17.3.2022 / Sparring seminar with Tomaž Barada

Icon of sparring in the Czech Republic

While some weekends may seem very full and quite intense, the opportunity to see a taekwondo (and kickboxing) sparring icon's seminar in person will make them a little hell. But that "hell" is completely outweighed by the benefits of the seminar, which is led by Tomaž Barada.

On the other hand, I gathered from the short chat that Tomaž is in a very similar position. A few days ago he returned from China, where he represented the Slovenian Olympic Committee at the Beijing Games. He then moved to Prague for a full-day kickboxing seminar, and on Sunday morning he stopped in Brandýs to take a car home to Maribor!

But let's get to the seminar itself - from start to finish, no one wanted to believe that Tomaž was already 48 years old, because his fitness, mobility and commitment are still phenomenal. The whole training was very intense and very inspiring for the members of the national team. All the time Tomaž was changing demonstrators and motivating everyone to give their maximum effort. The final sparring session left no one in doubt who is the King of Taekwon-Do!

And just for the record, those who haven't seen Tomaz compete (I have and it was a blast):
6x European Taekwon-Do Champion
3x World Taekwon-Do Champion
3x King of Taekwon-Do in Tokyo
5x WAKO European Champion
5x WAKO World Champion
Still holds WAKO record 84 matches without loose!

You have to look his final match at World Championship in Rimini 2001 againts Ri Chol Nam (also excellent fighter). Very nic fight with Tomaž had Jan Kubát at same championship!