30.12.2022 / National technical seminar with Grand Master Hwang Ho-yong (IX. dan) & masters

120 participants

On December 10, Brno belonged to taekwondists from all over the Czech Republic on the occasion of the national seminar. The seminar itself was divided into three separate blocks.

The first, in the morning, block was led by Grand Master Hwang Ho-yong and in its introduction he repeated the most important theoretical basics of Taekwon-do - the meaning of the word Taekwon-do, the theory of power and or horizontal levels in the execution of techniques. The Grand Master not only reminded the facts, but also his sense of humour was given space. This was followed by the students practicing individual patterns and also explaining selected techniques.
The decoration of the hall of the Masaryk University Campus included a portrait of the recently deceased president of the Czech Taekwon-Do Association, Marek Lazor. Coincidentally, the date of the seminar fell on the 100 day anniversary of his death. 100 days of mourning is a traditional form of farewell in Korea.

The morning session was concluded with a group photo and to fit 120 participants into the smallest possible space is quite a challenge :-)

The second block was provided by Czech Taekwon-Do Masters, namely Ondřej Vrábel, Milan Prokeš and Zbyněk Mácha. They divided the allotted 2,5 hours equally, and almost equally by the number of participants in each group. Moreover, the groups were alternated and everyone could gradually enjoy the training of patterns according to their belt, self-defense or less common kicks in our martial art. Each group appreciated their instructor with a big applause, which made it clear that they were satisfied with the content of the given part.

The third, and already final, block belonged again to Grand Master Hwang and was intended for holders of IV. dan and above. During the one-hour session, the Vth dan patterns, i.e. Yong-Gae, Ul-Ji and Moon-Moo, were thoroughly practiced.

From my perspective, I especially appreciated the large number of participants and also that a large percentage were high grades. After all, in the first very long row stood the V. and VI. dan!

The last part of the Taekwondo Saturday was the official farewell to the late Mark Lazor, prepared by the Czech Taekwon-Do Federation at the Orea Hotel. The newly elected president Petr Parik took the opening, very difficult, words, when he evaluated not only the taekwondo life of Mark Lazor. Although Mark's earthly pilgrimage was abruptly ended, his legacy and works will not be forgotten! A lasting reminder will be the Czech Open, which will bear the name of the Marek Lazor Memorial from 2023.

This year's national seminar is in the past and we can look forward to the next one, which will be held again in Brno!