International Taekwon-Do Foundation (NZ), Inc
PRESS RELEASE
14 December 2002
Victorious New Zealand Team Bring Their
Gold Medals Home
The ITFNZ Taekwon-Do junior team will arrive home from the 6th International Taekwon-Do Federation Junior World
Championships early on Monday morning, bringing with them three gold, two silver and four bronze medals. The New Zealand
team came third overall in a competition of about forty countries.
The tournament was held in Ponce, Puerto Rico from the 4th to the 8th of December.
The New Zealand team arrive at Auckland International Airport from Los Angeles at 6:05am on Monday 16th December.
The 15 member New Zealand team included the following medal winners:
o Mark Trotter, 3rd degree black belt from Shore City, Auckland won the gold medal in male 3rd degree individual
patterns.
o Kyle Caldwell, 1st degree black belt from Tauranga, won the gold medal in male individual special technique.
o Daniel Kerr, 2nd degree black belt from Dunedin, won the gold medal in male individual power test.
o The six member New Zealand female team won the silver medal in team special technique, and bronze medals in team
pattern and team free sparring.
o The six member New Zealand male team won the silver medal in team special technique.
o Harmony Moki, 2nd degree black belt from Papakura, Auckland won a bronze medal in female lightweight individual free
sparring.
o Nikki Galpin, 1st degree black belt from Palmerston North, won a bronze medal in individual special technique.
ITF Taekwon-Do tournaments have four individual and four team events: patterns, free sparring, special technique and
power. In patterns, competitors perform a sequence of prearranged techniques against imaginary opponents for technical
accuracy and power. Free sparring is controlled combat between two competitors.
Special technique involves performing five flying kicks for the greatest height or distance. In the power event,
competitors perform five hand and foot techniques to break as many boards as they can. In the team events, five of a six
member team compete together in all four events.
Junior World Championships are open to competitors up to 18 years of age. The next Senior World Championships will be
held in June 2003 in Warsaw, Poland, and the squad began training early this year.
During the tournament, the ITFNZ Taekwon-Do website (www.itfnz.org.nz) was the most current in the world. Team
supporters would email the webmaster, Paul McPhail, at least twice daily. The site went from a regular 8,000 hits per
month to over 140,000 in the first six days of December!
The New Zealand team began training for the competition over a year ago, including regular training camps in Taupo so
members from throughout New Zealand could come together. The coaches, Steve McQuillan, 3rd degree black belt from
Auckland, and Grant Eccles, 3rd degree black belt from Hamilton, were instrumental in developing the team’s technical
skills, fitness and mental discipline to a level required for international competition.
Czechoslovakia topped the medal table, followed by Poland and then New Zealand. Canada and the USA completed the top
five.
This is the first time New Zealand have won more than a bronze medal at an ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships. In the
last Junior World Championships, in Pyong Yang, North Korea in 2000, Jake Goldsmith of Brooklyn, Wellington won a bronze
medal in individual sparring. In Senior World Championships, the best New Zealand have done is also one bronze (three
times, in Malaysia 1994, Russia 1997 and Argentina 1999).
Further information about the tournament may be found at www.itfnz.org.nz (ITFNZ Taekwon-Do New Zealand, updated twice
daily) and www.prtkditf.com (Puerto Rico ITF Taekwon-Do).
The New Zealand team
The New Zealand team (and the events in which they are competing) are:
o Mark Trotter, 3rd degree black belt, (3rd degree individual patterns, individual microweight free sparring, team
event)
o Daniel Kerr, 2nd degree black belt, (2nd degree individual patterns, hyperweight individual free sparring, individual
power, team event)
o Kyle Caldwell, 1st degree black belt, (heavyweight individual free sparring, individual special technique, team event)
o Regan Diggelmann, 1st degree black belt, (1st degree individual patterns)
o Phillip Diggelmann, 1st degree black belt, (hyperweight individual free sparring, team event)
o Sam Skinner, 1st degree black belt, (middleweight individual free sparring)
o Tonee Francis, 1st degree black belt, (hyperweight individual free sparring, team event)
o Robert Buddle, 1st degree black belt, (middleweight individual free sparring)
o Daniel Thompson, 1st degree black belt, (heavyweight individual free sparring, team event)
o Harmony Moki, 2nd degree black belt, (2nd degree individual patterns, lightweight individual free sparring, team
event)
o Roseanne Te Hau, 1st degree black belt, (1st degree individual patterns, heavyweight individual free sparring, team
event)
o Jessica Te Hau, 1st degree black belt, (heavyweight individual free sparring, team event)
o Nicole Kettings, 1st degree black belt, (1st degree individual patterns, team event)
o Anna Wintle, 1st degree black belt, (1st degree individual patterns, team event)
o Nikki Galpin, 1st degree black belt, (individual special technique, individual power, team event)
o Coach, Steve McQuillan, 3rd degree black belt
o Assistant Coach, Grant Eccles, 3rd degree black belt
o Manager, Debbie Trotter
What is Taekwon-Do?
Taekwon-Do is a version of unarmed combat designed for the purpose of self defence. It is more than just that, however.
It is the scientific use of the body in the method of self defence; aiming to gain the ultimate use of one’s body
through intensive physical and mental training. Though it is a martial art, its discipline, techniques and mental
training are the mortar for building a strong sense of justice, fortitude, humility and resolve. It is this mental
conditioning that separates the true practitioner from the sensationalist, content with mastering only the fighting
aspects of the art.
Translated literally “Tae” means jumping or flying, to kick or smash with the foot; “Kwon” denotes the fist - chiefly to
punch or destroy with the hand or fist; “Do” means art or way.
Taekwon-Do was developed by the late General Choi Hong Hi, who passed away on 15th June 2002.
In New Zealand, ITFNZ Taekwon-Do has over fifty clubs and nearly 2,000 members throughout the country. Members get
together regularly for tournaments, training camps and training seminars.
Mark Banicevich
Director of Marketing
International Taekwon-Do Foundation of New Zealand
Telephone +61 2 410 300 610
Email mbanicevich@itfnz.org.nz