Argentina 2009 ITF Congress

The 16th ITF Congress Meeting of the ITF was held on Friday November 27th & 28th at the Hotel Astor in Mar del Plata (Argentina) in conjunction with the 16th Senior and the 10th Junior ITF World Championships.

An important item on the meeting agenda was th

e question of continuing our legal action against the group of Mr. Chang Ung and a proposal that the ITF negotiate an agreement with that group.

The President introduced this item by confirming that the ITF had not made an agreement with the group of Mr. Chang Ung. He then invited Vice-President Master Juan Ferrando to tell the Congress about the meetings he and the Secretary General Master Willem Jacob Bos had had with the representatives of the other group.

The President reminded the Congress that because the ITF is a democratically-operated organization, the final decision would be decided by their votes. He then encouraged the representatives of the member countries to express their views on the subject, which they did.

The question put to the Congress was: Should the ITF continue its legal action against the group of Mr. Chang Ung? The majority response was “yes”.

Since Congress voted to continue legal action, there will be no talks to negotiate an agreement with the group of Mr. Chang Ung.

Congress voted unanimously in favor of seeking membership in GAISF for the organization, giving the Board of Directors a mandate to actively pursue this matter. We must convince GAISF that they should recognize the ITF. (At a subsequent Board Meeting, a committee was formed for this purpose. Master Tadeusz Loboda, Continental Representative for Europe, chairs this committee; the other members are Master Willem Jacob Bos and Master Juan Ferrando.)

The Congress has approved the proposal from the ITF Executive Board to integrate representatives of Continental Federations of maximum 6 members to make the total of the ITF Board Directors as thirteen (3) members.

The World Championships in Argentina were a great success, with more than 750 competitors from 46 countries. The level of performance was very high. The official results will soon be posted on the World Championships Website: www.tkd-itfargentina2009.com.

The organizing committee for the 2010 World Cup in Las Vegas (U.S.A.) presented a progress report to the Congress, as did the organizers of the 2011 World Championships to be held in Wellington (New Zealand). Work is well underway for both of these events. Information about competition schedules, packages available, and services offered will be posted in January on the official World Cup 2010 Website: www.itfwclasvegas2010.org.

For more information about the World Championships 2011 in New Zealand, please visit the website: www.itfnewzealand2011.com.

The locations for future international ITF competitions were discussed by Congress and

2013	18th Senior & 12th Junior World Championships	Benidorm (Spain)
2014	VIth World Cup	Kingston (Jamaica)
2015	19th Senior & 13th Junior World Championships	Venice (Italy)

Congress did not make a decision about the location of the Vth World Cup. Brazil has applied to host the competition, but the arrangements are not yet firm. It was decided to postpone the final decision until the next Congress Meeting. The next Congress meeting will be held October 15th 2010 in conjunction with the IVth World Cup competition in Las Vegas (U.S.A.).

The President reported to Congress about what has been achieved since the last Congress meeting. Highlights included:

The ITF now has 83 country members, and many others have expressed interest in joining. Our objective for the next few years is to have one hundred countries.

The ITF has been officially recognized by the government of Vietnam. The ITF sent Mr. Marius Steckiewiez, 6th dan, to Vietnam to work full-time teaching and to help them to upgrade their techniques. In October equivalency exams were held and 75 candidates passed, notably 4 for 7th dan and 26 for 6th dan. Mr. Steckiewiez will be continuing his work in Vietnam in 2010, and our experience in Vietnam will serve as a model for development in other countries.

We are currently working on official rules of protocol for the ITF. The initial consultation has been completed. The second draft document will be sent out soon to Black Belts 8th dan and higher for their comments and suggestions. Eventually, the rules of protocol will be presented to the Board of Directors for approval.

In the last six years 48 International Instructors Courses have been offered in countries around the globe, for a total of more than 6,000 participants.

The Code of Ethics for instructors elaborated by the ITF Ethics and Discipline Committee, approved by the ITF Board of Directors.

The document ‘’Inspire the world’’ out line by the ITF Development Committee providing the vision for the development of the ITF.

We have continued to introduce new services. The program for teaching the Do is complete and we will be moving on to implementation. The working group led by Grandmaster Pablo Trajtenberg has prepared a new children’s program and presented it to the Board of Directors.