A new national sports body, 'Taekwondo New Zealand', has made major progress in unifying a number of Olympic WTF-style Taekwondo organisations in New Zealand. This is an exciting and groundbreaking development as never before has any one organisation been able to unite so many independent styles and clubs under one banner.
The sport has been split by deep divisions for over a decade. Recently a working group known as the 'Unification Steering Committee' had been approved by the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) to manage the unification process. This group was approved by the NZOC on the basis that its members were representative of the majority of WTF groups in New Zealand rather than just one organisation. While there was significant progress made by the committee, an impasse was reached on a number of issues resulting in the committee being dissolved and the matter of unification being passed back to the NZOC.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee remains the official interim governing body for WTF-Style Taekwondo in New Zealand and is approved and recognised by the World Taekwondo Federation.
Three members of the original Unification Steering Committee, Grandmaster Tae Kyung Kim, Rajesh Narsey, and Matt Ransom have since moved on to the interim management committee of 'Taekwondo New Zealand' in an effort to keep this process moving forward. They see the new organisation as a body that has a democratic constitution and a sound strategic plan which best represents the interests of the majority of practitioners in New Zealand.
'Taekwondo New Zealand' is managed by an interim management committee proportionally representative of its constituent voting member organisations. It also has the support of a number of very experienced and qualified New Zealand based Korean Taekwondo Masters and Coaches who form the Technical Advisory Committee. They bring a high level of expertise and special skills to Taekwondo New Zealand and are all highly commended and respected WTF and Kukkiwon certified Masters.
The purpose of 'Taekwondo New Zealand' is not to teach Taekwondo in competition with its member organisations, but to enhance existing Taekwondo organisations by providing a forum for them to plan and act in a unified manner for the promotion and development of the sport and art in New Zealand. 'Taekwondo New Zealand' aims to act as the National Sporting Association for Olympic Taekwondo in New Zealand, to select and manage national teams, and to act as the coordinating and disbursement agency for government funding. In addition to this, it will act as the one united voice for all of it's existing member organisations on all matters regarding unification.
Current member organisations represent a large majority of Olympic WTF-Style practioners with the largest member-organisations being the New Zealand Taekwondo Alliance, Taekwondo Union of New Zealand and ACE Taekwondo.
'Taekwondo New Zealand' has contacted other groups with invitations to join and will take an open, friendly and proactive approach towards the matter of unification. Any person, club or organisation which supports its objectives is welcome to join.
Any Olympic WTF-style Taekwondo practitioner or organisation wanting to make contact with 'Taekwondo New Zealand' can do so by writing to: –
Taekwondo New Zealand, P O Box 10-291, Christchurch
E-mail [email protected], or visit our website www.TaekwondoNZ.org.nz
Contact: Matt Ransom (TNZ Interim Secretary General) Ph 0274-222-821
