 point to give Ireland the Silver medal. England finished off their impressive display winning the Breaking giving them a clean sweep of 9 points.

Click here for some photos

Sunday the 22nd Nov marked the day of the annual Self-Defence and Sparring seminar hosted by Naas Taekwon-Do School and conducted by Senior Master Barrett 8th degree and Mr Floyd Keane 6th degree.  The event began around 10:30 with all the participants greeting other members and introducing themselves to new faces. Senior Master Barrett VIII, who was conducting the self-defence part of the course, was welcomed in warm and relaxed atmosphere and shortly after he delivered a short introductory talk on the importance and relevance of this side of Taekwon-Do to daily life, everybody lined up with a partner and all were fast engaged in releasing their wrists out of a firm grip of their partners. The first techniques introduced dealt with handling a wrist-grabbing attack from front and behind while standing, and having been shown a variety of self-defence methods in great detail (on more than eager black belts), all members should now be familiar with the trinity of R(elease), B(reak) and A(ttack).  Moreover, everybody could appreciate the effectiveness of the techniques by observing the brave black belts whimpering and grimacing under the strikes of Senior Master Barrett VIII, on whom he demonstrated and explained the elements of the defence.  All members, encouraged by Ms Keane VI, to mix and change around, practised zealously with partners of different weight and grade and a few moments later, everybody had an opportunity to practise techniques of safe rolling-over and landing once swept off one’s feet. In the final part of the event, members worked their thumbs out practising thumbs-in and thumbs-out ways of strangling and also learned how to free oneself from a strangling attack. Senior Master Barrett VIII supervised the exercise at all times and was happy to answer any questions. All members took active part in learning the basic techniques of self-defence and despite the occasional bruises the event was highly informative and more than enjoyable.

In the afternoon we had a sparring seminar conducted by Mr Keane 6 deg. We started with some footwork learning how to be quick and light on our feet, denying our opponent the opportunity of landing a blow against us. Progressing  on to some kicks and hand techniques Mr Keane showed us how to use our newly learned skills to take down a guard and surprise our opponent with an attack. We then watched some members sparring taking note when they scored a point against each other. The most valuable lesson of the day concerned how important it is to have a target before striking rather than wasting valuable energy kicking or punching hoping to connect. Time now to put this all together in some free sparing. It was great to have the opportunity to spar new faces from all parts of the country not just our own familiar partners. All grades mixed well after Mr Keane assured us, Colour belts, that the Black belts would not hurt us. As always the hours passed like minutes and we rounded off a very enjoyable day with some jump kicks. We all headed home much wiser and so grateful to Mr Keane not only for sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience with us but also for making it such fun.
Many thanks to Ms Keane VI for hosting the event, and to Senior Master Barrett VIII and Mr Keane VI for taking the time to conduct the seminar as well as to all members who, keeping in mind the tenets of Taekwon-Do, made this a very practical and entertaining day.

Magdalena Michalewska Naas Taekwon-Do School and Deirdre Corrigan Enniscorthy Taekwon-Do School.

Pictured is Ms. Leah Daly 1st Degree from Naas Taekwon-Do School on her Graduation day from College. Ms. Daly joined Naas at 8 years of age and at the back of a huge adult class persevered and became the last remaining student from that class. It is wonderful to now see Ms. Daly as an adult Graduating from College and doing so well. All of her Taekwon-Do Family send there warmest Congratulations well done.

Last weekend St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do school hosted its annual Team challenge tournament.  The event supported by Naas, AIB, Stillorgan, Blessington and Master Howard’s Dojang was an action packed, fun filled occasion from start to finish.  The day started off with junior team patterns with some well choreographed formations (and not to mention some well chosen team names) by the younger members.  This was followed by senior team patterns with some very close competition along with some interesting accessories to boot, providing great entertainment for the on looking spectators.

After lunch team sparring got underway with all schools going head to head with some excellent displays of Taekwon-Do.  Following sparring, the St. Marks senior black belts performed a demonstration including team pattern, self defence and destruction including some impressive tile breaks by Mr. McGuinness III & Mr. Roe II.

The competition resumed with the return of the very popular obstacle course event.  As an addition to this years challenge the section was opened up to seniors and proved highly entertaining and enjoyable.  Special technique followed for the juniors with the event finale being the team self-defence routine.  No school left disappointed as all schools managed to feature in the medals (results to follow).

The day closed with the awards ceremony headed by the senior umpire of the day, Mr. John Jacob 6th degree.  A long time friend to St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do School, Mr Jacob was perfect for the role on the day, revelling in the fun & entertainment while also adding his own sense of humour.  St. Mark’s Taekwon-Do School would like to thank Mr. Jacob for his time on the day and wish him every success in his quest to becoming the next R.I.T.A. master.  In recognition of the occasion Ms. Keane made a presentation to Mr. Jacob of some beautiful glassware.

Many thanks to 6th degree, Ms. Valerie Keane for hosting the event, to all of the umpires who gave up their time on the day and particular thanks to special guest Senior Master Howard 8th degree.  The support of the aforementioned made this easily St. Mark’s best ever Team Challenge.

Click here for full results and photos (New photos added)

Members of the Old Bawn Taekwon-Do School travelled to Scotland to take part in the UKTA UK Open Championships. The event took place in the Kelvin Halls, Glasgow on the 7th November. With just 8 junior competitors they won 10 medals including Gold for Iga Kirejko and Hadi Omar in the sparring. Both also picked up bronze in their pattern divisions. Andrew Clayton and younger brother Martin also picked up 2 bronzes each in patterns and sparring. Cian Dunne and Sarah Dunne won silver in their sparring sections while brothers Adam and Jake Murphy just missed out on medals with some good performances. The highlight of the day was when they got to meet Grand Master Ki Ha Rhee who gave them all words of encouragement.

Members of Firhouse, Carrick on Suir and Galway also competed at the championships picking up quite a few medals.

The Enniscorthy Taekwon-Do School is one of the RITA's oldest schools having been founded in 1978 by Master Dandy. The first instructors included Mr. J. O'Dwyer, Mr.J. Duggan and Mr. M. Ronan. Now run by Mr. Martin Murphy who was recently promoted to 6th Degree Black Belt along with his students Mr. John Redmond to 1st dan, Mr. Kenneth Murphy to 2nd dan and Mr. Laurence O'Brien to 3rd dan.

Classes are on Tuesdays & Thursdays, 7pm-8pm beginners and 7pm-8.30pm main class, in Enniscorthy vocational college gym, Milehouse Rd.



Senior Master Barrett recently performed a Preliminary Black Belt and Colour Belt Grading in Enniscorthy. Below are the successful colour belt promotions.

Cailean O’Neill (yellow tag) Kerri McGran, Peter Braun, Kamil Lodynski(yellow belt), Leah Butler, David McAlister (green tag), Sarah Phelan, Amy McAlister, Caomhe Murphy, Gearoid Murphy, Seamus McAlister , Peter Rowley, Deirdre Corrigan (blue tag), Yan Yu (red tag)William Bolger, Denise Bolger, Lisa Bolger, Sean McGran, Oleksander Kononov (red belt)

The RITA held it's 2nd black belt grading of the year last weekend.  Students from Kildare, Galway and Dublin attended the examination aiming for promotion.  All students participated in a two hour class headed by Senior Master Robert Howard 8th degree in preparation for the afternoon's examination.  As a result of the grading the following promotions were awarded:
 
David Fallon, 2nd degree - Naas
Terese McGrath, 1st degree - Galway
Jack Ywang, 1st degree - Master Howard's Dojang
 
Congratulations to all members on their successful achievements.
 
In addition to the grading, Senior Master Howard presented some RITA members in attendance with certificates from this summer's ITF International Instructors course conducted by Senior Master Barrett 8th degree.

Master Robert Howard, 7th Degree, recently celebrated 30 years in Taekwon-Do with two special commemorative seminars hosted by the Athlone Taekwon-Do School.  Since he began his Taekwon-Do training in 1979 at the age of nine, he has had a distinguished career in the Korean art. 

A former Irish team member and World Championship gold medalist, Master Howard has turned his attention to instructing and promoting Taekwon-Do over the past 16 years.  In 1993 he co-founded the Galway Taekwon-Do School with fellow instructor Mark O’Donnell, while in 1994, he set up the Stillorgan Taekwon-Do School in Dublin.  Four years later, in 1998, he founded the Athlone Taekwon-Do School, which was the setting for the recent weekend of seminars.

Master Howard conducted a colour belt seminar on Saturday 12th September for the members of the Galway & Athlone Schools.  Mr O’Donnell prepared a slideshow documenting Master Howard’s 30 years in TKD and presented him with a commemorative photo album on behalf of the members of both schools.  After the seminar, Master Howard was brought to a local restaurant for a celebratory meal.

The following day, the RITA National Black Belt Seminar was held in Athlone, and attended by Black Belts ranging from 1st to 6th Degree from RITA Schools all over the country. A great weekend was had by all.

Congratulations to Master Howard on his first 30 years in Taekwon-Do.

The RITA Summer Camp returned this year with much support from schools from around the country.  Over 50 instructors and students descended upon Mount Mellary, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford over the w/e of Fri 17th July.  The venue selected was the Mount Melleray Scout Activity & Sports Centre located high in the Knockmealdown Mountains.  Originally a boarding school, this centre is home to a unique atmosphere with surroundings that simply must be experienced.  Friday evening allowed the students to get settled into their dorms and catch up with their Taekwon-Do friends before officially getting underway on Saturday morning. 
 
Kicking things off on Saturday morning was Mr. Floyd Keane, 6th deg. with a 2 hour sparring class.  Mr. Keane began by putting students through kicking drills before allowing the most junior members to spar the most senior members.  Finally the the colour belts were pitched against the black belts (the colour belts out numbering the black belts by at least 3 to 1) in a lighthearted "spar-off" ...the result of which was "undetermined"!!
 
After lunch, instructor to Galway Taekwon-Do school, Mr. Mark O'Donnell 6th deg. took the students for a class on the theory and practice of power.  After a brief explanation on how to gain the most power from your techniques, the students were put to work to help improve their own hand and foot power.  Starting out on focus pads the students then porgressed to performing and fine tuning their breaks on timber.
 
To close out the day, Ms. Keane, 6th deg. took the evening session which focused on patterns.  Each junior member was given the opportunity to perform their pattern with a black belt and then in a team formation with members of their own grade.  After a thoroughly enjoyable evening the day 1 was capped with a display of the black belt patterns.
 
After an exhausting day the R.I.T.A students still found the energy to enjoy an evening of outdoor fun with an impressive bonfire which gave the true summer camp effect.
 
On Sunday morning, Carrick on Suir & Fethard instructor Mr. Paul Tobin, 3rd deg took the students for the final class of the weekend.  Members were split into three teams and given a short allocation of time to prepare a team pattern and self-defence routine.  With some strange team names and a lot of laughter the weekend was finished on a high as each team demonstrated under the judgement of the onlooking teams.  It was obvious to see that everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. 
 
A massive thank you to all of the R.I.T.A instructors who gave up their time to teach over the weekend and special thank you to Mr. Tobin, his family and his students for organising such an excellent event.

Click here for more photos

On Sunday 5th July, the R.I.T.A held it's annual instructors course in The Lucan Spa Hotel.  The course, conducted by the R.I.T.A senior masters, Senior Master Robert Howard 8th degree, Senior Master Anthony Phelan 8th degree and Senior Master Francis Barrett 8th degree was attended by recently promoted black belts along with instructors looking to refresh their instruction methods.

During the morning session Senior Master Howard covered all aspects of instruction when teaching new beginner students working up to the level of green belt.  Black belts who were new to the aspect of instructing were given the opportunity to put what they learned into use on the day by instructing the other members for practice.  The afternoon session brought the focus onto patterns up to 1st kup in addition to 3 step, 2 step, 1 step techniques and also free sparring. 

An insightful & enjoyable day was had by all.  Many thanks to the senior masters who gave their time for an excellent course.
 

Senior Master Francis Barrett, 8th Degree, conducted an International Instructors Course over the weekend 13 & 14th June in Dublin. The event was not only attended by RITA Masters, Instructors and students but also members from Spain, Scotland and England.

Day one of the course concentrated on how to teach a class using the correct terminology and everyone attending got an opportunity to stand in front of a class including 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Degrees to try and conduct them. For all it was a nervous time but Senior Master Barrett made everyone feel relaxed and emphasised the importance of being confident and enjoying being an Instructor.

On the second day all the Black Belts got a chance to perform their patterns all the way up to Tong-Il. For some attending it was the first time they had seen the 24th pattern and Senior Master Barrett got the 6th and 7th Degrees perform it for them. All the Patterns were covered and Senior Master Barrett went through the practical applications of the movements.

After the seminar was finished some of those attending got a chance to grade under Senior Master Barrett and Senior Master Phelan. Mr Martin Murphy from Enniscorthy was promoted to 6th Degree. Krzyzstof Misiewicz and Juli-Anne Tobin were promoted to 1st Degree Black Belts.

On behalf of all those attending the RITA would like to thank Senior Master Barrett for an enjoyable and constructive seminar.

Report from visiting friends

On the 13th and 14th June 2009, members from several countries descended upon Dublin for an international instructor course taught by Senior Master Francis Barrett. It was a small turnout which meant an intimate affair. The majority of participants were members of RITA, including some colour belts who were attending the first day of the course, and then there were the visitors: two members from the UKTA and four members from ITF Spain.

The weekend began with Senior Master Barrett welcoming us all and reminding everyone to relax, after all everyone was there because they enjoy Taekwon-do. He also emphasised the differences between Taekwon-do in competitions and as a martial art. He also stressed the importance of "Courtesy"

Senior Master Barrett clearly wanted everyone to fully understand the application of each technique so we could then take it away and pass on our knowledge to our students. He emphasised that we shouldn¹t just repeat techniques but should practise them: if you simply repeat techniques then you will repeat your mistakes, however, if you practise them, you learn how to make them work. As an example, he got the class to perform Chon-Ji backwards. This really makes one think about how the pattern is put together, and it¹s certainly not possible to just repeat the moves!

Every member in attendance was invited to the front of the class to teach at least once during the weekend and, although this was nerve wracking, the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, and all of the people there were helpful and encouraging no matter who was conducting the class.

The weekend flew by and we all left with our heads fit to burst with information and different ideas for teaching. The weekend was thoroughly enjoyable and informative.

We would like to express our thanks to Senior Master Barrett for sharing his vast knowledge with us and the RITA for organising this event.

Frank Diaz 5th Degree ITF Spain
Daniel Thomas 1st Degree UKTA

The RITA have introduced a new grant scheme to help new and existing Schools. There are two grants available:

• The New School Grant Scheme is to help black belts to open a new school. A maximum of €1000 may be requested to help with setting up the new school eg. for insurance, first month’s rent, advertising, equipment etc.  Applications will be accepted at any time during the year.

• The Existing School Grant Scheme is to help to develop and grow existing schools eg. to introduce a new class for kids / teenagers / adults.  A maximum of €500 may be requested. Applications will be accepted either from the existing school’s chief instructor or an assistant instructor of the school or from any black belt wishing to run a new class in an existing school (with the permission of the school’s chief instructor).  However, only one application will be accepted per school.  The deadline for applications is 10th July 2009.

Download New School Grant Application Form 2009
Download Existing School Grant Application Form 2009

For further information, please contact Ms Fiona Lyng (fiona.lyng@dit.ie) or Mr Colin Jennings (colinjennings@gmail.com).

Senior Master Phelan, 8th Degree, conducted a Black Belt class in Ursuline, Co. Waterford on Sunday 31st May. Instructors and Students from the South & South East area attended and enjoyed training on one of the warmest days of the year. Senior Master Phelan covered the advanced syllabus needed for Black Belt examinations from 1st to 6th Degree.

All those attending would like to thank Senior Master Phelan for an educational and enjoyable class.

Click for larger image

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.........

Click here for more

Congratulations to the Irish competitors who won 3 Gold and a Bronze at the European Championships in Slovenia. Ms Audrey Condon won Gold in the Female Veteran Silver Class -61kg Sparring, Gold in the Female Veteran Silver Class 3rd Dan Patterns and Bronze in the Veteran Female Power. The mix self defence team of Ms Condon, Mr Martin Mahoney and Mr Gerard Byrne also won Gold in their division. The competitors were coached by Mr Stephen Doyle 6th Degree. Senior Master Barrett 8th Degree led the Umpire delegation with Mr John Jacob and Mr Floyd Keane both 6th Degrees.

Click here for some photos

The 7th Junior & 2nd Veteran World Taekwon-Do ITF Championships took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from 26-30 July. With 67 Countries and over 800 competitors taking part it was the biggest Championships so far and it was a festival of Taekwon-Do. Not only were there 4 days of World class competition but the crowds were also treated to a spectacular demonstration by the DPR Korean demo team. Representing Ireland at the Junior event were David Freeman from St Marks and Cathy Byrne from Old Bawn accompanied by National Coach Mr Stephen Doyle. To help cheer on Ireland 27 Members from St Marks made the trip and created a great atmosphere in the arena.

David Freeman won Bronze in the I Dan Male patterns beating Ukraine, Japan and the pre tournament favourites Russia to get to the Semi final where he narrowly lost to DPR Korea. He went one better in the -57kg Male Sparring by winning Silver beating Argentina, Italy, Greece and Kazakhstan on the way to a final with DPR Korea. In a very close match the Korean favourite got the decision.

In the female section Cathy Byrne competing in her first World Championships got to the Quarter Finals in the I Dan Female patterns knocking out China and Estonia before losing out to the Russian.

Competing for New Zealand in the Veterans was former RITA Instructor Mr Tom McGuyver, he picked up a Gold and a Silver medal in Sparring and Patterns respectively.

The RITA would like to congratulate the team on their great performance.

Click here for photos. For full results visit the official website