Yesterday I attended a very unique and different TKD seminar held by Ms. Joliette Tran and her brother Mr. Nicolas Tran. Gatineau TKD was the host.
Mr. Tran is one of the National coaches so I know him pretty well and I always respect what advice he has to offer. He has a calming affect on me at International tournaments.
Mr. Tran worked us through many sparring drills and sparring footwork. I love sparring so of course I enjoyed this portion 🙂
I have only met Ms. Tran at a few other seminars but this was the first time I really felt I got to know her better. She focussed so much on the “Do” part of Taekwon-Do in a way that makes complete sense to me. I could have listened to her talk for hours on this subject since it’s very dear to my heart. I liked the way she focussed on how the tenants of TKD overflow into our daily lives. As TKD practitioners we all live by the tenants which makes the martial art so unique from other ‘sports’.
We had lots of conversations about our own personal experiences which was also a good way for us to get to know each other a bit better and to maybe view things in a different light. I found it very interesting.
Ms. Tran also worked very hard on proper posture for patterns. Having the proper posture not only ensure the patterns are done correctly but it prevents future injuries of the lower back, knees and ankles. After lots of demonstrations she had us work on self-corrections so we really ‘felt’ the difference.
I had the pleasure of doing my patterns beside Mr. Parent and Mme. Bond who are also world champions in Patterns. I love getting into the same rhythm and feeding off their energy.
This seminar wasn’t as physical as some of the other seminars that I’ve attended but I came out mentally rejuvenated and shockingly sore in my butt muscles after making the posture changes 🙂 Obviously I had to make some adjustments so I’m very thankful for this seminar.
I also came out of the seminar exhausted since not one word of English was spoken so I had to concentrate extra hard to pick up on the vocabulary. I’m so thankful for all my French Immersion 🙂