By Esther Egbe
Technical Director of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), Chika Chukwumerije has achieved another first for Nigeria as the Beijing Olympic bronze medalist has been certified by the World Taekwondo (WT) as one of the pioneer global educators, National Daily gathered.
Chukwumerije who was among the selected 28 technical officials from 24 countries gained the certification following the completion of the three-day certification course held at at Taekwondowon in Muju, South Korea under the auspices of World Taekwondo and the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation.
For passing the compulsory examination on the last day of the course, Chukwumerije will be eligible to teach WT Coach Education Courses across the globe.
According to WT, the 1st WT Educator Certification Course was designed to train instructors who will then teach national taekwondo coaches and the course covers a variety of topics – competition rules, safeguarding athletes, anti-doping, medical and other emergency management, WT history and culture, and much more.
WT President, Dr. Chungwon Choue, said “Those who take and pass this course will be certified to pass their newly acquired skills and knowledge on to coaches in their home countries, and from there, the expertise will spread throughout their federations.”
speaking on his experience, the three-time Olympian said: “I just graduated from the 1st World Taekwondo Educator Certification Program.
It was a huge privilege and honour for me when the World Taekwondo Education Committee specifically reached out to me two weeks ago, saying that they needed the best technical minds around the world to be part of this pioneering program, whose objective is to develop a select number of World Taekwondo Educators who would be sent to various regions of the world to educate and train coaches that come for WT international events.”
He added: “Truly, it was an honour to be with the best from around the world. I learnt so much from the loaded courses and interactions with other participants, who are global taekwondo superstars in their various fields. Though I was invited in my personal capacity, the knowledge gained will surely come in handy for Nigeria Taekwondo.
“For instance, it will certainly change our curriculum for the six-zone coaching workshops that we have already planned for across Nigeria much later this year,” Chukwumerije told National Daily.