Sonkal - Taekwon-Do ITF

31.12.2023 / Ataxon Taekwon-Do Open 2023 / 8th Devil's cup

Another edition of the December Ataxon Open competition is over. This year, the eighth edition, was specific in the date of the event. The original date of December 2 was taken away by an administrative error on the part of the hall's landlord, and so a quick search and planning had to be made. The choice finally fell on 17 December, the third Sunday of Advent. Although it was not the best date, the turnout of competitors and clubs certainly proved otherwise. Despite various virological diseases, 331 competitors from 24 schools from all over the Czech Republic found their way to the Sports Cen

7.12.2023 / Czech national championship 2023

Overall second place in the school standings

From 17th to 19th of November the Czech Republic Championship for technical group DAN took place in the Sports Centre Nymburk. According to the rules of our Federation, holders of blue and red belts can participate in the competition. Sonkal was represented by 21 competitors. In the overall ranking of schools we took an excellent second place with 15 gold, 13 silver and 12 bronze medals. The first GBHS school had more than double the number of golds, but also more than 5 times the number of competitors (117), so in this respect our results can also be rated more than average. Jiří Nov�

5.12.2023 / 2nd round Czech Taekwon-Do Federation Cup

Very successful second round of the Cup

The autumn competition season started very successfully for Sonkal - a bunch of trophies for the most successful individuals and the overall victory in the school standings by the difference of a smaller steamer. First of all, I would like to commend the yellow, green and blue ribbons. The yellows and greens are mostly new to the competition, but their passion was a joy to watch! For the blue ribbons it was all about gaining experience, as most of them were competing for the first time with this technical level and most importantly it was their first competitive experience. Keep up your

11.9.2023 / Meeting of Centers youth talentes

New format of the competition meeting

For this year the Czech Taekwon-Do ITF Association has prepared big changes concerning the competitive meetings of the Talented Youth Centres. Unfortunately, the changes affected both the scope of competition (no team) and the volume, where younger students cannot compete. And of the two meets per year, only one remains. Those who came to Brno for this year's competition meeting were finally expected to compete in a system of each with each other and in a sports fight for two rounds with a break. This proved to be very lengthy for the course of the competition and for matches with a big dif

9.9.2023 / Czech national championship of Czech national union

Union National Championship

The year has come and gone and we went to Benátky nad Jizerou again, where the Czech National Taekwon-Do ITF Union organized this year's Czech National Championships. This year's date fell on the first Saturday in June, i.e. on the third of June. Our team was very large and compared to last year the whole starting field was equally large. Our competitors could compete not only with representatives of several clubs of our Union, but also with many unknown competitors from the Union. The competition was held in the traditional relaxed and friendly atmosphere and a number of our fresh blue, a

21.5.2023 / Sonkal Open 2023 ( info pack )

Taekwondo competition from four countries

This year's first competition organized by Sonkal visited again the Sports Centre in Prague Řepy to see over 300 competitors from 24 schools and 4 countries competing on six wrestling grounds. Participants from Slovakia, Croatia, Ireland and of course the Czech Republic found their way to the sports hall. Registration with weigh-in started at 8am on the day of the competition, 20 May, and shortly after 9am a quick meeting of the judges began, followed by a meeting of the coaches. Unfortunately from the organisers' point of view we have to mention a few technical problems we had to deal wi

18.4.2023 / 28th Junior, 37th Adult, 14th Veteran & 12th Youth European Championships

Photogallery of European Championships

2301 photos from the European Championships are available in full. Looking forward to next year in Koper, Slovenia :-)

12.4.2023 / 28th Junior, 37th Adult, 14th Veteran & 12th Youth European Championships

The European Championship is coming up

From 17th to 24th April, the European Junior, Adult and Veteran Championships will take place in Jesolo, Italy. The Czech Taekwon-Do ITF sends 41 representatives to fight for valuable metals. Sonkal traditionally has a very good representation: - Jiri Faltin will defend two previous gold European championships among veterans in I. dan patterns and previous successful performance in sparring up to 80kg. Jirka is also a member of the veteran team. Due to the changes in the competition rules this year, our veterans will not have a team for the patterns, which has been very hard to beat in rece

2.4.2023 / Best of best, international taekwon-do competition

After one year again in Říčany

On Saturday, April 1, Sonkal again participated in the international competition Best of the best, the 18th year of which was organized by the Czech Taekwon-Do ITF Federation in Říčany. A total of 190 competitors from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Austria visited the Na Fialka Sports Centre. Our school sent 14 competitors to the competition who wanted to test their skills in slightly different rules. Take a look at the 189 photos we took, mainly from the routines. Unfortunately, there was no time to take pictures during the sports battle.

9.3.2023 / Czech Open - Marek Lazor memorial (youth, juniors & adults) Info pack

Czech Open returned to Prague

More than 25 years ago, Czech Open began writing its history in Prague. Unfortunately, a long hiatus followed and it was not revived until 2003. The then management of Sonkal stood by its renewal together with the Czech Taekwon-Do ITF. For several years the competition was held in Třeboň and then moved to Nymburk. Last year the Czech Open was scheduled back to the capital city and the initiator of this change was the head of Sonkal Master Ondřej Vrábel with the then president of the association Mark Lazor. Unfortunately Marek did not see this return in person because he died very unexpe

19.2.2023 / Cup of Czech Taekwon-Do Federation

Starting this year's competition season

On Saturday, 11th February, the Czech Taekwon-Do ITF held the first competition of the 2023 season. It was called the 1st round of the Czech Taekwon-Do ITF Cup and took place in the Třeboň sports hall. Sonkal sent 11 competitors to the competition in the end, as illnesses led to the cancellation of at least four others. In addition, the ongoing spring break limited our participation. The 11 did not do badly at all and the overall third place only confirms it. In addition, three of our competitors took home the cups for the best individual - Adriana Jůnová (younger junior female B), �

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29.12.2023 / Christmas Taekwon-Do demonstration

Exhibition pre-Christmas meeting

After a year, we met again at Černý Most, this time in the big gym of Vybíralova Primary School, to recapitulate the year 2023. The pre-Christmas period is hectic, but still everything went well and the performers did not fit side by side for the whole length of the gym, there were so many of them. This year we were able to fulfill a wish from last year's showcase - to have all 7 of our gyms perform. Girls and boys from Černý Most, Petřiny, Horní Počernice, Hloubětín, Velké Přílepy, Břevnov and Velká Dobrá presented their demonstrations. Each demonstration was different, int

27.12.2023 / Black belts promotions

Four guys at degree promotions

It is already a pre-Christmas ritual of many taekwondists in our country to meet in mid-December at a national seminar and then to finish the weekend with Dan's exams. It was the same this year, and this time we had four sonkalers at the winter trials. Because two of my direct students attended the exams, and because the Faltins are also close to my heart, I stayed in Moravia and attended the exams despite the pre-Christmas laziness. I enjoyed the Saturday evening with chatting over dinner, as there is usually little time to talk between practices. Ondra arranged nice accommodation for

24.12.2023 / Christmas & New year

Each individual creates the world

On Thursday afternoon, the world turned upside down in the Czech Republic. Many people were a direct part of it, for many it was a reality only a few tens or hundreds of metres away. Either way, the horrific act affected virtually everyone in our country. The images we have seen so far, mainly from the USA, have hit us directly. Although almost three full days have passed, it is still so close, so vivid and still so surreal. Sonkal has joined the national mourning by not posting anything on its website and social media. It's a symbolic gesture, but I consider it important. In our global wor

13.12.2023 / National technical seminar with Grand Master Hwang Ho-yong (IX. dan) & masters

Lots of snow, lots of taekwondo

See photos from the national seminar with Grandmaster Hwang Ho-yong and Czech Taekwondo masters. Article and video report will be added during the week.

8.12.2023 / Technical course with Master Jerzy Jedut (VIII. dan)

Recharging seminar

Saturday and Sunday 25th and 26th November belonged to the technical seminar with Master Jerzy Jedut, which is organized annually by the Czech National Taekwon-Do ITF Union. The venue is traditionally the gym of the Elementary School in Stránčice. This year's seminar was marked by training of technique into patterns, patterns themselves, combination of kicks and also movement into sparring. Master Jedut added interesting variants of self-defence within the individual elements. I am very happy to mention the presence of Master Vladimir Machota, one of the pioneers of Czech taekwondo, who w

6.12.2023 / Test for color belts (from 10 AM)

Autumn tests for higher belts

On 4 November, autumn exams for higher technical grades were held at Vybíralova Primary School. Contrary to our usual habits, these exams were slightly different, because the first wave of testing was conducted by the coaches of the individual gyms and the final testing and exams took place at Černý Most. The exams lasted just over an hour and in the end we got 42 higher technical grades. Congratulations to all and we look forward to the next trials which will take place during February.

8.11.2023 / 105th birthday of General Choi Hong-hi

A gift for the 105th birthday of the General

On November 9, all taekwondo men and women commemorate the 105th anniversary of the birth of Korean General Choi Hong-hi. Although more than two decades have passed since his death, his life's work remains here for generations to come. That work is nothing less than the martial art of Taekwon-Do. Sonkal symbolically completed today the publication of videos of patterns that were missing from his instructional section. From Yon-Gae to Tong-Il. Today's premiere is the 24th Taekwon-do pattern, Tong-Il. Let's wish that the idea of unifying the divided Korea will be realized in the future and, i

15.10.2023 / Regional course for red & black belts

Large regional seminar in Beztahov

GBHS held a regional seminar with Grandmaster Hwang Ho-yong at its taekwon-do centre in Beztahovo near Votice on Czech National Day, 28th September. Around a hundred taekwondo men and women from various clubs found their way to the sports hall, despite the beautiful weather. The seminar was divided into two parts - in the first part, led by Grandmaster Hwang and Master Martin Zámečník, they practiced fundamental movements and lower patterns. The second part was led by international instructor Ales Vyzral (coach of the Czech national team) and its content was training of basic combinatio

4.10.2023 / Taekwon-Do Demonstration

Demonstration in Vybíralova Elementary school

On Wednesday 20th September we had a great opportunity to show the first grade schoolchildren of Vybíralova Primary School in Černý Most in three demonstrations how Taekwon-Do looks like. Because Vybíralova is a big school, we divided the classes into three separate demonstrations. Nevertheless, the audience was always large and appreciated each part of the demonstration. This time the yellow, green and blue belts got the biggest space from our ranks, commanded by experienced I. dan (black belt) holders Jiri Faltin and Hubert Sk�

2.10.2023 / Taekwon-Do Demonstration

Taekwondo demonstration in FZŠ Chodovická

Tuesday morning, 19 September, was dedicated to taekwondo at the Chodovická Faculty Primary School, i.e. its demonstration for first grade students. Shortly after 8 a.m. the large gym was filled and a dozen of taekwondo men and women under the leadership of Tomáš Vodička began to show what our martial art has to offer. The demonstration had a brisk pace and offered everything from patterns, kicks, sparring, special techniques, power breaking and self-defense. The very end belonged to trying out kicks and punches in the prepared lap. We are looking forward to meeting new people intereste

15.9.2023 / Test for color belts (from 7 PM)

4.9.2023 / Summer traning camp

Hot summer training camp

This year's training camp can be defined as roasted to a crisp. Not only by how great nine days it was, but also by how hot it was all the time. Photos from the summer camp are complete. 512 photos.

24.8.2023 / Black belts promotions

Summer black belts promotions

On Sunday, August 6, the Czech Taekwon-Do ITF held the traditional summer examinations for the technical dan level. We were there with our cameras and we have 338 photos for you.

10.8.2023 / 21st summer Taekwon-Do camp with GM Hwang Ho-yong

Visit to summer taekwon-do camp

On Saturday 5th August we visited the summer taekwon-do camp with Grandmaster Hwang Ho-yong, which has been organized by the GBHS school of Master Martin Zámečník for almost 20 years. This year's event was the 21st in a row and for the third time in a row it was hosted by the GBHS training center in Beztahovo near Votice. Grandmaster Wayne Brown and Paul Knighton (8th dan), both from England, were present at the camp throughout. See 129 photos and video report we prepared for the Czech Taekwon-Do Federation. Take a look at 129 photos and a video report that we prepared for the Czech Taek

3.8.2023 / Summer traning camp

11.6.2023 / Training on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Sonkal

We are 25 years old

Sonkal is 25 years old and what better way to celebrate such an anniversary? By training together with lots of fun. Since a lot of participants arrived, we divided the introductory part into two groups - the younger ones did the giant monkey bars and the other had their training in the second gym. After about 20 minutes the groups switched. The second part was focused on creativity - eight groups of five hunted for their black belt (and there was almost a fight for some of them :-) The teams had to learn their own routines. After 15 minutes of preparation, a group presentation follow

1.6.2023 / Black belts promotions

Two successful sonkal members

On Sunday 28th May the second DAN technical grade examinations were held. The exams were organized by the Czech Taekwon-Do ITF Association after the international technical seminar in the Prague Step Hotel. Rumen Matanov took his first black belt exam and for the fourth time Pavel Šnábl, who runs our gym in BPA Hloubětín, stood in front of the Federation's exam committee. Both of them showed very good performances and during the summer they will receive certificates - Rumen for I. dan and Pavel for IV. dan. Congratulations!

29.5.2023 / International technical seminar with Grand Master Hwang Ho-yong (IX. dan)

Live International Seminar

After a long series of various international seminars, courses and trainings, the time has finally come for the best one, live. More than 50 taekwondo practitioners from different parts of Europe gathered on Friday 26th May in the hall of Prague's Step Hotel to practice and improve their knowledge of our great martial art under the guidance of Grandmaster Hwang Ho-yong. The twelve hours of the seminar was once again an incredible experience as Grand Master Hwang was assisted by his traditional partner in many seminars - Grand Master Wayne Brown from England. Translation to and from English,

8.5.2023 / Special technical course for umpires and coaches (on-line)

Education of referees and coaches

The Czech Taekwon-Do ITF Association, at the request of Grandmaster Hwang Ho-yong, organized another online training course, this time focused on the education of referees and coaches in Taekwon-do. The event was free of charge for all participants and aimed to unify the view on the correctness of techniques in routines during international competitions. The above parameters attracted a large number of participants and the final number stopped at 374 registrants. However, the number of connected was around the figure of 220, but it is true that we recorded 2-5 attendees for a considerable numb

2.5.2023 / Easter's Sonkal Taekwon-do Camp

Successful Easter in Borotin

This year's spring holidays were welcomed by the sonkalers in the South Bohemian town of Borotín. Five days filled with taekwondo and lots of time together. Look at more than 300 photos. Videos will be added in the next days.

2.4.2023 / Seminar with Master Oleg Solovey & Vitaliy Solovey

Ukrainian taekwondo icon in Olomouc

On Sunday, March 12, we accepted the invitation of the Czech National Taekwon-do Union and Master Oleg Petrovskyi to participate in a seminar with the icon of Ukrainian and world taekwondo Master Oleg Solovey, who was accompanied by his son Vitaly Solovey. Vitalyi, despite his very young age, is already a three-time World Champion and multiple European Champion. The seminar itself was divided into three training blocks and all were very dynamic and movement intensive. However, the following ideas for the sport of combat can be taken away from the whole very interesting training day: - con

31.3.2023 / Black belts promotions

Twelve black belts and one extra

On Monday, 27th March, the Czech Taekwon-Do ITF held the first examinations for the technical grades of dan - black belts. Twelve applicants for I. dan and also Tereza Simandlová for II. dan appeared before the examination committee consisting of Grandmaster Hwang Ho-yong and Master Martin Zámečník. The examinations were primarily for members of the national team, but almost half of them were ordinary members of our association. The exams were very fast paced and in 1,5 hours everything was done and from the mouth of the president of the association ing. Petr Parik heard the verdict, w

31.3.2023 / Online international instructor course with Grandmaster Hwang Ho-yong

More than 70 participants

The Czech Taekwon-Do ITF Association in cooperation with Grandmaster Hwang Ho-yong organized another online instructor course for interested people from all over the world. The course was held in the traditional format - two three-hour sections filled with the theory of our martial art and one block focused on practice. As usual, the assistants and translators were masters Martin Zámečník and Ondřej Vrábel. Alex Mach provided the entire online broadcast, and in the Sunday practical block, Lea and Tea Rathouské from Sonkal, and Zdeněk Pavelka and Jana Odstrčilová from GBHS helped ou

26.2.2023 / Test for color belts (from 7 PM)

Higher colour belts record

The first of this year's exams for the higher coloured belts are successfully over and brought us one big surprise - a new record in the number of applicants for a new belt. On Tuesday 21 February at 7 pm 84 applicants entered the tatami at the Vybíralova Primary School in Černý Most. After a long time, the exams were complete in the range of grades tested, i.e. all grades from 9th to 1st kup. The most numerous were of course 10th and 9th kups. The icing on the cake were the exams for the 2nd kup of Šarka Třísková and the 1st kup of Tomáš Řepiš. For Tomáš it was the last pupil exa

20.2.2023 / Sonkal's taekwon-do camp

Snow, rain, wind? Never mind, we're practicing!

On Thursday, February 2, our caravan went to the first camp of the year and our destination was Zákupy where we have been going for many years. After a few health corrections, 50 participants attended the camp. The lower belts were attended by two coaches - Jiří Huml and Tereza Štekerová. The higher belts were led by the traditional trio of master Ondřej Vrábel, Martin Svitek and Vladimír Švanda. Each technical level got a good portion of their exercises and those who were not enough, added an evening of free training according to their taste. And why does the title talk about n

22.1.2023 / Recruitment

18.1.2023 / Online international technical seminar with GM Hwang Ho-yong

From Repy around the world quickly and easily

On the second weekend of January we visited the Sports Centre Repy again, this time for an online international technical seminar with Grand Master Hwang Ho-yong. Although Covid 19 doesn't prevent us from travelling that much, it's not quite that easy and moreover the format of the online technical and instructor seminars has proven to be a great success. Above all, it saves everyone a lot of money and also time! But let's go in order - everything was preceded by two hours of preparation of the broadcast hall on Friday - tatami, rollups, two big TVs, cameras, laptops, editing box and above

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4.12.2023 / Sonkal's taekwon-do camp

Autumn preparation for the sports peak of the season

Our annual autumn training camp and preparation for the Czech National Championships in Nymburk took place from 26th to 29th October in Borotín, South Bohemia. The first training session took place in the romantic scenery of the ruins of the Borotín castle, but the others took place in the sports hall of the local primary school. The four days were packed with trainings, but also with a lot of fun outside of them. And to make things worse, Friday evening was varied with the examination for II and IV danas, where all candidates successfully passed the December examinations before the Associat

10.9.2023 / Training on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Sonkal

25 years is a beautiful adult age

In June this year Sonkal celebrated its half-round anniversary, so we are already 25 years old. Taekwondists are a lively species and so we gathered together in the big gym of Vybíralova Primary School, where a gigantic "monkey track" awaited us. Each of the participants had a unique chance to have fun and also to show their skills. As there were a lot of us, we divided the participants into higher and lower belts. One part was devoted to the monkey track and the other to practicing defeats and less common kicks. The second half of the celebration training belonged to the informal team co

9.9.2023 / Volnofest 2023

Sunny festival of leisure activities

This year's Volnofest at Černý Most was like heaven and smoke compared to last year's. The previous year's weather was cold and rainy, while this year's was hot and sunny. Of course, we liked it and the spectators did too. Our booth was visited by a bunch of parents with their kids throughout the afternoon, who were able to try out the basics of our martial art. After 2pm it was the turn of the Taekwon-Do demonstration right at our stand and as we learned from the moderator our number of performers was by far the largest! Not to be outdone, because our demonstrations are not only about bl

6.9.2023 / Recruitment

Recruitment of new members for the school year 2023-2024

We are recruiting new members in our gyms in September. Recruitment is primarily for school children, i.e. 6 years and older, but we also have a group for preschoolers at Černý Most. And of course our sessions are set up for youth, adults and parents. Every individual can really find their place in a great martial art. You can train at the following training locations: - Vybíralova Elementary School, Vybíralova 8/964, Prague 14 - Černý Most - group 6 years and older starting from Tuesday, September 5. - Vybíralova Primary School, Vybíralova 8/964, Prague 14 - Černý Most - pre-sch

22.1.2023 / Taekwon-Do E-Learning

Do you understand the basic techniques?

If you have problems with basic taekwondo techniques, learn them in our new videos, where you can see them from your own perspective. After that it will be no problem to pass the exam for the 9th kup ;-) Check out the videos and, if necessary, visit the tutorial section for beginners.