Newsletter 1/2012 Winter Camp in Szczyrk, Poland
Szczyrk is a beautiful town situated in southern Poland in the Silesian Beskid mountains, and it is a popular winter sports centre and the main training centre for Polish Winter Olympic athletes. From 3rd to 9th February 2012 the town became a Taekwon-Do training centre for over 60 people from clubs in Poland: ARETE Rybnik, MKS Minsk Mazowiecki, divisions from TKD Lomazy and TKD from Bielsko Biala, Centrum TKD from Wroclaw, Taekwon-Do Warszawa, LSKT Lublin, MKS Lewart Lubartow; and abroad: England, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Among the participants there were Polish Juniors National Team’s member preparing for the next sport season.
The organizers of the Polish Central Winter Camp were LSKT Lublin and MKS Lewart Lubartow.
The training sessions were conducted by renowned Polish instructors:
- Master Jerzy Jedut, VII Degree – Secretary General of All Europe Taekwon-Do Federation, Vice-President and chief instructor of the technical matters of Polish Taewon-Do Association, former coach of Polish National Team (1987-1995), President and chief instructor of MKS Lewart Lubartow, teacher of many well known TKD competitors and Champions (Polish, European, and World).
- Master Tadeusz Loboda, VII Degree – President of All Europe Taekwon-Do Federation and Polish Taekwon-Do Association, founder and chief instructor of LSKT Lublin, author of training programs for instructors and referee courses, former Coach of Polish National Team (1985-1990), coach of well-known competitors and champions;
The participants were living in a lovely guesthouse named ‘Adam’, which is also a very modern physiotherapy and rehabilitation centre, situated in the centre of Szczyrk. The campers were accommodated in very nice rooms equipped with a tv, a radio, and a bathroom. People had also free access to the internet, but there wasn’t much time for ‘online surfing’ between training sessions, skiing, and meals. The campers preferred to spend what little time was left chatting with friends, resting, playing games, watching movies, and exploring beauty of Szczyrk.
Taekwon-do fans were divided into two groups: beginners/children conducted by Master Loboda and Mr. Suska; and advanced (blue to black belts) conducted by Master Jedut. Each group had two sessions every day. During 7 days of the camp true enthusiasts and ambassadors of Taekwon-Do ITF covered training classes with various aspects of TKD. They filled the sessions working on: improving TKD techniques, balance and co-ordination, power and speed, improving and strengthening physical condition, stretching, step sparring, as well as theory, ethical issues, and ‘Do’. The afternoon trainings with Master Jedut were dedicated mainly to free sparring. Every morning he devoted a lot of time to provoking the campers to think. His routines posed a challenge not only by placing the campers along non-traditional lines and figures but also by presenting altered sequences of techniques from patterns with changed directions and extra steps added. Everyone finished each class with wet doboks and sore muscles, but with big smile and satisfaction of good job and some progress done.
Every evening Master Jedut, Master Loboda, and Mr Suska spent also many hours at the individual consultations at a sport hall situated in the hotel. These awesome instructors helped many campers to realise what their weaknesses were, and also gave them a great deal of invaluable advice. It was a great opportunity to correct particular techniques or patterns and improve them.
Besides of the practical part of the camp all participants also had an opportunity to watch videos from most important Taekwon-do events including: seminars with Gen. Choi Hong Hi, European and World Championships and Cups, and other top international tournaments.
Taekwon-Do was not the only discipline that was popular in Szczyrk, there were also many other activities, such as: skiing, snowboarding, sledging, table tennis, snooker, basketball, and volleyball. The skiing/snowboarding group enjoyed great weather conditions between breakfast and dinner time every day. The enthusiasts of winter sports were divided into two groups depending of their experience. People who have never tried skiing went with Master Loboda and Mr Romaniuk to get professional skiing lessons. More advanced skiers and snowboarders went with Mr Suska on blue, red, and even black slopes. Some lucky campers saw broadcasting vans and sports presenters of Polish National and Regional TVs. It turned out that a part of XVIII Youth Polish National Winter Olympics was organized in Szczyrk. Also people who chose Taekwon-Do session in the morning had some attractions of winter sports. On 2 kilometers walk to training hall they had chance to watch ski jumpers at their training.
Traditionally, the camp ended with an exam. Three juniors were promoted by Mr Jaroslaw Suska after their last TKD class.
The final impression of the Polish Taekwon-Do Winter Camp was very positive. The participants were truly delighted with the knowledge, experience, skills, and very innovative and unique trainings methods presented by Master Jedut, Master Loboda, and Mr Suska. They inspired people with their enthusiasm and passion. Every participant of the camp improved greatly in fitness, speed, balance, techniques, and sparring. As well as improving physical skills the camp was a great opportunity to meet with old friends, make new ones, and have lots of fun. People successfully faced with an extremely cold weather - minus 20 during some days and minus 30 at night.
I would like to congratulate and thank Master Loboda, Master Jedut, and Mr Suska for perfectly organized camp, very inspirational and the highest level sessions, and positive energy given within a week long stay in Szczyrk.
The next Polish Central Taekwon-Do Camp organized by LSKT Lublin and MKS Lewart Lubartow will be held in summer time on 6th to 15th July in Biala Podlaska, Poland.
I had asked some participants for their personal opinion
- Ms Sofia Pernikis from England, a member of English National Team
The Winter camp in Poland took place in February - a perfect time to train off all the Christmas dinners and go skiing, as the snow was perfect at that time.
Each day we had a choice of training or skiing in the morning, a compulsory session in the afternoon, and an optional consultation session after dinner. It was a perfect combination of fun and hard training, along with nice Polish food and lots of great people from different Taekwon-do clubs and countries.
Some of the memorable things were - walking for about 30 minutes in the freezing cold (minus 20!) from hotel to the training hall; skiing in such conditions where two pairs of gloves and socks were not sufficient; the fun, hard and interactive training sessions given by Master Jedut, and the delicious home-made food we had at the hotel three times a day. All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and I will definitely be looking forward to coming back next year!
- Ms Marjan Groothuis from the Netherlands, Max’s Mum
We all enjoyed the Taekwon-do camp very much! My son Max was very enthusiastic about the classes with Mr. Suska! I think that he did a great job of motivating the children - he let them do Chon-Ji more than 20 times and they were still enjoying it! I am pretty sure that also the adults enjoyed their classes with Master Jerzy Jedut very much!
Personally, I also enjoyed the winter camp very much although I do not practice taekwon-do. The combination of skiing in the morning and taekwon-do in the afternoon was just perfect. Furthermore, the hotel was perfect, the food was good, the company as well - a very nice group of people! And I also enjoyed watching the personal classes every evening.
- Mr. Serhat Oguz from the Netherlands, the head-instructor of Taekwon-Do School Amsterdam added
I am already using and practicing the things that we learned in Poland within our trainings in Amsterdam. Once more, we would like to thank Master Tadeusz Loboda for the perfect organization, Master Jerzy Jedut and Mr. Jaroslaw Suska for giving us so much of their valuable time! Thank you all for the great time we had in Poland and hope to see everybody within other Taekwon-Do events.
