It was with great honor that Mr. Demers welcomed President Choi Jung Hwa to Ottawa for the International Instructors Course that was held there over the September 16-18th weekend. Travelling with President Choi was Master Rai and he was fortunate to also have Master Risko from the United States participating in this event. This much anticipated seminar had shaped up to be a very prestigious event.

For many of the students it was the first time they had the honor of both training with and meeting President Choi. On Friday night, the beginning of the seminar the nerves and excitement surrounding meeting the Son of the Founder of the art that we all love filled the air. Many of the students and some of the Instructors present had never had the privilege of meeting President Choi. They had heard about him and always hoped to meet him someday and now it was really happening. As soon as President Choi entered the training hall everyone began to relax as he quickly got down to business. He began to teach and students began to train. Master Rai demonstrated again why he is Special Assistant to President Choi and the ITF technical Director with his demonstrations and explanations of all techniques.

The weekend seemed to fly by after that. There was so much to do and so much knowledge to absorb; the two days flew by like it was just a few hours. President Choi was aided by Master Rai, Master Risko, Mr. Demers and Mr. Reid so all of the participants received very personal, individual guidance and instruction within these two days.  The Instructors in attendance also learned many things from President Choi which they will put into practice with their own students.

Although this was a weekend full of training there was also some down time.  A banquet was prepared for Saturday night to celebrate our time with the President Choi. It was quite an honor for students from the local schools to attend this dinner; they had been talking about it for weeks and were so looking forward to it. They were not disappointed. President Choi has the wonderful ability to make people feel welcome and he posed for pictures with every table and spoke with many people individually. It was a highlight in their Taekwon-Do training for many students especially the younger ones. The night was filled with good food, speeches and some promotions from the testing earlier that day. President Choi honored Mr. Demers this evening with a Masters Certificate.

The course was one that nobody will soon forget but unfortunately it had to come to an end. It was with much regret that we had to say good-bye to President Choi and with many hoping that we would be able to do a course like this again soon. But I am sure nobody will forget “To know one thing through and through is to know everything”.

 

Demers ITF Taekwon-Do