Taekwondo (Korean pronunciation:
[tʰɛkwʌndo]) is a
Korean martial art and the
national sport of South Korea. It is the world's most popular martial art in terms of the number of practitioners.
[1] Gyeorugi (pronounced
[ɡjʌɾuɡi]), a type of sparring, has been an
Olympic event since 2000.
In
Korean, tae (
Hangul: 태,
hanja:
跆) means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon (Hangul: 권, hanja:
拳) means "to strike or break with fist"; and do (Hangul: 도, hanja:
道) means "way" or "method"; so "taekwondo" is loosely translated as "the way of the foot and fist" or "the way of kicking and punching".
Park Jung Tae (c. 1943–11 April 2002) was a master of
taekwondo and a pioneer of that martial art in
Canada.
[1][2][3] He was a key leader in the
International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) under
General Choi. Park founded the Global Taekwon-Do Federation in 1990, after leaving the ITF.
Park was born in 1943 or 1944 in
Korea during the period of
Japanese occupation.
[1][4] He began training in the martial arts as a child, starting with
boxing before moving on to
judo and then taekwondo. In 1964, he was the second President of the Korean Tae Soo Do Association.
[5] In 1965, he was ranked 4th dan and directed instruction of soldiers in Vietnam.
[6] Park was one of the twelve
original masters of taekwondo of the
Korea Taekwon-Do Association.
[7]Park moved to Canada where he met his future wife, Linda, in
Toronto in 1970.
[8] During the 1970s, he established the Manitoba Tae Kwon-Do Association.
[9] In 1978 and 1979, he accompanied Choi on taekwondo demonstration tours in Europe.
[10] In 1984, he conducted a seminar in Brisbane, Australia.
[11][12] At the time, he was ranked 8th dan in the ITF.
[12] In November 1984, Park was elected Secretary-General of the ITF.
[13]Park founded the Global Taekwon-Do Federation (GTF) on 14 June 1990, the year after his departure from the ITF due to North–South Korean political issues.
[1][14][15] Amongst those who affiliated with the GTF was Sabree Salleh in 1998.
[16] Shortly before he died, Park promoted Salleh to 9th dan (GTF).
[16]Park died on 11 April 2002 due to poor health, and is survived by his wife and their children: Juliann, Heather, and Christopher.
[1][4][17] Linda Park succeeded her husband as President of the GTF.
[4][17]Park is listed as a pioneer in Canada (1970s) in Chang Keun Choi's list of taekwondo pioneers.
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This is Sean Dansen, our one and only team leader.... He is wise throughout his act... and perhaps, he is a good leader... I can see that he works really hard on winning this competition....
This is Joseph Pang... He is a friendly guy and sometimes funny too.... He is the team's Manufacturing and Marketing Engineer.... He is the cause for us to win this competition in the category of " The best verbal presentation in Malaysia".....
This is during dinner time in Brisdale Hotel... man the food was good enough to eat... hahaha!!! I almost forgot, SMK Sultan Muhammad Jiwa also entered this competition...
This is Sir Hishamuddin testing the sensor for the F1 track in the hotel... As you can see, the unknown hand is Sean's hand... sorry for the weird image... hehe...
This is the CE2 Badlishah team.... As you can see, the boys are all form 4 students except for our coach there in the middle....
