Newsletter Newsletter 4/2006 ITF Taekwon-do in Kabul

Patrick Crevecoeur, member of board ITF-Belgium and member of the belgian national team, is in Kabul-Afghanistan for 4 months.

   

Patrick is officer in the belgian army, and his squadron "12/13° de ligne" of Spa (host of the teambuildingsweekends 2006 of ITF-Belgium) left for Kabul end of October; they will only be returning to Belgium in February 2007. The belgian army is staying on the airport of Kabul, they're responsable for the security there (KAIA-ISAF).

As the internet connections with Kabul are rather good, we have news from Patrick regularly. He's doing well, and he keeps on practising taekwon-do whenever he has some time off duty, preparing for upcoming competitions.

Last week, Patrick got the permission to start an ITF Taekwon-do school on the airport. He received a small trainingshall, and he was able to order some material (puzzle mats, gloves, mirrors).

   

Patrick will conduct classes twice a week; soldiers of all nationalities are staying in Kabul, so his students will come from a lot of different countries.

On his first class he had 10 students, the second time already 16 and he's expecting a lot more persons as students were very enthousiastic. So far, Patricks students were soldiers from Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada and Iceland. Other nationalities will surely follow.

It's very good news these persons can learn ITF taekwon-do as they're staying so far from home for such a long time. Patrick ended his email with the words: "because of Taekwon-Do, it feels like home".