On the 23-24th of March, in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine took place a sparring seminar with the legend of Taekwon-Do Tomaz Barada, 6th Degree from Slovenia. The seminar with a world class athlete from abroad was held in Ukraine for the first time.

Despite the bad weather conditions to Ivano-Frankivsk from all over the country arrived sportsmen, who were willing to meet personally a famous, world-class competitor and develop the skills of fights without weapons (sparring). By the way, the youngest supporter of Tomaz Barada was 8 years old.

The program of the seminar was really tense. Theoretical knowledge was immediately used in practice in the course of fights. In particular, in the theoretica part of the seminar Tomaz Barada debated with the audience on the history of Taekwon-Do, philosophy and spiritual culture. Mr. Barada noted the positive impact of Taekwon-Do on human health and the direct connection between physical exercises and mental development of the individual. In the practical part of the seminar Tomaz Barada briefed athletes with techniques of kicking actions, combat tactics and psychological aspects of fight.

Upon completion of the seminar Tomaz Barada personally handed each participant a certificate with its own autograph and wished all athletes success and victories on “dojang”.

The seminar with a world class competitor in Ivano-Frankivsk attracted media.

“A very calm and friendly atmosphere dominated all training sessions and the sports hall was filled with a very positive energy” - said the Mr. Oleg Solovey, the head coach of Ukraine Taekwon-Do. “Our sportsmen learned a lot of new and useful information. The value of it is that athletes received it directly from the mouth of titled Champion in sparring. This seminar, certainly, increase the skill level of our athletes and become useful for the members of our team who are now actively preparing for participation in the European Taekwon-Do Championship 2013 which will be held in May this year in Sweden”.

“In the Internet I've looked through many fights of Tomaz Barada, but it's nothing compared to live training” - shared his impressions finalist of the Taekwon-Do World Cup 2012 Nikita Orlov. – “I am very glad that I got a lot of new and interesting information. Moreover, it is not only sports but also daily life. In order not to miss anything, I wrote in my notebook the training and techniques were recorded by my father on camera. Now I'm looking forward to participate in the European ad World Taekwon-Do Championship, to try out knowledge and skills obtained during the seminar with Tomaz Barada” - said Nikita Orlov.

Mr. Oleg Solovey
Vicepresident
All Ukrainian TKD Union
5th Degree