President’s Message September 2004

Some of the Things We Are Working on for You!

(August – September 2004)

Why should you belong to the ITF?

In the past, many Taekwon-Do practitioners belonged to the ITF because they recognized the authority of the Founder of Taekwon-Do, General Choi Hong Hi, and wanted their Black Belt certificates to bear his signature. General Choi is no longer with us, and your ITF team now have the responsibility of carrying on his work. However, we cannot legally issue Black Belt certificates bearing his signature, since he cannot certify promotions.

The ITF of today represents continuity – the legacy of our Founder – and quality. Black Belt certificates are earned according to well-defined criteria, after fair evaluation and both theoretical and practical exams. There is more emphasis on the study of the Taekwon-Do philosophy developed by General Choi and on its application in the student’s life. We are introducing a requirement for community service and a written thesis for promotion to 7th degree and higher. The new policy about the requirements for promotion was approved at the recent ITF Board Meeting and will be published soon.

Enhanced Services to Members

As I wrote in my last message, I think we can be proud of what has been accomplished over the past year. We have made great progress in providing quality services to ITF members and will continue to expand the range of services offered.

Some of the things we are working on:

Policies for admission and readmission to membership and for recognition of Black Belt degrees granted by other Taekwon-Do organizations (to be published soon).The ITF welcomes those who have earned Black Belts with other organizations, but we must maintain ITF Black Belt standards. These policies will facilitate the integration of new members into our organization.
More competitions in prestigious locations, such as the World Cup in Orlando (Florida) coming up in November. These events will allow many ITF members to meet with other Taekwon-Do practitioners from around the world, regardless of affiliation. At the same time, they will be able to enjoy vacationing in exciting locations!
International exchange program – The detailed project was approved at the recent ITF Board of Directors Meeting in Riccione (Italy), and details will soon be available on this Web site. This program will provide the opportunity for many of our members to discover new environments and cultures and they can be helpful for the development of ITF in different parts of the world. These experiences will have a beneficial effect on their lives!
Many Taekwon-Do groups in countries around the world have remained independent because they felt the international federations were too political and did not give good service to their members. Many of these independent groups – such as Iran Taekwon-Do Union and Hong Kong Taekwon-Do Federation – have recently become active with the ITF, because they like the way that we operate the ITF and the changes they see.

Quality of Teaching of Taekwon-Do

The ITF ensures the quality of teaching in ITF-affiliated schools and offers training and support for teachers. Requiring a teaching license for each individual teacher (rather than for each school) is a way to ensure the quality of teaching. In addition, candidates for promotion to 4th degree Black Belt and higher must participate in at least one International Instructors Courseduring the waiting period before promotion to each degree.

Our goal is better quality teaching, which will lead to more successful Taekwon-Do schools with increased revenue and a better quality of life for teachers.

Some of the things we are working on:

At the World Cup in Orlando (Florida) in November, the ITF will offer seminars about teaching of the Do, coaching of tournament, and business development. Details will be available soon on our ITF website.
The First Technical Conference and training camp for 4th degree and above is planned for October 2005 in Benidorm (Spain). Details will be posted on our website soon. This conference will give our high ranking members the opportunity to meet, exchange ideas on technical subjects, and train together
Other seminars on specific themes are being planned. Subjects will include various aspects of training, mental preparation for competition, teaching the Do, teaching self-defense, etc. The ITF Technics and Instruction committee will qualify seminars-leaders for these seminars. We welcome you to apply for it, your suggestions of themes for future seminars. .
A special section of the Web site reserved for holders of ITF-Instructor plaque certificate. They will be able to download advice and suggestions as well as teaching tools, in order to improve the quality of their teaching.

National Associations

The structure and responsibilities of National Associations (and Allied National Associations) are now well-defined. Guidelines and policies are now in place and apply to all ITF-affiliated organizations. This required a lot of work, but we now have a workable structure in place.

Some of the things we are working on: :

Seminars on subjects of interest for NAs and AAs:
- how to organize, structure, and develop an NA or AA
- financial management
- how to run efficient, democratic meetings
- how to develop program to promote successfully the ITF in the country, etc.
The first seminar for NAs and AAs is scheduled for Dortmund (Germany) in July 2005 in conjunction with the 14th Senior World Taekwon-Do Championships and the 15th ITF Congress Meeting.
A survey questionnaire will invite NAs to comment on the recent changes in the ITF and to make suggestions for new services.

Our goal is to help the NAs and AAs so that eventually they will be able to provide assistance to the regional and local organizations.

Other Activities

We are working on the business plan for the international development of the ITF.

The members of the Standing Committee for Communications have been approved by the Board of Directors. I believe that Mr. Jean-Marc Demers, an expert in this field who has accepted to chair this committee, along with the other members of this committee who represent the different continents, will develop many interesting projects. Two important Communications files are:

the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Taekwon-Do on April 11th 2005, and
ensuringe the high quality of all ITF communications, particularly regularly updating the news on our ITF website! Click here for the list of the members of the Communications Committee.

The next issue of ITF Magazine will be available at the World Cup in Orlando (Florida) in November. This issue will contain detailed information about all the aspects of the organization that the ITF team has been working on, including our vision for the future, the new structure, revised methods of operations, and new member services. This issue was conceived so that it can be used as the official ITF presentation document by NAs and other ITF-affiliated organizations. Master Pablo Trajtenberg, ITF Senior vice president is in charge for this file.

A contest to find a slogan for the ITF will soon be announced. We want to choose an excellent slogan that will clearly communicate our vision for the future and the dynamic nature of our organization. Watch for details.

And finally, here are a few photos of my recent travels: