The ITA AGM took place in the Horse and Jockey Hotel, Co. Tipperary on Sunday January 13th 2013. 47 instructors representing the associations 89 schools attended the meeting. The meeting was opened by Master Wheatley, who reflected on a fantastic year for ITA, with highlights such as the IUC we hosted with 180 participants, ITF World Cup where ITA was placed as best association, European Championships with a lot of silverware, growth in number of schools and instructors and the many successful ITA national events held. The AGM was also special event as it marked the first general meeting since ITA were appointed the National Association (NA) for the ITF in Ireland.

During the meeting the board of directors and all standing committees for 2013 were elected. The Board of directors for 2013 consists of the following people: Master Kenneth Wheatley VII Dan as President, Mr. Mark Buckley VI Dan as vice-president, Mr. Kevin Kinsella V Dan as treasurer, Mr. Stephen Ryan V Dan as secretary general, Mr. Stephen Cooley VI Dan, Mr. Adrian O'Mahoney VI Dan, Mr. Pat Barry VI Dan and Mr. Adrian Byrne V Dan as directors.

The list of standing committees and officers can be viewed here: http://www.taekwondo.ie/information/committees-54.html.

Extract from the tournament and umpire committee report by Mr. Adrian Byrne:

2012 events

ITA Cork Open, Umpire Workshop (FREE), AETF European Championships, ITA Dublin Open, International Umpire Course, ITF World Cup andITA Irish Cup.
ITA Cork Open [ Junior and Cadet | 573 Competitors | 32 Clubs ]
ITA Dublin Open [ Junior, Cadet and Senior | 500 Competitors | 28 Clubs ]
ITA Irish Cup [ Junior, Cadet and Senior | 512 Competitors | 29 Clubs ]

AETF Euros

486 Competitors, 27 Countries, Ireland 6th place overall. Ireland had a 34 person squad. 3 Gold, 8 Silver, 12 Bronze.

ITF World Cup

1557 Competitors, Biggest ever ITF tournament: ITA took 21 Gold, 17 Silver, 20 Bronze. ITA Best Overall Association. Louise McCagh best overall senior female. Chloe Aboud best overall junior female.

2012 purchases for ITA tournaments:

400 Mats, ITA Standard Medals, 3 Laptops, Raised Staging, Numbered Table Cloths, Replenished Ring kits, ITA Flags and Banners, Public Address Systems.

Purchases planned for 2013

Additional TV’s, Electronic Scoring Systems, Special technique holders, Power breaking holders.

The ITA will also have the use of a 144 meters squared of raised staging, 200 Mats, full lighting system, PA system, High Definition / High Speed video as Irish Martial Arts Commission Members. The Irish Martial Arts Commission secured a government grant in 2012 and the money has been invested in this equipment which the ITA will be able to access for free. This is very positive news as it will raise the profile if ITA tournaments to a new level and strengthen any future bid to host a major ITF or AETF championships in Ireland.

Extract from Business committee report by Ms. Laura Cullen IV Dan:

The ITA website continues to be hugely successful and regularly updated with excellent reports by Carl Smullen, Hong Looi, Sabina Mason and Phillip McAuliffe. The website also holds a link to the ITA Picasa account holding thousands of photos (https://picasaweb.google.com/IrishTKD) The Google adwords campaign continues to be a great success in attracting traffic to the ITA website with 26500 clicks on the website since account opened. The ITA Facebook page (www.facebook.com/IrishTKDAssociation) is regularly updated (main thanks to Mr. Ryan), and now has 1,571 Friends. The ITA youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/irishtkdassociation) is growing in popularity thanks to Mr. Edward Dillon and Mr. Richard Forde and for updating it with high quality videos of ITA competitors.

The ITA also has a print ad appearing as a full page in each issue of the Irish Fighter magazine, to promote the ITA and ITF in Ireland. Numerous articles appeared in the Irish Fighter this year, thanks to our Public Relations Officers. ITA ties continue to sell and increase the professional appearance of our black belts at events. 5 new pull up banners and flags were professionally designed and ordered this year. The first ITA t-shirts created by the committee sold out after three events. The ITA also gave away IUC t-shirts for free. The Business Committee were heavily involved with the professional running of the IUC. T-shirts, wristbands and bags were given to each participant as well as promotional material for the Irish Cup and the IIC. An ITA tracksuit was also created by the business committee in 2012 and was worn by almost all competitors, coaches and a number of supporters at the World Cup. The business committee was also responsible for creating professional flyers and posters for ITA instructors (https://picasaweb.google.com/IrishTKD/ITAFlyers) and those opening new clubs in 2012 received 10,000 of these flyers for free.

The AGM also saw the demonstration of the new ITA electronic scoring system which is almost ready to launch. This system will be a fully wireless scoring system for pattern and sparring, with automated draws and a sophisticated database which will bring our events to a new level.

The provisional calendar for 2013 was decided and will be finalised in the coming week as technical seminars, examiners conference etc are added (http://www.taekwondo.ie/events/ita_calendar_of_events-95.html).

Following the AGM interviews were held in cooperation with the INTA, for additional coaches, assistant coaches and consultants to the national team and we are delighted with the highly qualified and experienced team that has been assembled (more info here: http://www.taekwondo.ie/news/article/national_team_update-309.html).

Stephen Ryan
Secretary General
Irish Taekwon-Do Association