2014 – a great year for AETF

Master Tadeusz Łoboda
AETF President

Dear AETF Members!

While starting the New Year 2015 it is not possible not to summarize the one that has just finished.

2014 was a good year for All Europe Taekwon-Do Federation and many great events, which took place, will stay in our memory.

The AETF has actively worked with 32 member countries and was in touch with three other countries in Europe.

The year 2014 was dominated by two big European sport events. The first was the 20th Junior and 29th Senior European Championships organized by the Italian Taekwon-Do ITF Federation from 24th to 27th April 2014. 891 participants (among them 560 competitors) from 30 countries came to a picturesque city of Riccione in Italy. The tournament stayed on a very high sport level and the organization of it was run smoothly giving even more satisfaction to the participants.

The second important championship was the 6th European Cup combined with the Mightyfist Children and Cadet Cup. The tournament has surprised the organizers – the Hungarian Taekwon-Do ITF Federation - with the numbers of participants. Only in the European Cup took part 1056 attendees (among them 607 competitors) from 75 European schools. Additionally around 300 participants attended the tournament for kids and cadets. It is worth mentioning that the Hungarian computer system was used during the competition. It is encouraging that more and more countries have already their own system for visualization of the competition sport results. Not only Germany or Poland, but also Bulgaria, Hungary and Russia have their own programs as well as Finland, were the works on their own system are very much advanced.

The success of the championships is also the merit of the AETF Tournament and Umpire Committee leaded by Master Alexander Dunbar and with its members: Master James Tjin-A-Ton and Mr. Atilla Solti, whose work before, during and after the championships is very important and valuable.

We are also very pleased to see also the fact that the system of the open championships in Europe is developing. Right now there is almost no month without 2 or 3 tournaments available for competitors from others not necessarily European countries.

The European Continent was also the host of three International Instructor Courses, during which the participants, mostly from Europe, but also from other continents, have improved their technical skills.
92nd IIC took place on 23rd – 25th May 2014 in Dublin, Ireland.
96th IIC was held on 26th – 28th September 2014 in Vienna, Austria.
97th IIC was from 14th to 16th November 2014 in Treviso, Italy.
The third course was one of the most famous, because it gathered and was dedicated only for 4th degree holders and above.

The fact is also worth mentioning that the Taekwon-Do community in Europe was enriched by new publications on Taekwon-Do. In 2014 three books were published in English and one in Russian language:

1. “The Art of Taekwon-Do ITF”. 2nd edition; Written by GM Hector Marano, GM Willem Bos and GM Pablo Trajtenberg;
2. “Taekwon-Do from white belt to black belt” written by Master Thierry Meyour from Finland;
3. “Training Manual”. Revised 2nd edition. The book by Mr. Adrian Byrne and Mr. Stephen Ryan was published by Irish Taekwon-Do Association;
4. “Way to success. Education program of All Russia Taekwon-Do Federation ITF” (in Russian Language) written by Master Lazaros Tsilfidis;

Next to the books there were also issued some scientific works mouthed at different scientific conferences or published in specialist journals, which in fact enriched the knowledge about our beautiful martial art.

One of the most spectacular AETF successes was a positive outcome of the motion referring to the age of juniors, submitted to the ITF Board of Directors and next discussed by the ITF Congress 2014 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Thank to this rational solution we succeeded to come back to the rules being in force in the past and since 2015 not the exact date of birth, but the year of birth will decide about the fact if the competitor will be allowed to participate as a junior or as a senior. The decision was long awaited and positively accepted by the sport environment.

In the past AETF was also supporting the actions organized on other continents especially in Africa. This year the AETF Board of Directors agreed to support Mr. Kemal Kasim, a young Taekwon-Do athlete, 3rd Degree from Ethiopia, who has lost his right leg. The donation should help Mr. Kasim to get a prosthetic leg in Germany.

When talking about Africa we have to mention a huge work for development of this continent of Master Paul Weiler from Germany, the ITF Senior Vice-President and Mr. Niklas Enander from Sweden, who put tremendous efforts in raising funds in order to help the African countries to develop in organizational, legislative and sport area.

My special thanks go to Mr. Witold Brzozowski, the AETF webmaster, who is available 24/7 and our website is one of the main sources about the activity of our organization.

I take the opportunity to thank all the Taekwon-Do practitioners and the National Federations for their activity and support throughout the year.

I also thank all members of the AETF Board of Directors, Revisory Commission, Committees and staff for their partnership, hard work and efforts for the joint development of Taekwon-Do in Europe. I hope our actions will bring fruit by increasing our community and strengthening our organization.

Looking forward to 2015

2015 will be dominated by the 23rd ITF Voting Congress in Italy, because during that event we will elect the ITF Board of Directors for the next term.

We are one of the rare martial art organizations, which select its authorities in a democratic way and we are very proud of it. It is one of our biggest legislative achievements. In a democratic election we allow our members to express their endeavors and expectations. It guarantees a stable development of ITF and thereby of the continental organizations with the benefits for our members.

We await the new strategy for the years 2015-2020, which will determinate the directions of development of the ITF and the continental organizations.

AETF has huge human resources and it can use its knowledge to support the activity of its ‘mother’ organization. We have among us eminent scientists, lawyers, politicians, journalists, artists, outstanding instructors, competitors, organizers and many more who were not mentioned. To use this potential more effective than before will be one of the main task in the new term.

The sport community is standing before the participation in the biggest 2015 sport event – the 13th Junior and 19th Senior World Championships to be organized by the Italian Taekwon-Do ITF Federation on 26th – 31st May 2015 in Jesolo, Italy. We expect that the championships will refer with its impetus to the biggest ever World Championships held also in Italy in 2001, which gathered the competitors from 72 countries. This success was not repeated by now. The upcoming championships should change that.

Another important event should be the 21st Junior and 30th Senior European Championships and the AETF Congress in Glasgow. ITF Scotland will be the organizer of the Euros after 14 years of break. Last time Scotland hosted the championships of our continent in 2000 in Edinburgh.

Europe will also host many international courses. The diversity of the offer and service for our members is very impressive.

The year will start with the International Umpire Course held on 13-15th February 2015 in Budapest, Hungary.

In 2015 the new ITF Committee – International Competition Committee consisted of the best instructors and coaches will start the activity. On 20-21st June 2015 in Utrecht, Netherlands will take place the 1st International Competition Course and the 2nd ICC will take place on 4th-5th July 2015 in Benidorm, Spain.

In the first part of the year we will have two International Instructor Courses: the 99th IIC on 6-8th March in Trondheim, Norway and the 100th IIC on 13-15 March in Aberdeen, Scotland. Especially the last one not only due to the numbers of participants, but also because of the 100th anniversary course will be very special. We already know that 200 participants will take part in the course. The IIC are very valuable because there are many Grandmasters or Masters practicing actively during the courses and are really enjoying the common training.

The year 2015 announces itself to be very exciting. AETF will be able to be active and to develop in so many different directions.

I wish all of you all the best for 2015!

Yours sincerely,

Master Tadeusz Loboda
AETF President