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International Ch'ang-Hon Taekwon-Do Federation
HISTORY
Formation of the ICTF
Twenty dedicated people attended
the First Congress in St. Albert, AB Canada on October 24 and 25, 2003 to ratify the constitution of the International
Ch'ang Hon Taekwon-Do Federation. Provisional chairmen were elected to take stewardship of committees with appointed
tasks due November 30, 2003.
ICTF History
It is said that "history
is written by the victor" and as such, I feel that those who were there from the beginning and still there,
should share their experiences as to how the International Ch'ang Hon Taekwondo Federation (ICTF) came to be, in
order to keep the records straight.
Since the early 80s, I had made acquaintance with Master Giovanni Rosario, through an instructor we had had in
common at the time. In 2002, I met several of the Ch'ang Hon pioneers at a funeral memorial service for Gen Choi
held in Toronto, Canada, one of whom was GM Kong, Young Il. Present at the service was Master Cariati, and Master
Stanley, among many others, all of whom were in the ITF as headed by then Master Choi, Jung Hwa.
Master Rosario came to train with me in order to become updated and mentioned that he had been in search of his
original instructor from Puerto Rico with whom he had lost contact: GM Kong. He then flew out to California to
renew acquaintances with him. Upon his return to Florida, Master Rosario attempted to convince GM Kong that we
should get together for some common cause, and flew him in to Miami to meet with me. GM Kong then contacted me
after returning back to California, that there was going to be a first meeting of pioneers in California (Nam Tae
Hi, C.K Choi and others), and would I be able to come; I chose not to go. The meeting resulted in an agreement
for them to get together again and that there was a suggestion to form some kind of Federation naming GM Kong as
President. GM Kong asked me to be Secretary General of the yet-to-be-named Federation, which I declined. He called
a meeting in Los Angeles which I attended; since having left the ITF under Master Choi. At that meeting a name
of World International TKD Federation was suggested but I suggested that if the new Federation was going to follow
the art as created by Gen Choi, the name should have Ch'ang Hon incorporated into it. The name International Ch'ang
Hon TKD Federation (ICTF), was then born. GM Kong upon reporting back to the pioneers on the name selection was
met with resistance by them since they felt that they did not wish to pay homage to Gen Choi, since Ch'ang Hon
was his pen name. The name stayed but none of the pioneers came on board the ICTF. GM Nam Tae Hi was flown into
Las Vegas for another meeting, where GM Kong had then moved from Los Angeles, to have a meeting with us. GM Nam,
at the split of all ITFs, had been contacted to join them but turned all of them down. GM Kong then asked me to
explain to GM Nam the purpose of the ICTF and to then ask him to be ICTF Honourary President, which after my explanation
of the ICTF goal to maintain all the principles as written in the encyclopedia, he agreed to be Honourary President.
Much time was spent putting together a Constitution and then in October of 2003 in Edmonton, Canada, then resulted
in the first ICTF Congress (AGM) electing as their first officers for a 4 year term, GM Nam Tae Hi- Honourary President,
GM Kong Young Il- President, Master Mel Steiner- Executive V.P, Master Kim Mu Won-Secretary General, Master Joe
Cariati -Vice President, Mr. Emil Ropac- Treasurer. At a separate meeting in 2005 Master McNeely was asked to be
ICTF Vice President by GM Kong, but he turned it down as he only wished to be ICTF member only, and not get involved
in the politics.
In 2006 at the AGM in Las Vegas, Nevada, new ICTF officers were elected for a 2 year term, Master Mel Steiner-
President, Master Joe Cariati-Executive V.P, Master Craig Stanley-Secretary General, Mrs. Vivian Rocca-Treasurer,
Master Richard Parris Vice President.
Grandmaster Mel Steiner 2007
A Brief History of Ch'ang Hon
Tae Kwon Do
The style of Taekwon Do which
the ICTF Organization practices is called Ch'ang Hon or "blue cottage". General Choi Hong Hi, the father
of Taekwon-Do, was given this pseudonym by his calligraphy teacher. The hallmark of this system, which was created
in the 1950s, is the combination of fast and slow, light and forceful movements, together with the extensive footwork
whose roots stem from the Sho-Rin and Sho-Rei schools of Okinawan Karate.
These roots combined with others have over time been refined to the extent that they no longer resemble their original
movements and have become totally "Korean" in every way through the application of the nine training
secrets.
Translated literally, TAE KWON DO means "art of foot and hand fighting".
TAE means to kick, jump, or smash with the foot.
KWON denotes the fist, mainly to punch or destroy with the hand or fist.
DO is the art, the way, the method.
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