2025, A Personal Year in Review
ITF Radix, Oslo East Taekwon-Do Club, and the wider NTN and ITF community
By Roy Rolstad
When I look back at 2025, I do so with a deep sense of gratitude, pride, and humility. It has been a year where many threads have come together, our daily teaching and training at Oslo East Taekwon-Do Club, the continued development of the ITF Radix project, and active involvement within National Taekwon-Do Norway (NTN) and International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF).
Oslo East Taekwon-Do Club – Built by People
From a competitive standpoint, 2025 was an exceptional year for Oslo East Taekwon-Do Club. We became the best club overall at Østlandscup 2025, across three competitions. At the Norwegian National Championships, we placed third overall, just behind Trondheim and Bergen, a strong result that reflects both quality and consistency.
Internationally, Celine represented us at the Eurpean Championships, and achieved a bronze medal in patterns. Alba, Celine, and Lars represented Norway at the World Championships, where Alba achieved a World Championship silver medal in patterns.
Camilla has done, and continues to do, an excellent job as an international referee and umpire at all levels, including serving as a member of the AETF Umpire Committee. She is also the Chair of the Norwegian Umpire Committee, Chair of the Board of Oslo East Taekwon-Do Club, and a board member of both National Taekwon-Do Norway and the ITF Section of the Norwegian Martial Arts Federation. The amount of work that she puts down is beyond imagination, combined with being an excellent instructor and examiner at the club.
Towards the end of the year, another major milestone followed: seven athletes from the club were selected to represent NTN for the European Championships 2026: Ebba, Panthea, Melvin, Alba, Celine, Lars, and Vegard.
Yet, results are only the surface. What matters most to me is that all of this is the outcome of collective effort. From our youngest beginners to experienced competitors, instructors, volunteers, and board members, Oslo East is a small, well-run club with a rare balance: between breadth and elite performance, between martial art and sport, between seriousness and inclusivity. Many people push the plough together, and that shared effort defines who we are.
ITF Radix, Teaching, Dialogue, and Responsibility
In parallel, 2025 has been a highly active year for ITF Radix. Across Europe, I’ve had the privilege of teaching, learning, and exchanging ideas through seminars and collaborations.
Highlights include teaching at Elite Stage in Spain, where the focus was on fundamentals, structure, patterns, application, and instructor responsibility, rather than performance alone.
In Poland, ITF Radix contributed through both a big seminar and TKDMeetUp, environments that value open discussion and honest exploration of Taekwon-Do practice.
The year also included a seminar in the UK, conducted by Master Robert as well as I continued teaching and development work in Norway, where ideas are constantly tested against real club life, mixed age groups, and long-term progression.
One of the most meaningful moments for me was the 24-hour ITF online seminar marking 70 years of ITF Taekwon-Do. Rather than a nostalgic celebration, it became a global reflection on history, pedagogy, technical evolution, and the responsibility we carry as instructors. It was a honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to present the ideas of the ITF Radix project along with my daughter, Alba and son, Melvin. Especially at a such monumental event.
Across the ITF Radix blog and seminars, a clear and consistent thread has run through 2025:
Balance between martial art and sport
Safety, structure, and fairness in gradings
Hosinsul as a skillset and a performance
Fundamentals, biomechanics, and patterns as living tools for Selfdefense
Respect for General Choi’s framework without freezing Taekwon-Do in time
Community is people
Whether through ITF Radix, Oslo East, NTN or ITF activities, 2025 has reinforced one core belief: Community with people matter. Progress happens when instructors, athletes, parents, and organisers share a long-term perspective and work together with mutual respect.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The coming year is already shaping up to be just as active. Alba and I open the year at Elite Stage & Competition in Spain. Oslo East will host Østlandscup 1 on January 31st at Oppsal Arena.
Poster for ØC1, 2026. Made by Marianne Torske. Photo: John Gjertsen
“ITF Radix -Tour” 2026
Over Easter, I am organizing a social and cultural Taekwon-Do trip to Seoul, Korea, called “ITF Radix, Tour”, with more than 60 participants in total. ITF was founded by General Choi in 1966. This is 60 years ago when we are there. And we will be accompanied by GM Yoosun Lee, who was present at the foundation of ITF in 1966, and Dr. Sanko Lewis, who’s been a resident of Seoul for the last 15 years.
More tournaments, seminars and courses
The European Championships in Slovenia follow, with four juniors and three seniors from Oslo East, Camilla serving as a referee, and a strong group of parents supporting from the sidelines. We will repeat our summer training program for children and youth, look forward to summer camp in Surnadal, World Cup in Benidorm in October, and finish the year with the Norwegian Championships in Kristiansand in early November.
On the ITF Radix side, I am especially looking forward to the upcoming seminar at Åndalsnes in Norway together with Master Robert Boer, bringing the shared ITF Radix framework together in one room once again for the first time since Covid.
The Most Important Thing
In the middle of all plans, competitions, seminars, and travel, I want to underline what truly matters most in Taekwon-Do:
Showing up to daily training, doing our best, and contributing with a genuine smile. That is where motivation is built. That is where joy lives. That is where everything starts.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed, trained, supported, questioned, and shared the journey through 2025, in Oslo East, through ITF Radix, and within the broader NTN and ITF community.
And a special thank you to my family Alba, Melvin and Camilla. Words can’t describe how much I love you, and how proud I am of you.
I’m deeply grateful. The work continues. TCB⚡️
Merry Christmas & A happy New Year to all of you! ❤️🙏
Roy Rolstad