Oneonta Taekwon-do

Congratulations to soccer star Cael “McLegs” McCabe on earning his first black stripe.

After demonstrating red belt level kicking techniques with legs made like rubber bamboo,

and Hwa-Rang,

he broke 2 boards with each leg using back kicks.

Finally, he sparred with his cousin Finn.

We hope Cael has a successful fall soccer season and look forward to his return to the black belt path in winter.

Congratulations to our new Black Belts!

After training long and hard Kristian Frye, John Buck and Priscilla McCabe have earned their first Dan.

Master Kelly, a friend of Mr. Mannion’s was supposed to attend and administer the test, but due to vehicular issues was sadly, unable to attend.

The black belt test was long and tested their strength. The test started at 3:30 pm yesterday with a 2 mile run that all three completed under 18 minutes. Afterwards, the three took a written exam to test their knowledge of Taekwon-Do. At the promotion test…

Priscilla, Kris, John, and Ken all earn black stripes at their promotion test in January, 2010.

John and Kris perform the pattern Hwa-Rang.

Now, it’s Ken and Priscilla’s turn:

With an excellent board breaking display, all 4 of our red belts each broke 2 boards with each leg in a continuous manner. Taekwon-Do emphasizes equal training for left and right sides of the body for balanced results. This demonstration shows how effectively our students have practiced.

Kristian and Priscilla are on their way to black belt after passing the test for their first black stripe. They will now begin learning the final color belt pattern Choong Moo. For their test, they were required to demonstrate the ability to break with each leg equally by breaking two boards with a back kick. We are reminded that in Taekwon-Do, left and right must always be developed equally.

Full contact sparring is required for red belts during promotion tests. Here is the video of Kristian and Priscilla sparring. Note that…

Demonstrating well-balanced training, John Buck breaks 2 boards with each leg using a back kick at his promotion test in July 2009.

Priscilla demonstrates breaking two (2) boards with a back kick.