Dear ITF Community,
Today is an important moment for me, since the six years I´ve been leading our beloved ITF are coming to an end after the unexpected demise of GM Tran, who was our first elected president.
There are two things I fundamentally want to say; the first is that I am very satisfied and pleased with all the achieved accomplishments, and second, that achieving this, was not so difficult because of the excellent team that accompanied me during these years!!
I think the vision that boosted us and helped us in achieving these accomplishments, is the one to consider and project our art as a social instrument and a tool for the development of the human being, and not simply as a sport.
However, that guideline at all means neglecting the sporting aspect.
In fact, slowly but steadily, we move forward towards the primary objectives in the field of sport, to achieve excellence and international recognition.
By and for that, we understood that more than the result of a policy, our strength is in the sum of the sportive power of each country.
And it seems that we are on the right path, because each time we are counting with more people and we are being more and better considered.
And here we are, in Jesolo, in a new World Championship which highlights the excellence of our work and the evolution experimented not only regarding the amazing convocation but also in terms of the confidence we inspired after the criteria unification in the rules and the training for umpires all over the world through the IUC.
Here goes, then, my personal recognition to the team of professionals headed by our director GM Bos, to the Umpires teams leaded by Master Katz and to Master Coos, for all the development in the field work that he has led, and together, with the addition of the criterion to select the host countries, are returning eloquent results as the one which is on sight.
And progress in the field of sports does not stop, rather tends to deepen with the new format of the International Competition Course, a work in charge of GM Bos and a team of Masters and Instructors who are in the top of the specialty, who will have the task to standardize and develop the competitive experience in different countries.
We must also remember that we were accepted by TAFISA (The Association For International Sport for All) as members of that entity, which is simply the beginning of our projection to achieve the objectives mentioned above.
It is noteworthy, also, the profound work carried out by the Technical Committee headed by GM Marano, which ended with personal interpretations and that gave to our art the standardization required for the competition as well as for its development in the world.
New people and new processes are also being born in this regard.
And just to mention some other works during this time, let’s say we have adopted and implemented with great international acceptance our new logo, which allows us to be distinguished, showing that not everyone works the same way and which express that we are proud of belonging.
Furthermore, we continue to consolidate the Kids Program.
Through Courses and Workshops increasingly professional, we are achieving a greater acceptance which can be seen in today implementation in numerous countries and that also has been requested to translate the contents into several languages.
And from a Program thought for the smallest children, we pass to the birth of the Harmony Program, which will be presented during this year and in the next one. This system is conceived to reach those people over 50 years who for some reason cannot be instructed through traditional classes.
And if we speak about Taekwon-Do as a tool for social development, we must highlight all the assistance provided to the low-income countries through Courses, Seminars and donations from the ITF and through the work of numerous Masters and Instructors of whom perhaps the visible face is our Vice President Master Weiler.
But of course, all the effort, the progress and the results being achieved in these aspects are also closely related to two other approaches.
On one hand, the Development and Marketing Committee, which have designed a strategy to enhance communications through social networks and has approached our official website to the communication models of the new media, trying to have updated information according to the characteristic 24/7/365 (24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year).
I congratulate this young and fantastic team and encourage them to go forward with their innovative ideas.
On the other hand, it would be unwise not to mention the efficiency translated into positive results through the responsible administrative management that has been developed under the Master Ferrandos managing.
All these steps doesn´t mean that we have reached the end of a road, but rather constitute a challenge that forces us to say and repeat that we can do more!, it’s just a matter of proposing a challenge and assuming it with responsibility and discretion.
Then I want to finish this six years as President, saying something for which we have been working, which is “Together we are more and that we can achieve more accomplishments”.
Thank you for joining me and the Board of Directors in this stage.
GM Pablo Trajtenberg
ITF President
World Championships Daily Schedule
