From 31st January to 6th February 2015 in Szczyrk, Poland took place the Central Winter Taekwon-Do Camp. The event gathered together 69 participants representing such countries as: Australia, Czech Republic, England, France, Ireland and Poland. From the host country the competitors came to Szczyrk representing 10 Taekwon-Do clubs – members of Polish Taekwon-Do Association: KS Dragon Janów, LSKT Lublin, MKS Lewart AGS Lubartów, RCSW Fighter Rybnik, Feniks-Arete Rybnik, RSCT Radzyń Podlaski, SKT Trawniki, SSKT Warszawa, WITKD Kwan Warszawa, WSKT Wrocław.

This year the participants meet exceptionally favorable weather especially for winter sports - skiing or snowboarding. The skiing group was divided into two subgroups depending on the advancement level. The advanced one was leaded by Mr. Jaroslaw Suska and the beginners were under Master Tadeusz Loboda’s protection. They were spending over three hours each day having fun on a ski slope. Among the beginners group there were 12 participants who never had the skis on before. During the camp those people got the ski art under control to such a level that they were able to slide down the hill on the ski runs marked with blue or even red color. All those who had earlier the ski experience spent the time on Szczyrk’s ski slops in a useful and active way.

Two competitors from Sydney, Australia came to Poland – the siblings Gill and Ash Thorton, who included the winter camp in Szczyrk to their trip around Europe. Both competitors were very enthusiastic about the training sessions and despite the fact that the trainings in Poland were very intense they did not give up till the end of the camp. For the first time to the participants joined the representative from France – Mr. Jon Morris, a Vice President of ITF France, a competitor and a manufacturer of the Mightyfist doboks and safety equipment. He has used this opportunity to practice with Mr. Jaroslaw Suska and to improve his technical level before the upcoming World Championships in Jesolo. Also Ms. Sabina Mason from Ireland, many times representing Irish National Team, was “on board” of the camp in Szczyrk practicing in pair with Ms. Joanna Lipa, also long time member of the Female Polish National Team. For the second time Mr. Michael Etuka from England participated in the winter camp enjoying very much both: Taekwon-Do sessions and skiing. Mr. Kamil Kolofik, Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Czech National Taekwon-Do ITF Union came to Szczyrk for two days to participate in the camp and using the time for Taekwon-do training in a very optimal way.

The individual consultations conducted during the camp, where the participants can better their skills in the individual sessions, are very valuable part of the camp. The knowledge and experience of the education staff such as Master Jerzy Jedut or Master Tadeusz Loboda and in case of Mr. Suska additionally extraordinary abilities are an extra motivation for the participants to use this form of skills’ improvement despite the tiredness after hard training sessions and time spend on ski slopes.

The practice time was very intense, which resulted in the fact that the attendees did not have time for sightseeing or watching the ski jumping competition on a nearby ski jump.

Everyone left Szczyrk really satisfied and having a feeling that they spend this time good preparing for the upcoming sport season - on both national and international level.

To read the reports from the previous editions of the Central Winter Taekwon-Do Camps click on the links: