DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

Don't tell anyone, though.

DEFEET

Do you know how to lose? I don't. Not anymore.
Actually, losing was never a trauma for me. I'm not a champion. Never was. Never will be. What aches me is failing. Failing to other people's expectations. Failing to have fun when I'm doing something I love. Failing in being myself. And when it happens, I feel like these feet. Naked on the hard ground.

WHAT'S YOUR GRADE AGAIN?

How do you feel with your belt? Do you think it mirrors your effective skill? As Taekwondo Olympic call grows louder, students no longer feel grades as critical goals. Most of them deliberately give up on acquiring superior dans to avoid learning complicated poomsae, which would subtract time to combat training. However, nowadays black belt exams are not selective. They're expensive. But there is little point in spending time and money for grades easily achieved by poor martialists as well. A few weeks ago, I took my 4th dan exam. It costed me 200 euros, travel expenses aside. I was happy to undergo a test unlike my frequent poomsae competitions, even though I was strongly debilitated by a five months stop. The excitement for the unusual trial, however, couldn't prevent me from questioning the meaning of what I was doing. Did I want to take a further step in my TKD career? Did I want to acquire the grade that would allow me to perform Pyongwon at the Italian Poomsae Championship this December? Did I want to have my two decades experience in this sport attested on the basis of a public showcase? Maybe the three of them, but the one thing I am always looking for at an official TKD event is truth. And as long as failing an exam will be a remote possibility, I will find it hard to give much importance to those little stripes on the right end of my belt. 200 euros drain excepted.

ALL I WANNA SAY IS THAT THEY DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT US

Goodbye, my little big friend. Stay strong.

KICK OF THE NORTH STAR

Number one athletes are often handsome people. Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Kakà. I am getting more and more convinced that there is a fil rouge connecting beauty and talent in sport. And when it comes to aesthetic sports like diving, figure skating, gymnastics, and - of course - taekwondo Poomsae, sometimes I am driven to think that beauty provides an unbeatable, untrainable added value to the presentation score. This can be the case of Roosa Närhi, Finland Senior 1 Champion. Now look at her yopchagi. A very high kick is not always a beautiful kick. Back, hips and legs can get overturned to bring the foot higher, thus compensating some limitations on the flexibility side. Roosa's sidekick instead has the triumphal shape of an equestrian statue. Her front leg leads the charge pointing up and forward, her kicking foot is perfectly parallel to the ground, and her stern refulgent expression adds the solemn charm of an ice Amazon. Gorgeous.

(Photos courtesy of Aleksandar Golović)

WILD WILD ELIF

One personality that really couldn't go unnoticed at Genova 2011 is the junior European champion Elif Yilmaz, from Turkey. She's got everything she needs: cold blood, incredible high kicks, and the proud killer look you could expect from a warrior princess. What you couldn't expect, though, is how Elif's vibrant personality is constantly drawing attention even when she's not busy on the tatami. The first time I saw her was on the stands, during her father's competition. Elif was standing in front of the first row of seats in order to take photos. When some people kindly asked her to get out of their sights, she put on one of the scariest faces I've ever seen, thus silencing her unwanted interlocutors. A few moments later, when the first score appeared on the screens, she ran away crying with joy, without even waiting for her father's final exercise, which would actually crown Mustafa Yilmaz European Master 1 champion. The next day, she had just secured her gold medal with a flawless performance when I met her again on the stands, having a conversation with a couple of guys from another national team. <<Really? Am I first?>>. She was dominating the competition and she didn't even know!! Apart from her glorious smile on the podium, the last memory of her I retain is Elif having a souvenir T-shirt signed by all her foreign athlete friends... while she was wearing it. Irresistible Elif.

(Photos courtesy of Aleksandar Golović)

THE LIONESSES' ROAR

Shit happens. Have you ever been called to the competition area and suddenly stopped due to a problem with the scoring system? Imagine a neverending wait of one, five, and then twenty minutes, without even knowing when this torture will end. Imagine experiencing that at a European Championship. Imagine this nightmare takes place in the final round. You would end up either imploding with pressure or exploding with rage. At Genova 2011, the Italian female team chose the latter.

(Photo courtesy of Aleksandar Golović)

YOU READY?

Harder than competing is definitely waiting for it. Handling the pressure as hours go by and they're still not calling out your division; that can make the difference for success. You've gone through your exercise over and over. You've been stretching the hell out of your muscles. You've been testing your balance on every single kick. And yet when you're there, it's a totally different world. The ground disappears under your feet, your balance is uncertain, and your technique feels washed out. Most people think fighting is tougher than Poomsae. I agree. But Poomsae are crueler, because they don't give you the chance to undo your mistakes. And one big mistake you can't afford to make is stepping on the tatami without taking with you the joy of performing. Yeah, joy is the key, here. Feel free to get a little cocky out there, showing off a bit is just part of the show. Enjoy this minute when you're only asked to be beautiful. So don't be misguided. It's not your body you have to warm up. Reiterated stretching is mostly superfluous, because on the competition day adrenaline makes for all the flexibility you'd hope for. Neither you have to tease your brains with continuous repetitions. You know what to do, you've done it a million times. It's your spirit that needs firing up. Fuel your desire to impress. And when they call your name, just have fun.

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QUESTION MARKO

Once upon a time, there was Marco Archinti, one of the strongest Poomsae athletes Italy has ever had. His technique was polished, his side kicks were rock columns raising from the ground, and he was the dwarfish size that fits this discipline so well. In 2008 he moved to Spain when he was still at his peak, only a few months after getting a gold medal at the prestigious Alken Cup in Belgium. Then, we lost track of him. Some people say he's being training near Barcelona under Master José Santiago, technical director of the Spain National Poomsae Team. Further rumours have him undergoing surgery due to a broken Achilles tendon. Later on, an inside tip referred he'd been practicing the most boring sports on Earth, including running and swimming. The only certified truth, however, is that no one ever saw him competing again. As far as I know, he's suspended in a kind of Limbo, sitting on the thin line that separates still athletes and former athletes, leaving no answer to the question about his belonging. If I am to make a prediction, though, I'd say that the kicking dove is a migratory species; they can be missing for long, but when the winter of tiredness has gone, they cannot but heed the call of the competition. Because that is where they have their nest.

REGROUP

Competitive demo teams are like dominos. The fall of one piece triggers the fall of all of them. But if one man can repeat the same mistake over and over again, a team hardly does, because when mistakes occur, one group can look for a new starting point within the group itself. Like a flower at night, a team can close up, getting all of its petals looking the same direction. But you bet the next morning - whenever that'll be - it's going to bloom again. In all its glory.



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