On the 24th of September we (Martijn and Jantien Lindeboom, brother and sister, both IVth degree) left for India. We started our journey in Delhi, with a two-day seminar/ summer camp organized by the Indian I.T.F.. We had contacted the Indian I.T.F. people to ask whether it was possible for us to train with them in Delhi. They proposed however to make an event out of it. We agreed to conduct four training sessions in two days. And so the first Indian I.T.F. Summer camp was born!
We were picked up at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi by Rakesh Kumar Verma (IVth degree and president of the I.I.T.F.), his wife Mala (IInd degree), their daughters Deepti and Nancy (both Ist degree) and Sanjay Chauhan (IVth degree and technical director of Uttar Pradesh) and taken to our hotel. We arrived there at about half past one at night. And a couple of hours later we were up and about again, because the first training session started at 5 a.m. at the Rohini Sports park.
In this park (nice and green, no bleak sports hall or something) about thirty Taekwon-Do practitioners waited for us. They represented a selection of Taekwon-Do schools from the north of India, and there were even some participants from Nepal. Most of them had just made the transition from WTF to I.T.F.. Kicking and training hard was easy for them, but the basics of I.T.F. Taekwon-Do needed a lot of work. So we worked at that during four sessions of two hour each. Sine wave, backward motion, one blow victory, theory of power and all the other fundamentals of our style were taught and explained.
Training in the open air in an Indian park was great! All around us onlookers watched, there were people doing yoga and laughing meditation, and above us circled parrots and birds of prey.
The group worked hard, was very curious and they learned very fast. Our exercises were executed with a lot of enthusiasm, and the group listened seriously to our comments and instructions. And if there was a short break the students used that to practice the new material we had just taught them.
The last training, on Tuesday the 26th of September, we started with a Q&A session. The students asked a lot about Taekwon-Do, the ITF, competition, life in the Netherlands and so on. We got the opportunity to get to know our students better and learn about India, their training and their lives. It was very nice to talk like this. The day was concluded with a photo-session. Very pleased we bowed and said our good-byes.
When we returned to Delhi three weeks later (after visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra, and traveling through Rajasthan) Rakesh told us that all the schools (and their students) that had attended the seminar had now officially joined the I.I.T.F.!
We enjoyed teaching and the close contact with our Indian Taekwon-Do friends! The conclusion of our trip was a fantastic Indian meal at Rakesh' and Malas house. Thank you again!
A great experience!
Sincerely,
Martijn and Jantien Lindeboom
IVth degree I.T.F. Taekwon-Do