By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Philippine Taekwondo Association has declared former Olympian Donnie Geisler persona non-grata.
The falling out stemmed from Geisler holding online classes with several national team members without PTA’s permission.
In a 12-page document posted by the PTA on Facebook, the taekwondo organization “forfeited and terminated” Geisler’s membership and affiliation with them.
The declaration of Geisler as persona non-grata was the final decision of the sanction committee headed by Manolo Gabriel.
“All told, it is clear that Mr. Geisler committed numerous violations of the PTA’s long-standing rules, protocols, and traditions. Worse, when he was caught, Mr. Geisler, instead of apologizing and showing remorse, chose to attack and thus conducted a smear campaign against the PTA,” the sanction committee said.
According to the PTA’s investigation, national team members Samuel Morrison and Arven Alcantara were invited to Geisler’s online Zoom session as part of his free online taekwondo course to kids without permission from the organization.
Meanwhile, Pauline Lopez and Jeordan Dominguez, who are also part of the national taekwondo pool, were also invited but they told Geisler to ask permission from the PTA first.
“These actions of Mr. Geisler clearly constitute conduct unbecoming of a PTA coach and taekwondo practitioner, and thus, this committee finds him no longer worthy to remain in the PTA and enjoy the privileges reserved for its members,” the sanction committee’s statement read.
