On Saturday the 3rd of November, Mr John McKissock VI and In Nae schools of TaeKwon-Do were proud to host the 1st Fuji Seminar in the northern Catalan village of Viladrau (Spain) and for the first of these seminars, who better to invite then Miss Julia Cross V Dan. Miss Cross needs no introduction, but just for the record. Miss Cross is perhaps the most celebrated competitor in the world of TaeKwon-Do , with six World titles and fifteen European titles under her belt, both in Patterns and in Sparring.

Having trained together for many years under Master Sutherland before coming to live in Spain, i had been waiting a long time for the opportunity to invite Miss Cross across. For two reasons, firstly i was very eager to introduce Miss Cross to Spain, but also to share my new TaeKwon-Do family with Miss Cross. 75 people from across Catalonia including several members of the Spanish national Team attended the four hour sparring course, which passed as though it had only been one hour.

The course was run in two sessions, the first focusing on spacial awareness exercises, Miss Cross then quickly moved onto body conditioning exercises, stressing the importance of the body being able to absorb as well as perform sparring techniques in order to be strong both physically and mentally, therefor being completely prepared for Sparring.

Using the basic sparring techniques against pads Miss Cross explained and demonstrated sparring drills which focused on speed, distance, timing and footwork. In these drills the students were amazed and inspired by the sheer speed and power which Miss Cross was able to generate in her techniques and by the ease with which she was able to change the body weight and direction during the drills. In fact it would have been easy to spend the entire seminar dissecting the possibilities of yop chagi in the sparring ring.

After a well earned rest the second session begun in full sparring kit using the gloves for target training in order to gain a full understanding of what had been taught earlier.

Staying with the essential basic sparring techniques the attendees worked on how to create an opening in their opponents defence and how to tie techniques together for maximum effect. Miss Cross stressed the importance of the repetition of these techniques individually before the student begins to work on combinations as if you drill a technique enough times eventually the body will do it automatically. Miss Cross finished the session with a talk on ring craft and how to use the space to your best advantage during sparring including discussing the circle within the square and how to dominate the space.

It has to be said that the course was both fun and motivational with Miss Cross explaining that motivation has to come from within with the determination to succeed both in TaeKwon-Do and in life, stressing the importance of repetition and indomitable spirit in achieving our goals, of never forgetting our dreams and that we can achieve them if we are prepared to put in the hard work. Having had three knee operations and a hip replacement Miss Cross personifies motivation and dedication.

It was commented that not only is Miss cross a great instructor and practitioner, but also a fantastic ambassador of TaeKwon-Do, demonstrating humility, fun, passion and knowledge throughout the course.

After the course Miss Cross and Mr McKissock exchanged school tracksuits with Miss Cross commenting on how welcome she had been made to feel in Catalonia. Miss Cross took the time out for photos and a question and answer session before sharing a traditional catalan lunch with the students of In Nae, one of whom called me the following day to tell me that he had found muscles aching that he didn't even know he had....and that even his eyelids were sore.

TaeKwon-Do cant all be hard work, there has to be a time for everything and it would be a shame to come so far just to see the inside of a sports hall. After a super successful seminar we took time out to have a walk in the foothills of Montseny (the mountain of wisdom) before heading to Barcelona for a condensed tourist session.

Many thanks to the Adjuntament of Viladrau for their support, also to instructors Jose Carlos Revelles, Alberto Gonzalez, David Atencia, Carlos Berkenbush , and Guglielmo Ciavorella for supporting this event. Above all I would like to thank Miss Cross for sharing her motivation, passion and knowledge with us and of course, our sponsors Fuji for all of their support durning this event.

Paco Ferrando
Presidente FEST ITF ESPAÑA