Sabumnim Michael Nguyen and Sabumnim Tony Nguyen travelled to Auckland, New Zealand for the 79th International Instructors Course (IIC). There were over 145 students taught by the ITF Technical Committee consisting of 3 Grand Masters (9th Dan Black Belts) – GM Marano, GM Bos and GM Lan.

This event included many insightful stories from the Grand Masters, as they taught theory with practicality and the importance of history and heart.

Throughout the two day event, groups were separated by rank to allow content to be specifically tailored to each level. This provided an opportunity to go into much greater depth in terms of the analysis of movements and technique.

Photos courtesy of Mr David Lo from International Taekwon-Do in NZ.

Sabumnim Michael Nguyen had the privilege to train with two current World Champions Slivia Farigu (Italy) and Christian Oriolani (Spain). They are both multiple and current ITF World Champions. It was a great opportunity to share some of the skills, drills and strategies used in pattern and sparring competition. Sabumnim Nguyen was invited to train with them in Spain in October 2013 before the world championships.

Photos courtesy of Mrs Tammy Todd from United ITF Taekwon-Do.

Master Andrew Rhee returned to Melbourne to conduct a seminar and grading for his students. A small number of Impact Taekwon-Do Australia students had the privilege to attend his seminar on the Saturday. Black Belts were invited to attend an extra training class held after their grading on the Monday. It was a very informative session enjoyed by all.

Photos courtesy of Miss Emily Boulton-Smith from International Taekwon-Do FGMR Australiasia.

Impact Taekwon-Do Australia students were invited to attend the Australian Martial Arts Games which was previously called TKD Storm. Three students flew from Melbourne to attend this event. They were welcomed and billeted by Miss Marion Sherlock (5th Dan ITFA) on the Friday night in Sydney. The following day they travelled to Central Coast to meet and train with Miss Amanda Morrison (5th Dan ITFA) at her Do-Jang. It was an such a great honour.

The competition was on the Sunday. The team competed well.

Results from the competition:

Michael Nguyen
1st – Senior mixed 2nd-4th Dan black belt patterns
1st – Team self defence

Larita Bouphasavanh
1st – Senior mixed 1st-2nd Gup patterns
1st – Team self defence

Tim Hon
2nd – Senior mixed 1st-2nd Gup patterns
1st – Team self defence

Photos courtesy of Miss Emily Boulton-Smith & Miss Amanda Morrision from International Taekwon-Do FGMR Australiasia.

Sabumnim Michael Nguyen and Sabumnim Tony Nguyen flew to New Zealand for the annual Stripes 1 to 1 Seminar. This event is for 4th Dan Black belts and above. It was a great weekend with special guest Master Mark Hutton from Scotland. The training was hard but very satisfying.

Photos courtesy of Miss Carolina Dillen from International Taekwon-Do in NZ.

Impact Taekwon-Do Australia took seven students to Gold Coast to compete in the Australian Championships. There were over 100 competitors from all across Australia. New electronic scoring technology was trialed and made the competition a lot more efficient and fair for all competitors.

Despite the excruciatingly humid weather, the team dominated their divisions to take out 4 Gold, 7 Silver and 3 Bronze. Sabumnim Michael Nguyen also tied with another competitor on the medal tally for Overall Male Champion this year creating a major dilemma. But Sabumnim decided to give the Championship trophy to his younger opponent.

All athletes competed in the true spirit of taekwondo and should be very satisfied with their progress. Well done.

Results from the competition:

Leon Sejranovic
1st – Junior 3rd-1st Gup patterns
2nd – Junior male colour junior special techniques
2nd – Junior 4th-1st Gup sparring

Tim Hon
3rd – Senior 3rd-1st Gup patterns
2nd – Male light/heavy 7th-1st Gup sparring

Larita Bouphasavanh
1st – Senior 3rd-1st Gup patterns

Jennifer Nguyen
2nd – Junior female 1st Dan black belt patterns
2nd – Junior female middle weight sparring

Matthew Nguyen
3rd – Senior male 1st-2nd Dan black belt patterns

Tony Nguyen
2nd – Senior male 3rd-4th Dan black belt patterns
3rd – Senior black belt special techniques

Michael Nguyen
1st – Senior male 3rd-4th Dan black belt patterns
1st – Senior light/heavy male sparring
2nd – Senior black belt special techniques
Overall male champion

This time one year ago there were only 7 students taking part in this demonstration. This year there were more than 20 students participating.

The team had been working hard on demonstrating the true art of ITF Taekwon-Do. This included solid performances in Patterns, Sparring, Step sparring, Breaking, Special Techniques, Self defence and Team Patterns. They not only impressed the audience there were a lot of enquiries about out classes.

Thank you to everyone who participated. Also thank you for Miss Su Lin Lim for being our guest photographer on the day.

Sabumnim Michael Nguyen travelled to Sydney to train with Master Andrew Rhee at the 2-day seminar he conducted. He was billeted and looked after by Miss Marion Sherlock 5th Dan (ITFA). It was a great weekend practicing taekwondo with other like-minded practitioners. The sessions were very informative as always. Despite the delays at the airport, the trip was very successful.

Photos courtesy of Miss Emily Boulton-Smith from International Taekwon-Do FGMR Australiasia.