The ITA National Umpire Course held on September 26th in Rivervalley Taekwon-Do Club was a great success. 37 participants who ranged all the way up to 7th Dan black belt participated in the course, which was conducted by ITA Umpire Chairperson, Mr. Stephen Ryan, 5th Dan.

The course covered all aspects of umpiring at ITA and ITF tournaments in a combination of presentation and practical modules. The course was designed to be as role specific as possible so that participants could get as much practice throughout the day training in a specific ring council position. More experienced participants spent the main portion of the day sharpening their skills as Centre Referees and Jury Presidents, whereas those on the course for the first time focused mainly on jury member and corner referee duties. Each practical session was preceded by a powerpoint presentation on the event with in depth information on the key points to scoring, the rules and the specific roles of each member of the ring council. Large emphasis was placed in the morning presentation on umpire attitude, consistency, and fairness in refereeing.

To allow participants to get the most out of the course the format allowed for participants to share roles throughout the practical sessions. For example two corner referee would sit in each corner for a match. This allowed for interesting feedback and discussion following each match as participants could compare perspectives on scoring in more detail. This was also done for the pattern section where referees scored the match from different perspectives and discussed scores after each match to compare the scores on the different criteria of technical content, balance, rhythm, power and breath control.

Mr. Ryan was able to share his experiences as an umpire but also as an experienced international competitor and to clarify any doubts about the rules where necessary. Congratulations to all participants on completing the course.

More photographs of the course can be viewed here.

Stephen Ryan
Secretary General
Irish Taekwon-Do Association
www.taekwondo.ie