Talking Taekwon-Do

Mr O'Connor sits down and chats with multiple World and European champion Adam Shelley. Talking about his journey, competitive success, what it takes to get there. They also discuss his other pursuits as an instructor and transitioning to MMA.

In this interview Mr O'Connor chats with Master Niall Jones. Discussing his journey and his competition experience as both competitor and coach. We also look at his coaching approach in his own club and his role in the ITA technical committee.

Mr O’Connor talks with Mr Carl Smullen. Mr Smullen brings a wealth of knowledge to the table as a competitor and an instructor. We discuss coaching, goal setting and club culture. We also dig into his many other roles he serves including umpire chair for the ITA and secretary for TAB.

Mr O'Connor chats to Ms. Anne-Marie Kinsella 6th Degree Black belt discussing her journey in Taekwon-Do, her thoughts on being the highest ranked female black belt in the ITA and her involvement as the physio for the Irish national team

Mr O'Connor sits down and chats with Mr Jamie Williams. Mr Williams is a World and European champion. We talk about tournaments his development and journey as well as his side project the Blackbelter podcast

Mr O'Connor sits down with Master Pat Barry. Discussing his club, the road to Master and his duties as an international umpire.

In this video Mr O'Connor sits down with Mr. Andrew Butler 5th Degree Black Belt. Discussion includes Taekwon-Do evolution, teaching, and flexibility methods.

Mr O'Connor chats with Mr. Adrian Byrne. Coach from Shannon Taekwon-Do team and Irish national team coach. Discussing his journey, coaching, competition a wealth of information in this one.

Mr. O’Connor sits down to talk all things Taekwon-Do with Master Adrian O’Mahoney.

An overview of whats going on this year and a final look at the black belt test at the end of last year

In this episode we look back on the preliminary testing and discussion about some of the points in an ITA blackbelt test how to deal with some of the different sections and the plan going forward

Latest episode tracking the preparations fro black belt testing. Examining the outcome of preliminary test.

Third instalment in our black belt test preparation vlog. Change of strategy on the cards now.

We look at the rules and regulations around ITF sparring. Including Point Values, Fouls and Warnings

Summary of the second week into training on the run up to 4th Degree test. Difficult week hampered by injury. Looking at new strategy going forward.

In this episode we go through the rules and scoring for ITF Patterns. As we are currently running a project where you can send us a pattern and we get 3 international umpires to score it for you we wanted to share some thoughts on the rules and scoring in case you might not be fully aware.

Eoin O'Connor shares his plans for his 4th Degree test.This is the first in a series of podcasts around the lead to up a black belt test and the work being done to prepare for it. This episode talks about the general strategy at 12 weeks out. With a preliminary exam in 6 weeks.

Last part of our mini series on colour belt Korean terminology. This time we look and Red and Black Tag.

We continue our terminology series with a look at core terms from blue and red tag patterns

We run through some of the core terminology needed at Green Belt and Blue Tag in ITF Taekwon-Do

In this episode we look at some of the core terminology needed at yellow belt and green tag. Including new blocks, stances and a lot of new hand techniques.

A run through on some of the terminology needed at white belt and yellow tag. As well as tips on how to learn it.

In this episode we talk about lesson plans. What they are why you need then and how we do them in Carraig.

This is a slight change of tac for us. Today we look at another option for match making in Taekwon-Do tournaments. One possible way to do this is by the Elo rating algorithm. Popularised in chess could we adopt it in ITF Taekwon-Do? We look at some code in action to see how it works and then also look at other applications of it

Mashup of recent seminar with Mr. Richie Forde from the TkdCoachAcademy. Lots of info in here and loads to think about

Eoin sits down with Mr. Richie Forde from the TkdCoachAcademy to talk Taekwon-Do. Discussing methods, values in drills, culture, mindset and of course coaching. A little bit on where Irish Taekwon-Do is too. A really good chat with loads of value for you

Thoughts on why you need a notebook to get the most out of your training. Also a few other ideas around how we learn in general.

Commentary episode on Won Hyo. Pattern needed for green to blue tag. Looking at sine wave in bending ready stance. circular block and other little technical details

In this episode we look at the reaction hand. Often secondary in thought we view it as the non working hand in a punch for example. Here we look a different view where it becomes an important part of a self defense application. We look at parallel stance punch and see if this makes any sense. We try to find a link between technical and practical application. While not the written definition maybe there is merit in this?

In our second sit down with physiotherapist Luke "Dr Pain" Gibbons we look at the sidekick in Taekwon-Do. We examine what muscles are being used how to mobilise and prepare them for kicking. We look into some strength work that beginners and more experienced students can use and some Q&A at the end too.

In this second meeting with Luke we dive into more detail around static stretching including isometrics and PNF. All of this in preparation for a more practical hands on examination of sidekick in the next episode. Disclaimer not medical advice always consult a professional if in doubt

Thoughts on how to choose a martial arts school

In this episode. Eoin sits down with Mr. Luke Gibbons AKA Dr. Pain, a Physio and long time friend for a discussion about some of applications of his work to Taekwon-Do.

We look at 5 things that can make your tournament experience that little bit better. Including preparation, mindset, match by match, support and reflection

In this episode we talk about mindset when it comes to set backs. In can be in training or testings or tournaments how you handle failure and set backs. More importantly what you can learn from it to make you better

A walkthrough of some of the technical issues in Do San. Include facings for blocks, rotations in releasing technique, angles and heights.

Talking a look at some of the technical details from Dan Gun. The 2nd ITF Pattern

Thoughts and break down of pattern Chon Ji. The first ITF pattern. Breaking down some of the key technical details of this pattern

This podcast is thinking about practical ways to improve your kicking. Focusing in actually kicking and not just supplementary training

Insights and findings when we let four teenagers run our instagram account during this years ITA summer camp. We learned alot about how they think which is helping us as coaches. From a business point of view it was a great experiment to try and create content for the teenager view point.

Summary and overview of Day 3 of the first ITF coaches conference in Ireland 2019. Topics covered include:- Making weight- Sparring 3- Wrap up and final thoughts

Day 2 of the 1st ITF coaches conference summary.Topics covered:- Future of ITF tournaments- Dynamic Kicking- Performance profiling- Sparring 2

Summary from the 1st ITF coaches conference - Day 1 Topics covered include: - coaching culture - plyometrics - sparring workshops