SEOUL--Black Belt Taekwondo Grand Master Theo Liu passed his 9th Dan Black Belt Taekwondo exam at the Global Traditional Taekwondo Federation (GTTF) in Korea the first week in October. Grand Master Liu was invited by 9th Dan black Belt Grand Master Jun Lee of the organization committee of the GTTF to attend the summit and take the exam for the highest black belt ranking in Taekwondo.
On average, it takes 40-50 years or more of consistent training and teaching as well promoting Taekwondo to reach the rank of 9th degree black belt. The exam committee consisted of Grandmaster Jun Lee as President and he was assisted by five over 9th Dan Black Belt members. Grand Master Liu was also appointed as the St. Maarten President of the Global Traditional Taekwondo Federation for three years and becomes the hub for Taekwondo black belt exams for the region. The summit was attended by Grand Masters of 134 countries. Grand Master Liu explain further, “The Global Traditional Taekwondo Federation (GTTF) with Grand Master Jun Lee as the current President it is more important to preserve the forgotten values of traditional Taekwondo than style or system.” The spirit of Taekwondo is to train the body and mind to cultivate people who are indispensable in our society. The GTTF wants to focus on fulfilling the fundamental purpose of Taekwondo training for the majority Taekwondo population, rather than for talented individuals of a small percentage to go to the Olympics. “The GTTF wants to be with the mother Taekwondo organization Kukkiwon.
This is because Kukkiwon plays the role of the parents in Taekwondo. Parents are responsible for preserving the discipline of Taekwondo, guiding Taekwondo people to the right path, and maintaining and developing the roots of Taekwondo that have been passed down from generation to generation and will preserve traditional martial arts values kept by ancestors for centuries,” said Liu. GTTF protects the forgotten values and techniques of traditional Taekwondo and seeks to strengthen and develop them. GTTF aims to be a Martial Art Taekwondo that goes beyond the sparring and poomsae competition commonly seen in Modern Day Sport Taekwondo.
“The mental attitude of the practitioner takes precedence over the scoring system seen in the games,” said Liu. Self-defense, breaking, and Taekwondo etiquette are also important virtues of training. Poomsae (form) training aims to capture the spirit of mental and physical cultivation based on solid fundamentals, Gyeoroogi (sparring) emphasizes the harmony of strength and speed, Hosinsool (self-defense)can be used on the street and hone the skills accordingly, and Kyukpa (breaking) trains the body and mind to concentrate the body and mind to produce formidable power, and it is a traditional Taekwondo organization that places great importance on the character and etiquette of Taekwondo practioners.
There is a growing discontent with the direction and preponderance of “Sport Taekwondo” for the overall image of Taekwondo. This has triggered a countercurrent with the participation of most Grand Masters. It has also galvanized thousands, if not millions of Taekwondo practitioners around the world to “save Taekwondo” Grand Master Liu continue doing so as a guardian angel for our St. Maarten youth who challenging today with constantly sitting behind IT devices influencing them.
