Master Tadeusz Łoboda AETF President

Dear AETF Members!

Year 2015 may be surely considered a success in terms of both quantity and quality of Taekwon-Do events organized on our European continent. It had significant impact on development of our martial art and its promotion, but above all it allowed our adepts to realize their individual paths in many aspects. The majority of Taekwon-Do events organized in 2015 saw record-breaking interest of participants in comparison with previous years as well as innovative approach to presented aspects.

I would personally like to draw your attention to several chosen facts:

1. ITF Congress, which was held in Jesolo - Italy, chose their board for years 2015-2019. In its composition, I manage the treasury function, which I treat as a recognition of my input in Taekwon-Do development and also as an obligation to work even harder. Also Master Lazaros Tsilfidis, who currently holds the position of AETF Member and ARTF President, was chosen a Member of the Board, as well as Master Per Andersen - President of NTN Norway, who successfully leads NA in Norway, both in the sport and organizational area.
   In my opinion, it will allow the Board to act even more professionally. The number and range of services for our members will increase. Managing and taking advantage of “know how”, experience and abilities of individual members of the Board is in line with one of the objectives of our federation – acting in a team, which is much more effective and allows us to implement projects with professionalism. Such approach saves time, energy and workload and effects are to be seen immediately.

2. On behalf of ITF, 3-member delegation consisting of AETF members took part in Sport Accord Convention 2015 in Sochi, Russia, where we could experience honest criticism against actions of IOC by Mr. Marius L. Vizer – the President of Sport Accord. His speech led to strong retaliatory measures of IOC and as a result Mr. Marius L. Vizer handed his resignation and Sport Accord itself weakened their position on international sport arena. To prevent such tendency, Sport Accord currently undergoes deep reforms, both in their structure and program.

3. It is encouraging that services are not only inspired by ITF or AETF anymore, but new bottom-up initiatives of our members appear and the demand is bigger and bigger. The examples are: increasing number of seminars led by different titled masters with great experience; a TKD Live Platform inspired by initiative of Mr. Gaweł Szczęsny, III Dan from Poland, that has a great chance to become international Internet television dedicated exculively to Taekwon-do. Here is a quotation which describes the nature of their activity:
   ”Getting Taekwon-Do closer to everyone - live coverage from main TKD events like World and European Championships, Cups and other tournaments”.
   We also have Teakwon-Do Journal, established by Mr Hong K Looi from Ireland, who describes it as follows:
   „Your on-the-go Taekwon-do guide. Follow us for: inspirations, practice tips and the latest information about Taekwon-do from around the world.”
   We have also The ITF Radix Project, created by the international instructors Mr. Robert Boer, 6th Degree from the Netherlands and Mr. Roy Rolstad, 5th Degree from Norway. The project refers to the following goal: to research the roots and the tactical treasures of the ITF Tul to recover and develop techniques that have meaningful self-defense applications.
   Such initiatives are not only the field of European countries. Similar actions are initiated on other continents. One of the example is TKDCoaching.com, maintained by ITF New Zeland, described as follows:
   „TKDCoaching.com is an innovative new website providing expert on-line coaching for Taekwon-Do.”
   Another example is TKD ITF Report, maintained by Alejandro Tiratel from Argentina. There are definitely more initiative like these mentioned above and we are glad to observe the activity of our members which brings many positive values to our society.

4. In my last year’s speech I wrote that Taekwon-Do society in Europe was enriched by 4 new books on Teakwon-Do – it was no different this year. Thanks to the initiative of Black Belt Project) maintained by Łukasz Grygiel, we can enjoy new books: The Art of Patterns vol 1 and 2 as well as The Path to Black Belt, where the most prominent Taekwon-Do competitors: Mr. Jarosław Suska VI DAN from Poland, Mr. Lylian Doulay VI DAN from France and Mr. Massimo Persia from Italy. Mr. Mark Trotter from NZ, Mr. Maxime Bujold from Canada, Ms. Soledad Serrano from Argentina, Ms. Madeleine and Ms. Marielle Lind from Norway share their knowledge and experience.

5. Our European Taekwon-Do Family was enlarged by two new members: Denmark and Georgia. as a result, in 2016 AETF will consist of 35 country members.

6. When it comes to sad announcement, I should recall that in 2015 we said goodbye to Witold Brzozowski, the creator of our Internet website. Also Jaqueline Rowold, promising competitor of Germany National Team ITF, passed away tragically.

The year 2016 is also going to be intensive and rich in Taekwon-Do events.

It will be an important year for AETF, as it is the year of election. We will jointly choose the authorities of our Federation – Board and Revisory Commision for years 2016-2020.

AETF Congress will specify new lines of action, identify strategies and summarize and assess those from the present term.

28 April - 1 May 22nd Junior and 31th Senior European Taekwon-Do Championships, Tampere, Finland

May this New Year 2016 bring a lot of happiness and excitement into your life
and may you fulfill all your New Year goals and resolutions this time.

Yours sincerely,

Master Tadeusz Loboda
AETF President