On 27th May 2018, ITF-Austria had the pleasure of hosting a sparring seminar in Gerasdorf (near Vienna), taught by Master Giovanni Cecconato 8th Degree from Italy. With only a few weeks until the final of the 2017/18 ITF-Austria national cup season which will focus on sparring, this allowed competitors to get very valuable input from the highly experienced Master, who has spent a lot of time both in and outside the ring as not only a decorated competitor but also as member of the ITF tournament committee.

The seminar started with stretching, followed by warm up exercises and pad drills. The pacing of these exercises and drills was well received, as they started on a basic level and gradually increased in terms of difficulty and mobility, providing especially instructors with a large set of exercises for all student and competitor levels.

After the lunch break, the afternoon session continued with further sparring exercises, but this time with safety equipment. The exercises were followed by continuous sparring to round off the training. Amongst many topics, Master Cecconato explained that each competitor should not just (blindly) copy what they see others doing at tournaments, but instead everyone needs to find their own individual sparring style that fits their abilities and preferences.

After the training, Master Cecconato kindly took the time to answer questions related to the organisation of both national and international tournaments as well as competition rules. During this Q&A, ITF-Austria’s tournament and umpire committee was able to clarify various issues that had arisen in recent tournaments. To close the seminar, Master Cecconato shared stories and anecdotes from his long journey in Taekwon-Do, beginning with how he started to train in the art. He also encouraged the participants to become involved in worldwide Taekwon-Do activities due to the wonderful experiences he had had over the decades.

ITF-Austria would like to thank Master Cecconato for sharing his knowledge and methods with us. All participants greatly enjoyed the experience and training.

Struan MacCallum
ITF-Austria