TKD New Zealand Flashcards
Who is the president of TKD in NZ?
President - Master Gray Patterson and all International Taekwon-Do schools and members
Who is the appointed board members
Appointed Board Members:
Mr Dennis Burns
Ms Elaine More
Ms Nicola Tse
Who are the elected board members
Elected Board Members:
Master Mahesh Bhana
Master Mark Banicevich
Mr Nick Lorantos (Chairman
Who is the CEO of Operations?
Mr Mike Thompson
Who is the operation executive?
Mr Shaun Tolley
Who makes up the advisory panel ?
Master Evan Davidson, Master Paul McPhail, Master Mahesh Bhana.
What can you tell me about the history of Taekwondo?
Taekwon-Do has emerged as an international martial art in a relatively short period of time, only being named in 1955 by General Choi Hong Hi.
In January of 1946, General Choi was a company commander in the Korean army and began to teach Karate to his soldiers as a means of physical and mental training. It was then that he realised that he needed to develop a Korean martial art, and with this in mind that he began to develop new techniques. In 1954 there was a martial arts exhibition where Choi Hong Hi’s senior student Mr Nam Tae Hi smashed 13 roof tiles with a punch. Following this demonstration, South Korean President Syngman Rhee instructed General Choi to officially introduce the martial arts to the Korean army.
By the mid-1950s, the various martial arts schools were ordered by Syngman Rhee to unify under a single system. The name “Taekwon-Do” was submitted by General Choi and accepted on April 11, 1955.
Since early 1970s Taekwon-Do suffered from political interference and has been split into two main organisations or styles, called the International Taekwon-Do Fedeartion (ITF) and the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).
In New Zealand we are affiliated to the ITF, which was formed by General Choi Hong Hi in 1966.
How many clubs do we have in NZ
International Taekwon-Do is very much a “family” organisation, having grown from a few small clubs in Palmerston North and Wellington in the early 1970s. These clubs produced black belts that in turn started new clubs, and the organisation grew. Today we have around 90 schools nationwide.
International Taekwon-Do was first registered in New Zealand as an Incorporated Society in 1981 and is today recognised as a “National Sporting Organisation” by Sport New Zealand. Each and every year since then International Taekwon-Do has run regional and National Tournaments for its members, as well as hundreds of other events.
In recent years our competitors have made huge impact on the international tournament scene and were placed first at the ITF World Championships hosted in Wellington in 2011.
