The Legacy Survives – Three Significant Milestones to Celebrate
The Legacy Survives weekend of events presented a great opportunity to train under and celebrate with Master Graham Moulden, who is the founder of the Queensland Self Defence and Taekwon-Do Academy (QSDTA) and President of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) Thailand.
The Legacy Survives recognised and celebrated three significant milestones in Australian Taekwon-Do history. Firstly, 2016 marks the fiftieth anniversary since the establishment of the ITF. Secondly, 2016 is the fortieth anniversary since Master Moulden commenced training in Taekwon-Do. Thirdly, this year marks the twentieth anniversary since the establishment of QSDTA in Bundaberg.
A number of Brisbane based black belts and students travelled to Bundaberg to celebrate these milestones with students and black belts from across Queensland. The celebrations commenced with a Master’s Class under Master Moulden on Saturday morning. All participants received valuable instruction on a range of techniques, as well as recommendations for improving their fundamental movements, balance, sine wave action etc. At the conclusion of the class, all participants received a certificate of recognition and took the opportunity to be photographed with Master Moulden.
In the afternoon, 4th dan black belts and above were invited to lunch with Master Moulden. During the meal extensive discussion centred on potential future Taekwon-Do activities including opportunities to train in DPR Korea and Thailand as well as attending the ITF World Championships and selection to the Australian Taekwon-Do team.
In the evening, QSDTA black belts attended The Legacy Survives dinner at which we were fortunate to have Senior Master Jamie Moore in attendance to help celebrate the milestones. In 1996, Senior Master Moore was instrumental in assisting the newly formed QSDTA to affiliate with the ITF and assist the integration of sine wave etc into the QSDTA curriculum. The association with Senior Master Moore continued over the next 20 years and will continue into the future. Master Moulden presented Senior Master Moore with a Statue of General Choi, the founder of Taekwon-Do and the first President of ITF.
Master Moulden was presented with a commemorative plaque from the black belts and students of QSDTA recognising his 40 years of training and teaching Taekwon-Do across Queensland and Thailand, as well as his generosity, dedication and willingness to share his Taekwon-Do knowledge with anyone eager to learn.
As part of the celebration, Master Moulden presented Honourable Citations of Service to Sabum Kris Richardson and Sabum Rachanok Moulden. These citations recognised their dedication and loyalty to establishing and growing QSDTA and ITF Thailand respectively.
Master Moulden also presented Citations of Service to a number of long term instructors with QSDTA including Sabum Greg Santos (Bundaberg), Sabum Ben Gilmore (Cairns), Sabum Kerri Olsen (Bundaberg), Sabum Garth Ovenden (Bundaberg), Sabum Michael Devine (Brisbane) and Norman Ward (Bundaberg). Norman was an instructor with QSDTA for a number of years before taking on the role of designing and managing the QSDTA website.
At the conclusion of the evening Master Moulden outlined the restructuring of QSDTA into ITF North Queensland, ITF Wide Bay and ITF South East Queensland. The restructure provides opportunities for instructors in the three regions to develop new skills, progress further, take on additional responsibilities and raise their profiles with the ITF and the Australian Taekwon-Do national governing body, the All Australia International Taekwon-Do Federation.
ITF South East Queensland is looking forward to continuing to teach Taekwon-Do, growing its student base and continuing its association with Master Moulden, ITF Wide Bay and ITF North Queensland.
Please click on the link to the ITF SEQ Facebook page for more photos of The Legacy Survives class and dinner.
