ITF Australia Sparring Seminar 2012

ITF Australia Sparring Seminar 2012

From Sunday the 24^th June – 1^st July ITF Australia ran a series of sparring seminars along the East coast of Australia from as far North as Agnes Waters and as far down South as Melbourne. These seminars were held in 3 locations with clubs travelling to each to attend and believe me they were not disappointed. The first of the seminars were held in Melbourne and then the following Bundaberg then Gold Coast. I feel by the time that Master Daher made his way to the Gold Coast he had what he wanted to teach the students down perfectly. I have been getting quite a lot of feedback on the success of these seminars and that all would be very happy to have more.

I can only talk from my experience with the Gold Coast seminar and that is to see Master Daher doing what he does best and passing on all those years of experience and trying to fit it all into one short seminar of 4hrs. After the first 30mins one student Sebastian de Viana made a comment when passing for a drink break “OMG still 3 ½ hours to go” and believe me it takes some beating for him to have to say that. Nevertheless the 35 students with true TKD spirit persevered and showed Master Daher the respect that he deserves.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Master Daher for over 22 years and training with him for 12 of them, I have never felt the passion and power of any seminar such as this one. He has been working very hard with his own training ever since grading for his 8^th Degree. Since breaking his hand which was very unfortunate, this set back took a considerable toll. With the lead up to his grading he was in probably the best physical and mental condition that I have ever seen. My wife Donna would comment every time that he saw him, when he visited us on the Gold Coast, just how good he looked and the confidence he had. Well he is back on track after just getting over a very bad dose of the flu and now more so committed to teaching and passing on what he can for as long as he can. 

As a student to Taekwon-Do I can’t express the importance of attending these such tournaments, especially those that want to be the best they can. As we all know we are not young for ever and even though Master Daher may not nor does he act his age, there will come a time where we all become slower and our ability decreases. I would say that if there was a time you thought you should take your training seriously then now is that time. As you all know Master Daher and I talk some times 2-3 times a week discussing ideas on how we can better each and every time we put on an event for our members. The thing that makes us proud is seeing our members and close friends do well, even though they maybe from another organization, they still have the same morals and integrity. I like to thank the support of Natalie Astwood and Gavin Moyal from the Yin Yang club for their friendship and support of our events, it is always a pleasure having you guys and your students to any of our events.

Summing up the seminar it was very well conducted and covered all the main points required to compete at tournaments and give the confidence required to give it a go. I hope you all enjoyed it and hope to see you all again at our next event.