I.U.T.F Senior Ladies team are pictured below on a recent trip to Germany (Dec 2003) where they competed against WKA Germany in a team challenge. The result was a draw 3 - 3, the trip was funded by the I.U.T.F
Team left to right - Lucy Wolf (BUTF), Maeve Frawley (Chareville), Norma Carroll (C.I.T), Cathy Dunne (Tralee), Debra Donovan (Tralee), Orla o' Shea (Cahirciveen)
I.U.T.F Leinster Open Championships
U.C.D - December 2003
Pictured below are Listowel/Newcastle West Students with trophies after the event
John o' Connor (Listowel) - IUTF Junior Competitor of the Year, 2003
John o' Connor of Listowel Taekwon-do club was presented with this award at the IUTF annual presentation dinner, held on 30th November in Ballincollig, Cork. This is in acknowledgement of his achievements throughout the year, winning medals in both senior and junior international's. The Listowel club are very proud of the fact that they have won this award 3 years in a row, Mr Padraig o' Connor winning the prevous 2 years.
Mr Tony Martella Seminar
Mr Toni Martella of NAG/ITF Germany conducted a seminar for the IUTF on Sunday November 30th. The main topic was the correct use of sine wave in ITF patterns. Mr Martella concentrated on the colour belt patterns, and touched briefly on the first three black belt patterns. It was truly an eye opener for many to see patterns performed with such flawless technique by Mr Martella, he also gave a superb demonstration of 5th degree pattern moon-moo. After three hours of intensive work on the fundamentals the seminar finished on a lighter note with advanced competition kicking techniques, a topic very popular with many of our black belts. Mr Martella was also guest of honour at the annual IUTF awards dinner that afternoon. The IUTF will be hosting a number of pattern seminars in the coming months, the senior Instructors will be travelling to Belgium in May for a three day seminar with ITF President, Master Choi Jung Hwa.
P.U.M.A British Open Championships & Mr Khalid Iqbal Seminar
November 2003
An I.U.T.F contingent of 31 competitors travelled to Swindon, England to take part at these championships. An Impressive haul of 19 medals were won 7 Gold, 2 Silver and 10 Bronze. Special thanks to P.U.M.A UK headed by Mr Raymond Gayle 6th Dan and Mr Mark Ogbourne 6th Dan for their kind invitation and hospitality, many of our competitors commented on the friendly atmosphere at the event. It was great to see so many junior grades travelling, in fact the majority of the squad were yellow and green belts. The I.U.T.F prides itself on a policy of encouraging students to gain International experience at an early stage in their training.
Although the tournament was held in Swindon the group stayed for two days in Manchester before making their way down. Mr Khalid Iqbal, 5th Dan A.M.A had very kindly agreed to host a seminar on the Saturday morning. The seminar covered techniques used by security personel and focused mainly on restraining an individual who may be out of control, without causing injury. The group enjoyed acting out different senarios and learned also how to work as a team in restraning someone.
Irish Open Championships November 2003
The 2003 Irish Open Championships were held at Neptune Stadium , Cork City on the weekend of November 8th & 9th. This was a huge event with teams from the UK, Belgium, Italy and Germany competing. Saturday was reserved for senior black belts and Senior and Junior team events. The IUTF were very sucsessful winning 5 out of the 6 men's divisions and 2 out of the 4 ladies divisions. Sunday was Senior colour belts and all juniors.
Saturdays results:
Mens -55kg Mr Jonathan Dowling - Tralee. -64kg Mr Mark Philpott - Millstreet. -72kg Mr Tim Murphy - Tralee. -81kg Mr Padraig o' Connor - Listowel
Ladies -59kg Ms Claire o' Sullivan - Cahirciveen. +65kg Ms Kathy Dunne - Tralee
In the senior team sparring the Men's team placed third and the Ladies team 1st Both Boy's and Girl's Junior teams placed 1st. Pictured below are IUTF Junior boy's and Girl's teams - Left to Right - Eoin Murphy, mark Dowling, John o' Connor, Dara o' Shea, Mr Riordan (National Junior Coach) Deirdra Mc Carthy, Ruth Mc Carthy, Sarah Mc Carthy, Claire o' Sullivan - Missing from photo's are Kevin Larkin and Deirdre o' Flynn.
Listowel Instructors Complete Marathon
Congratulations to Mr Willie Moloney 2nd dan and Mr Toney Lucey 1st dan on running and finishing the Dublin City Marathon. They have in the process raised over 4000euro for the Hospital for sick Children in Crumlin. Their fellow club members are extremely proud of this fantastic acheivement and some are even considering joining them should they decide to run next year.
Mr Klaus Nonnemacher Seminar, Newcastle West Co Limerick
Sunday October 5th, 2003
In preparation for the forthcoming WKA World Kickboxing Championships, to be held in Killarney Co Kerry the I.U.T.F hosted two days of seminars conducted by Mr Klaus Nonnemacher. Mr Nonnemacher is Vice-President of the WKA and has been a World Champion on seven different occasions. Seminars were held in Galway on Saturday 4th and Newcastle West on Sunday 5th.
Mr Nonnemacher covered the various disciplines (Full Contact, Light Contact, Thai Boxing), teaching footwork, movement, correct body facing, parrying, feinting, counters with low kicks, high kicks, punches and elbows to name but a few of the techniques covered. As Mr Nonnemacher demonstrated he explained the purpose and application of each technique in detail. Many students commented on how it was a pleasure to take part in a seminar under such a true gentleman as Mr Nonnemacher. His vast knowledge is complemented by his easy going manner and ability to get the very best from those he is teaching.
Mr Klaus Nonnemacher Seminar Photo Gallery
W.K.A World Amatuer Kickboxing Championships
October 2003 - INEC Killarney, Co Kerry
Congratulations to all who competed at this prestigious event, it is an achievement in itself just to reach the required standard and be selected to compete at the WKA World Championships. Thirteen of Mr Riordan' students took part, they were; Ms Orla o' Shea, Mr James Lyne, Claire o' Sullivan and Eoin Murphy - (Cahirciveen) Mr Kevin Larkin, Deirdra Mc Carthy, Dara o' Shea and Kevin Larkin jnr - (Newcastle West) Mr Willie Moloney, Mr Padraig o' Connor, Ingrid Diggins, John o' Connor and John Spence (Listowel) Representing Mr Paudie o' Shea's Waterville club was Lisa o' Sullivan.
There were many fine performances over the week, for some it was their first time competing at this level. All deserve great praise for the way they conducted themselves in both victory and defeat.Mr Moloney competed despite only returning from his honeymoon the previous day. Deirdra mc Carthy, who opted to compete although she injured her back a few weeks prior to the event, fought a draw with her opponent and only lost on a count-back of number of kicks scored. John o' Connor, a Gold Medal winner last year struggled to make the weight and was severely weakened as a result. Despite this he fought very bravely and only lost the final on a split decision. James Lyne, who has enjoyed a very successful year was very dominent in the preliminary rounds winning all by unanimous decision. His final against a Slovakian fighter was a closer match, the first 2 rounds being hard to call. James finished very strongly and won the third round very convincingly to take Gold. Claire o' Sullivan, a Gold Medal winner at the Kickboxing World Cup is proving to be a very consistent competitor and was again on the podium with a well earned Bronze Medal. Eoin Murphy was in an extremely tough division and came through some tough bouts in the preliminary rounds. Although he won the first round of his final, his opponent proved to have the edge on fitness in the closing stages. Kevin Larkin, a Silver Medalist last year was in good form and won his first round convincingly despite having a point deducted.In the semi-final he was clocking up the points with some fine kicking techniques but in the latter stages his opponent found a way around this and scored well with hand techniques.
Medal Winners Were;
Mr James Lyne (Cahirciveen) Gold -60kg Senior Male
John o' Connor (Listowel) Silver -55kg Junior Male
Eoin Murphy (Cahirciveen) Silver -65kg Junior Male
Claire o' Sullivan (Cahirciveen) Bronze -60kg Junior Female
Kevin Larkin (Newcastle West) Bronze +70kg Junior Male
Mr Patrick Mc Carthy Seminar, Charleville Co Cork
Monday August 4th, 2003
Mr Patrick Mc Carthy 5th Dan, Chief Instructor of London Panthers Taekwon-Do Association conducted a 3 hour seminar hosted by Mr Tom o' Sullivan's Charleville Taekwon-do Club. Mr Mc Carthy has 30 years of experience in Taekwon-do, he introduced Taekwon-Do to Co Kerry in 1980 and is Mr Dalton's Instructor. Mr Mc Carthy has also trained in a cross section of Martial Arts including Boxing, Kickboxing, Thai Boxing and Ju- Jitsu.
The Seminar began with Mr Dalton leading the class through a series of Yoga stretching exercises. Mr Mc Carthy then took over and covered such techniques as getting into the mount position - escaping from this position - arm bars - locks - holds and various choke holds. The Seminar ended with some very enjoyable exercises to improve strength for groundwork. As this was a holiday weekend attendance wasn't as high as in previous Seminars. Mr Mc Carthy has kindly agreed to return very soon to conduct another Seminar, places for this will be limited and students will be asked to pre-book. Special thanks to Mr Mc Carthy for conducting this Seminar, his wealth of knowledge is truly remarkable.
(Mr Mc Carthy's Web-Site can be found via the links page)
Mr Patrick Mc Carthy Seminar Photo Gallery
Annual Summer Camp, Tralee Co Kerry - July 2003
The summer camp was held at Woodlands Camp Site in Tralee from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th of July. Training sessions were held throughout each day, the first one starting at 7am with a 4 mile run. Instructor Mr Riordan covered many aspects of Taekwon-do training including - Patterns, fundamental exercises, advanced kicking techniques, Self-Defence, Pad work and sparring (which included free sparring - one and three step sparring and boxing techniques). Mr Dalton hosted the Saturday afternoon session at his club in Cumman Ioseaf hall. It wasn't all hard work though, the group were taken to the cinema on Saturday - enjoyed the added bonus of having a barbecue on both Saturday and Sunday evening, (special thanks to the girls from Newcastle West for that) and eased their aching muscles at the Aqua Dome after the final training session on Sunday. In all it was a very enjoyable weekend, many new friendships were forged. Mr Paudie o' Shea once again did a great job in his capacity of camp supervisor and must be commended for that. To see photo's from the camp click on the link below.
I.T.F German Open & P.U.M.A Team Challenge June 2003
Padraig o' Connor and John o' Connor (both Listowel) were part of the I.U.T.F squad who competed at the I.T.F German Open. Padraig fought in the senior 80kg division winning gold and was also on the gold medal winning senior team. John fought in the junior 58kg and senior 54kg divisions winning silver in both. This was a very succsessful outing for the I.U.T.F with many individual medals won, the senior Ladies team also won gold.
Padraig was in top form again the following weekend at the P.U.M.A four nations team challenge in England. The I.U.T.F met Scotland in the semi-final and England in the final. Padraig won both of his fights although the team were unfortunate to lose out in the final.
Picture taken from Kerryman Newspaper
Connaught Open Championships - 15th June 2003
Congratulations to all who competed at this event. Unfortunatly not everybody was able to be there due to exam commitments, but overall the tournament was well attended. Special thanks to Mr and Mrs Fitzgibbon for their invitation, and congratulations on a very well organised tournament.
I.U.T.F Black Belt Grading, U.C.D - 13th April 2003
Congratulations to the following Students on their success at the recent Dan Grading.
2nd Degree:
Mr Kevin Larkin (Newcastle West), Mr Paudie o' Shea, Claire o' Sullivan (Cahirciveen)
1st Degree:
Mrs Orla o' Shea, Kelly Hillis, Sinead o' Sullivan, Emer Curran, Tracey o' Sullivan (Cahirciveen) - Tim Tierney (Abbeyfeale) - Ms Tara Collins, Deirdra Mc Carthy (Newcastle West)
W.K.A World Championships Trials
B.U.T.F English Open, Margate - 8th March 2003
A.M.A Northern Open, Manchester - 9th March 2003
Mr Riordan took a group of 38 I.U.T.F competitors to the B.U.T.F English Open and the A.M.A Northern Open. (For full results see I.U.T.F main web site). There were many impressive performances over the weekend, among these were John o Connor (Listowel) who won the mens black belt 58kg division at the B.U.T.F Open, a marvellous achievement considering he only turned 16 a few weeks prior to the event. Fighting in the 64kg division, James Lyne (Cahirciveen) was back in form again. Sparring against taller opponents who favoured lead leg techniques, James fought very intelligently; using back leg kicks to great effect and was much stronger when in close using his hands. The final of this section was one of the fights of the day and needed two rounds of extra time to decide the winner - unfortunately James lost out but it was only a head kick in the dying seconds, which decided the bout. On Sunday at the A.M.A Open James was giving away 12 kgs in the 75kg division, despite this he won all three of his bouts to take gold.
Katie Adamkiewicz age 14 (Newcastle West) was sparring in the Ladies 54kg division at the B.U.T.F Open. She fought with Great Spirit using lead leg side kicks and blitzing techniques to take silver Katie also won bronze at the A.M.A Open in an under 16-red/black division.
Twins Sarah and Ruth Mc Carthy (Cahirciveen) won through all their preliminary rounds at the A.M.A Open to meet in the final Sarah being the eventual winner. Labhaoise Keane (Listowel) won gold at the A.M.A Open in the under 16-red/black section.
Mr Paudie o Shea had five of his Waterville students on their first international outing. At the B.U.T.F Open Maire Fenton won gold in the Ladies white/yellow section and Lisa o Sullivan won five fights to clinch gold in the junior green belt section.
As always on these trips, a great time was had by all new friendships were formed and with so many talented juniors in action the future looks bright for the I.U.T.F.
Special thanks to Master Ted Wolf B.U.T.F, and Mr Khalid Iqbal A.M.A, for their wonderful hospitality and fair judging at these events.
Click to see photo's from the event
Medal Winners Were:
Munster Open Championships - February 2003