We had the privilege to invite Ms Julia Cross, 5th degree, 6 times World Champion and 15 times European Champion to host a weekend sparring seminar in our club Taekwon-Do Center in Ylojarvi, Finland. It must be challenging for anyone to give a seminar in Finland (this was talked and confirmed with many Masters visiting before). Finns tend to be very shy and quiet. Ms Cross made every session fun and relaxing and she got the whole group acting like any regular central european nation (yes I think this way and I´m a Finn) and yet training was hard.

The two day seminar held on May 5th - 6th 2012 covered all aspects of sparring. It was nice to see a young lady looking to be in her late twenties talking with the fighter experience of over a quarter of a decade. Hour by hour it was amazing to come to realize that this most successful female competitor is also a magnificent instructor! Everything what we did we did for a reason and as a bonus were given explanation on how to improve. This Sparring seminar was altogether 7 hours: Two sessions on Saturday and one on Sunday. Seminar was built with the same structure as in Kerry, Ireland as written by Mr. Adrian O´Mahoney earlier and there were many similar drills so I will not go into detail on that.

Students sometimes come to seminar to find "THE kick combination" to beat opponents but Ms Cross could demonstrate with drills and by showing and talking from her own experience that a good fighter needs to repeat everything over and over, have a dream and go for it, hard work - never giving up. She made us realize that to become a champion one needs to simply listen and learn and then work hard - on all aspects of sparring. Ms Cross was very happy about the way students listened and took advice. There was immediate improvement in many aspects.

Ms Cross could easily adjust to the needs of participants: If there was a need for more moving drills she just adjusted the program and took the time to improve individuals. Ms Cross was able to perform outstanding techniques and moving to the amazement of the 48 seminar participants and a dozen of spectators. We also learned about distance, mental preparation and analyzing of opponents and own fights. Seminar participants were very grateful for being given a chance to ask questions and being answered in a very open way. The way Ms Cross is teaching sparring is more than just opening her way of training to become a multiple champion. She has a clear vision about sparring that can benefit anyone from -52 kg to +80 kg. Moreover she is willing and able to pass on her knowledge that she has gained and developed during the years. We hope to get her visit us soon again!

Seminar Participants:

Ms. Saija Steckiewicz
Taekwon-Do Center
5th degree Instructor