On this weekend we celebrated the Happy 65th Anniversary Taekwondo with practitioners from around the World on social media.
The name Taekwondo is derived from the Korean word “Tae” meaning foot, “Kwon” meaning fist and “Do” meaning way of. So, literally Taekwondo means “the way of the foot and fist”. The name Taekwondo, however, has only been used since April 11th, 1955.
This original Tae Kwon Do began as military Tae Kwon Do.
Our special commemoration included releasing some never before seen footage of General Choi Hong Hi seminars held in Australian during the 1990’s.
We were fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend many General Choi Hong Hi seminars, particularly through the 1990’s.
Visit the General Choi Hong Hi seminars page to view some of those seminars, as they are archival in nature, sound and picture quality may vary, we hope you will enjoy them.
During his military career, General Choi constantly researched various martial arts, mainly Taekyon, kung fu and karate – drawing from each to create the original version of Taekwon-do.
General Choi formed the Oh Do Kwan (Gym of my way) where Korean soldiers were trained in General Choi’s new martial art to become the pioneer Taekwon-do instructors. General Choi also commanded Chung Do Kwan, which was the largest civilian gym in Korea.
In 1955 General Choi led the Korean Army’s Taekwon-do demonstration team on a tour of China and Vietnam to promote his form of unarmed combat. After breathtaking displays, both these countries adopted General Choi’s Taekwon-do as an integral part of their soldier’s military training.
Michael Muleta is an 8th Degree Black Belt Master Instructor, as well as A Class International Umpire. Master Muleta currently holds the official post of under Secretary General of the International Taekwon-Do Federation.
He is the Founding President of United ITF Taekwon-Do Australia Inc, with 30 years of ITF experience at the highest level as a competitor, coach, umpire and administrator.
Michael has with an extensive Taekwon-Do and education background. His informative seminars are some of the most highly regarded domestically and internationally.
For all those planning to come along to the Australasian ITF Hall Of Fame dinner and induction ceremony on Friday 20th March, please book your place this week, as we need to provide restaurant with final numbers.
Hopefully that number will be the capacity of 50, only a few seats left, all ITF people attending the Arnold Classic Taekwondo World Championships give it some consideration.
Would be great to see some more of our past inductees there to present awards to the new batch.
After the huge success of the 2nd event will well over 100 guest and in the presence of 3 Grandmasters, we look forward to another great celebration in the 3rd installment.
We are excited to announce our special guest motivational speaker will be none other than the legendary Aussie Fighter Sam Greco.
With a career spanning over 30 years and 147 pro fights, with multiple world titles in Kickboxing, Karate and K1 fame, Sam will share his wisdom on the challenges we all face whether it be in sport, in business or in life and how to liberate yourself from the shackles of limitation we all place on ourselves.
A reminder the event is open to all ITF practitioners, past and present, regardless of which organization you align yourself with.
All persons are eligible to be nominated – check the nomination categories and nomination procedures.
We invite all students, supporters, past nominees and inductees to come along and celebrate the great achievements of all of those who have contributed to the development and success of General Choi’s Taekwon-Do in the Australasian Region over the past 40+ years.
Places are limited to ONLY 50 PEOPLE due to venue constraints so we encourage in early booking and nomination.
Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal organized a 2-day sparring /self-defense seminar followed by the 1st color belt open Taekwon-Do Championship between 7-9th Feb 2020.
ITF under General Secretary, Master Michael Muleta, 8th Degree from Australia, led the seminar and was assisted by the organizer, Mr. Laxman Basnet, President of Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal.
Just on 160 people attended Day 1 of the seminar, being a working day in Nepal, which focused on sparring techniques and ITF patterns. The students worked hard for 6 hours, with only a 30-minute lunch break, benefiting from the close attention and detail covered by Master Muleta.
On Day 2 the seminar focused on self-defense for almost 200 people in attendance for the whole day. Students were put through many techniques to combat against an assailant, from various grabs, holds, strikes, throws and locks. The seminar was very good and Master Muleta displayed his teaching and class management skills, where he managed to work with every single attendee during the day.
All the students enjoyed the intensive training and learned some new skills and applications from the very popular Senior Master, who was returning to Nepal after coming in 2015 to conduct seminars as part of the Nepal earthquake relief.
We would highly recommend to any country to have Master Muleta come and conduct this seminar.
On Day 3 it was competition time, with around 200 students participating from 23 different districts in the 1st color belt open Taekwon-Do Championship.
The event was a huge success, where Master Muleta kicked off proceedings with the official opening ceremony and remained to observe the championships and engage with all the competitors, special guests, media and officials.
There were 35 different categories in the Individual Sparring and individual pattern events. The standard was very good for colour belts and Master Muleta noted a significant improvement since his 2015 visit, giving full credit to r Laxman’s hard work and drive in building ITF Nepal.
Many special guests were in attendance including the Chief guest, the Honorable Ganesh Prasad Timalsina, President of the National Assembly of Parliament, along with special guest Master Muleta and Arie Hoogandooran from Netherlands. Also in attendance was Guest Honorary Member and President of the Sports for All commission, Mr.Bishnu Gopal Shrestha, Adviser of Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal and Famous Nepal identity, Ang Temba Sherpa .
Turkish Airlines General Manager, and event sponsor, Mr.Abdullaha gave out three gift hampers to three gold medalists.
Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal were honoured to present Chief guest to Master Muleta and Mr. Arie with a framed letter of appreciation, for their contribution in promoting Taekwon-Do in Nepal.
President Laxman Basnet gave a Token of Love to our chief guest and other special guests and he informed the audience about what Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal did in the past and what doing in the near future.
Mr Basnet announced that ITF Nepal will be organizing a Technical and Umpire workshop conducted by ITF Vice president Grand Master Nicholls and Master Yogi Chand in conjunction with the 4th Everest Open Taekwon-Do Championship on September 18-20, 2020 in Nepal to promote Taekwon-Do and promote tourism to Nepal during 2020.
Our member of Parliament and other guests gave speeches to motivate and encourage organizers and participants to make an even more more successful event in September 2020.
Thank you to Mr. Laman Basnet and his working party on organizing and hosting such a great and memorable event.
Special thanks to Master Muleta in taking time from his hectic schedule in the lead up to the Arnold Classic Taekwon-Do World Championships, to selflessly share his expertise and genuine love for Taekwon-Do ITF to our leaders and members.
A Nepal Masterclass is being held in Kathmandu by Master Michael Muleta over the period 7-8th February, 2020.
It will be Master Muleta’s second seminar visit to Nepal in 4 years, having previously donated his services to raise funds for earthquake relief.
There will also be a colour belt championships held on the same weekend.
The Nepal Masterclass will run over two sessions, with the focus on Sparring and then Self Defense.
Students and instructors of all ages and ranks, from all Taekwondo schools are welcome to attend.
Check out the Photo Gallery of Master Muleta’s 2015 seminars in Nepal.
The initiative was borne out of discussions between Master Muleta and Mr Basnet at the time of the Nepal Earthquakes, and an offer of assistance from Master Muleta, who had previously received citations from the ITF for his charity work after the Asian boxing Day Tsunami.
During this event all participants from Nepal and abroad had a wonderful experience, making new friendships, renewing old ones and most of all enjoying Taekwondo in its truest form.
ITF Nepal issued an invitation to Master Muleta to return in 2020 and it is hoped that more participants from more countries will take the chance to come and experience Nepal and its culture, as well as Taekwondo.
Master Michael Muleta visited Rockhampton on the first weekend of August to conduct Black Belt Testings and seminars.
The event was hosted by Brown’s Dojang, and supported by McNae’s Martial Arts and students who travelled over 3 hours each way from Alligator Creek to Rockhampton.
On the Friday evening, students were put through a vigorous Degree testing , comprising of Patterns, various sparring types, self defense, breaking and theory.
Congratulations to new Sabum Wayne Brown, promoted to 4th Degree and Nikki Olzard promoted to 2nd Degree.
Saturday started with a Patterns seminar in the morning, where Master Muleta concentrated on Fundamentals, Power Generation, Training secrets of Taekwon-Do and various sequences derived from the ITF Tuls. He clarified some technique terminology and interpretation of General Choi’s documented patterns.
All students were given the opportunity to perform and receive some constructive feedback to help them improve.
After a break for lunch, Rockhampton students returned to be thrown, flipped, locked, blocked and struck, all in the name of Self Defense.
Master Muleta went through a range of Self Defense scenarios and applications of Taekwon-Do movements. Students enjoyed the session immensely and learnt a few new tricks along the way.
Thank you to Brown’s Taekwon-Do for hosting and arranging the seminars.
Master Muleta is an 8th Degree Under Secretary of the International Taekwon-Do Federation, President & Technical Director of United ITF Taekwon-Do Australia.
The United ITF Open Vic Champs, recently held in Caroline Springs, and hosted by Thoroughbred Taekwon-Do, was a huge success.
It featured participants of all ages and levels from across Victoria, South Australia, Canberra and Queensland.
Events included Sparring and Patterns, in both ITF and WT, as well as Team patterns, Self Defense and Creative Breaking.
The event was organized by United ITF President, Master Michael Muleta and overseen by National Tournament Director, Justin Chin.
To promote inclusiveness we also incorporated a junior development event with our friends from several WT schools, who were using it as preparation for the upcoming Arnold Classic Taekwondo World Championships.
Thank you to everyone who came along, particularly those who travelled far and wide, to make the event such a success. We appreciate the very positive feedback on our efforts to keep the tournament format fresh, engaging and innovative.
A big thank you to our referees and judges who worked with the utmost professionalism and efficiency. Last but not least, appreciation for our first aid providers and additional volunteers.
We welcome a new thoroughbred Black Belt and some advanced degrees. Thoroughbred Taekwon-do conducted it’s annual Black Belt examinations yesterday in Melton, Victoria.
It was a very historic day for the club with it most senior internal Black Belt promotion since its formation in 1994.
Thoroughbred Taekwon-Do Balwyn instructor Justin Chin was promoted to 6th Degree Black Belt after a vigorous testing regime. The test included all black belt patterns, various types of sparring, self defense, breaking and theory.
The promotion makes Justin the most senior Thoroughbred Taekwon-Do Black Belt outright, under the school’s founder and director, Master Michael Muleta.
Justin has be a wonderful leader of the school, setting a great example of loyalty and selfless contribution for close to 20 years.
Also promoted was his younger brother, and branch assistant, Corey Chin. Corey was promoted to 5th Degree Black Belt.
It sets up a very unique family combination of 3 Thoroughbred Taekwon-Do Black belts, Justin 6th Degree, Jeremy 5th Degree and now Corey 5th Degree. Master Muleta fondly refers to them as the Chin Dynasty.
Just as significant is that the brothers have spent close to 20 years in the same school. This is certainly a rare quality in today’s organization hopping culture.
Anna Blake was promoted to 2nd Degree Black Belt along with John Vos promoted to 1st Degree.
We welcome John to the Thoroughbred Taekwon-Do Black Belt club.
On November 10 – 11, 2018 the Institucion Nacional TKD Puerto Rico held a Master Class with Under Secretary General of ITF Master Michael Muleta, 8th degree.
The weekend began with a 2 hour Black Belt class (inlcuding Red Belts who were testing later that day). In that class, Master Muleta covered some theory of power elements and some other technical aspects. Towards the end of the class, students performed some self-defence manouvers.
A black belt testing followed, where several students were tested and promoted up to 3rd Degree. The test was commanded by Sabum Llauger Castillo and marked by Master Muleta.
In the evening as special dinner was held with Puerto Rico instructors and families. The dinner was to commemorate the 100th Birthday of the Founder of Taekwondo, General Choi Hong Hi.
On day 2, Australasian ITF Hall Of Fame instructor, Master Muleta led 6 hours of ITF training for students of all ranks. The sessions were broken up into 2 x 3 hours. Junior students completed the first session, whilst teens and adults stayed for both.
Master Muleta covered many aspects of TKD during his class and taught us the practical application of ITF techniques. Once again the emphasis was on power, with additional elements covered following on from Day 1.
Patterns were covered across several levels, with Master Muleta pointing out key aspects. Blocking and attacking tools, correct angle & distance, sine wave and stance transitions were all covered in detail.
Students also carried out some sparring exercises, under the watchful eye and instruction of the Former ITF world championships coach, with drills in counter attacking and ringcraft.
We at ITF Puerto Rico are really greatful for Master Muleta’s effort and dedication in teaching us the legacy of our founder.
Lindy Joy Crouch is Australia’s new Golden Girl of ITF Taekwon-Do. She won 2 Gold medals at the International Taekwon-Do Federation’s Special Needs World Championships in Argentina.
Lindy was Australia’s first down syndrome athlete to compete at the ITF World Championships, in the first fully fledged ITF Special Needs international event.
She won Gold in the Adult individual yellow belt patterns, and also in the Mixed abilities event. Lindy teamed up with Joshua Zdybel to perform self defense against weapon attacks and an unarmed assailant.
It was an incredible performance in front of a massive, and parochial, Argentinian crowd in Buenos Aires’ huge Tecnopolis complex. The event included 5 days of competition, with typical running times from 10am – 6pm.
Lindy was part of a 15 strong Australian squad, which also included 2 Special Needs athletes. The other, Master Lee Hermansson, of Broken Hill, took out a Silver medal in the patterns.
Lindy’s training regime
She trains twice weekly at Geelong Taekwon-Do, under the guidance of 5th Degree instructor Phillip Zdybel. Mr Zdybel also acted as Head Coach of the National team, as well as competing himself.
He describes Lindy as a ‘very spirited young lady who show a lot of determination along the way and put in the extra work attending regular pool sessions’ in addition to regular training.
Despite her special needs, Lindy trains in the regular class and does all the same drills and conditioning as the black belts. This was evident in her performance in Argentina.
President, Master Michael Muleta, said it was a fantastic result for Lindy and the Australian Team. He also noted how the Taekwon-Do special needs section had grown since it’s inception in 2016.
So much so, that the National Organization now has a Special Needs Committee to further develop the program domestically.
We would like to thank the State Government of Victoria and Barwon Sport Academy.
Lindy now has her eyes firmly set on the 2020 ITF World Championships in Russia, where she hopes to return as a high colour belt.