15.4.2021 / 2nd Online international technical seminar with GM Hwang Ho-yong ( info pack )

For a second time and even better

We once again managed to set a new meaning to the phrase “busy weekend”. Having two hours of technical seminar twice on Saturday and once on Sunday isn’t enough. It’s only after you add recording of two podcasts and finishing it all with live-streaming the Czech ITF online training.

It all started on Friday. The preparation had two parts. First one was to go through the matsugi system with Ondřej Faltin and Tereza Simandlová, which was an absolute tragic, because they messed up everything they could. The second part was setting up all the cameras, microphones, wires, the technical stuff. Even though we really have it in hand by now, it’s still quite a lot of work to do. First you have to set it all up, then check if it works and if not, make it work.

It’s Saturday 10th of March and everyone needed is ready in the conference room in hotel Duo. Grand Master Hwang Ho-Yong, Master Martin Zámečník, president of the Czech ITF Federation Martin Lazor, chief of the technical department Petr Pařík, assistants Pavel Zavadil, Ondřej Faltin and Tereza Simandlová. Of course I couldn’t miss such an event as well. Everyone with negative covid tests and ready to start the second international technical seminar.

Me and Master Martin Zámečník were assisting Grand Master Hwang through the whole seminar. The beginning was traditionally focused on the basic theory and its application into the actual techniques. Even though it’s “the same” every time, the more times I hear it, the more I get the principles and the need of their application. The same goes for the secrets of training, which are really just basics and principles of training rather than any kind of secret.

Next thing on the menu was detail go-trough the patterns with special attention payment to the difficult parts. Even with real-time answering of questions asked trough the Zoom chat, the morning part passed really quickly.

In the afternoon, we continued with the rest of the patterns and then with the system of fighting in ITF Taekwondo. Throughout the patterns explanation, Pavel, Ondra and Terka all changed in the spot of the model. When it came to matsugi, it was all Ondra’s and Terka’s show. Their Friday prep showed as very useful, because the managed it perfectly with just really minor mistakes. I’m really glad they both could and waned to assist the whole day. It was not only a major help, but also a lot of helpful information for them.

There were higher patterns planed on Sunday and because of that, there was a change in the assistant squad. This time Grand Master invited Radka Heydušková (head coach of TKD school Silla) and Milan Prokeš (head coach of TKD school Velešín). In the last part, we went through patterns from Eui-Am up to Tong-Il. Although there wasn’t said much new, the number of questions was still quite high. Interesting intermezzo was team pattern Se-Jong, performed by Radka Heydušková, Milan Prokeš and Martin Zámečník. Because of the covering of the seminars date with the 66th anniversary of foundation of Taekwondo, president of the International Taekwon-Do Federation, Master Ri Yong-son, honored us with his presence at our online seminar.

At the end of the seminar, Masters Petr Poklop and Rostislav Kaňka joined us for the occasion of quite special ending. Milan Prokeš successfully passed his exam on VII. Dan and so joined the very little group of Czech Masters. Five to be exact. But there still will be only four VII. Dans, because Master Rostislav Kaňka was promoted to VIII, Dan a thus became CZ-8-1. Congratulations to both of them.

Seminar ended, but the work wasn’t done. I would like to thank Grand Master Hwang for the opportunity to assist him and widen my knowledge. It will be an honor any time in the future.

How went my Sunday on from this point? With Alex Mach, we rearranged the conference room to a podcast studio and recorded another two episodes. This time, our guests were Radka Heydušková and Milan Prokeš. There is a lot to be looking forward to.

The last but one thing was the online Czech ITF Federation training. This time under the tutelage of the twins Tereza and Veronika Žilinská. The training was very good and anyone can replay it, should he wish to raise his heartbeat a little bit.

The only thing left was to clean everything up and return it all into storage room. That was a hell of a weekend. But Taekwondo can be intense not only in training but even during organizing.