The Blackbelt Club, which is now defunct, has magnanimously donated $5,668.52 of its remaining fund, through the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF), to Assisi Hospice Children’s Centre.

Besides expressing her gratitude on behalf of the FMDM sisters and patients, Ms Ronita Paul, Nurse Manager cum Fundraising Coordinator, wrote: “When hope grows dim, it will be overwhelming for anyone to cherish the time at hand and the people around them. Yet a young patient is able to transcend this uncertainty and recognizes the love from those who care fro him as his pillars of hope and strength.

“It is indeed a formidable task undertaken by Assisi in providing this specialized care to the children with so much compassion and dedication all these years.

“Your generous support will enable us to continue with our mission.”

The STF is proud of the charitable spirit of the former members of the Blackbelt Club.

Core members of the Parents’ Committee had a meeting with Mr Milan Kwee, President of the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF), on 7 August 2007 at the STF Secretariat.

Mr Kwee spoke about the functions of the Committee before going on to suggest, among other things, that it could consider organizing a taekwondo camp for children.

Those present including Mr Louis Koh and Mr Mohamed Sahabdin, parents of children who are tournament players, unanimously agreed that Mr Darren Tang was the best person to helm the Committee.

Mr Tang thanked the members for their confidence in him and said that he would call for a meeting soon to discusss on the organizing of the camp. What’s more, he hoped to recruit more members into the Committee.

The one and a half hour meeting proved to be productive as several new ideas bounced off each other. One of which was to arrange special taekwondo training sessions for parents whose children are in the sport.

Parents who are interested in joining the Committee may contact Mr Darren Tang through the STF.

Master Tran Trieu Quan, International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) President, visited the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) Secretariat on 6 August 2007.

He was accompanied by Dr Lee Chee Wee, CEO of Lynk Biotechnologies Pte Ltd (a corporate sponsor of the STF), who arranged the informal visit.

After some pleasantries, Mr Kwee shared with Master Tran on the development of taekwondo in Singapore. He went on to give a powerpoint presentation on the STF community involvement which had attracted positive results.

Master Tran congratulated the STF on its effort of propagating the sport. He was visibly impressed by what the STF was doing for its members and the society.

The two leaders exchanged view on the best ways to move taekwondo forward. Although WTF taekwondo and ITF taekwon-do are two different products, they agreed that nothing should stop the two groups from working together for the betterment of taekwondo.

Master Tran took the opportunity of the visit to show some clips of the recent ITF World Taekwon-Do Championships in Quebec, Canada. He said that he was delighted with the outcome of the event in terms of organisation, participation and publicity. He also shared his views on leadership.

The visit of Master Tran was educational for the STF officials as they learned about the direction and philosophy of the ITF.