On November 6th, 2010,  the INO in The Netherlands, the NTA, was honored with a visit from the ITF President Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa and Senior Vice President Master Volmir Ligay. They were visiting Mill, The Netherlands on behalf of a Master Class, given by Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa.

The said Master Class was open to all (international) organizations which was very welcomed!  130 participants (including 25 children) from 14 countries attended the Master Class; Canada, Korea, Singapore, Russia, Austria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovakia, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Belgium and off course The Netherlands.

The initial reception and registration was perfectly done by Dutch hostesses (with orange attire) and included the reigning European Champion Mariska Janssen and reigning World Champion Melanie Evers.

Eventually 130 participants were aligned at 10.00 hours to welcome the Grand Master and Master in to the dojang with laud applause. The children were standing aligned at the front row, next to the adults so they could see the Grand Master very well. President of the NTA Léon van der Putten translated all the tips and remarks from Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa in Dutch especially for the children and that was much appreciated! Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa and Master Volmir Ligay entered the dojang and were accompanied by 2 representatives of CISM, Master Seongsup-Lim (President CISM) and Master Jin-Kun Baek.

After the greeting procedure, done by Master Hans Beurskens, Master Pier Paolo Lecca did the warm up. Master Lecca had everybody warmed up in no time and then the actual Master Class could start.

Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa emphasized the development of power by speed and use of the whole body, especially the belly zone of the body. In that zone lies a great part of the secret  of the powers that we can develop with Taekwon-Do.

Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa impressed everyone by performing a lot of movements himself with astonishing speed and power. The Grand Master was assisted by Master Pier Paolo Lecca and Master Hans Beurskens.

At 17.30 hours the Master Class ended and was followed by the photo and signature ritual. Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa and Master Volmir Ligay took their time to take photo’s with everyone and talk with them.

After the photo ritual, 9 participants entered the degree testing. The testing committee was formed by Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa, Master Volmir Ligay, Master Pier Paolo Lecca and Master Hans Beurskens. There were 3 candidates for Ist dan, 1 for IInd dan, 2 for IIIrd dan, 1 for Vth dan and 2 for VIth dan. All 9 candidates passed their exams.

The unforgettable day ended with a tasty oriental 4 course dinner. A beautiful slide show was shown during this dinner with old and new Taekwon-Do pictures which was very much appreciated by our guests. Obviously there were gifts exchanged but above all experiences and contacts were exchanged during this dinner in exquisite ambiance.

The NTA hosted Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa and Master Volmir Ligay and the Master Class with much pleasure and deference. The event has been an unique and unforgettable experience for us. This was also possible due to all our guests, again many thanks for attending our event!

Now things are getting back to normal, which means that the NTA, as INO,  will start focusing on identifying competitors and prepare for the European Championships in Ireland in to defend the honor of The Netherlands.