AETF Adapted Course Report February 2025 - Report by Master Pat Barry

The 1st AETF Adapted course took place on the weekend of February 1st and 2nd in Livingston, Scotland and was hosted by Master John McIlvaney.

Chairperson of the AETF Inclusion committee Master McIlvaney together with member of the AETF inclusion committee Master Pat Barry from Ireland were the leaders and tutors on the course. Ms Helen Goodson Finglas Head Instructor Taekwon-Do ITF Warriors Inclusion, also made the trip to attend.

The course began on Saturday morning with an introduction of the course leaders and participants to gain an insight into people’s expectations and experiences with inclusion and adapting classes and activities to support a person with additional needs.

The first section of the course covered physical disabilities and participants were shown and discussed activities that could be used for deaf or hard of hearing people, vision impairment, CP, congenital amputation (a person born without a limb or limbs, or without a part of a limb or limbs) and wheelchair user.

In the afternoon we were joined by special guest speaker Dave Rhoney from disability Sport Scotland. Dave presented a very insightful and thought provoking discussion on how to include wheelchair users in Taekwon-Do sessions including considerations, range of movement, risk assessment and safety including ant tip and chair tipping. Dave’s inspirational presentation was from a lived in experience as he is a wheelchair user and provided all the participants with a very open, honest and practical approach to providing classes for wheelchair users.

The day ended with Taekwon-Do fundamental movements, activites and adapted games and we were joined by some of Master McIlvaney’s ASN class members who added to the class and displayed their Taekwon-Do skills.

Sunday morning’s session began with a discussion and presentation on how to communicate with an enquiry from a person that wants to join Taekwon-Do, together with gaining an insight into different disabilities and how they may impact learning and participation.
The presenters and participants discussed the individual needs of a new member, what information is required, visiting the club or location, a trial class, confidentiality, resources that could be sent to the new member’s parents or guardian which may help to support the person before their first class.

No two people are the same, the first step is to speak with the person – understand their abilities and goals and not to assume or judge.

Next it was back on the mats for some warm up activities and Master McIlvaney and Master Barry brought all the participants through intellectual disability, ADHD, ADD, Autism and DS.

The participants had an opportunity to lead a Taekwon-Do class and take on some role play activities to experience the challenges that may occur during the class and to provide an opportunity to implement the STEPS process that had been presented.

After lunch the course continued with a discussion on competitions and adapting / tailoring the rules, sections for competitors, format, umpiring and opportunities at future events for our athletes.

The course concluded with a facetime call from President of the AETF, Master Leonardo Oros Duek, who congratulated everyone present who took part in this historic event and wished everyone the very best for the future and to continue providing opportunities for people with additional needs to take part in ITF Taekwon-Do.

The course participants were asked to complete a survey questionnaire at the end of the day and some of the comments included

“Hands on heart a truly brilliant course”

“I have attended many ITF courses over the years but this was one of the best”

“It was a fantastic weekend of training and great fun. Lots of ideas and new training drills to bring back to the club.”

The course concluded and people were still enthusiastically chatting afterwards and exchanging contact details to continue with the sharing of ideas and resources into the future.

Master John McIlvaney and Master Pat Barry are looking forward to continuing their work with the inclusion committee into the future and presenting the AETF Adapted course to any country that would like to host a course or to include it in conjunction with an event that they are organising. 

Report written by Master Pat Barry VIII, member of the AETF Inclusion Committee