Congratulations to Mary Manzanero and Dylan Windsor! On July 22nd Mary earned her green stripe while Dylan earned his blue stripe. Each had to perform their respective patterns (Mary had to perform Dan-Gun, while Dylan had to perform Won-Hyo), perform their self defense, and do their respective board breaks. Congratulations to you both!

Congratulations to our yellow belts for earning their first green stripe! On the 22nd of July Addison Harmon, Jaden Davis, Alex Mannion, Christina Mannion earned their first green stripe. They each performed Dan-Gun, had to break a board with a rear leg side kick and perform the self-defense techniques they had learned in class. Congratulations are in order for Devyn Servo who earned his Yellow Belt at the same test. Congratulations to all of you!

Congratulations to Ken Graig on earning his 3rd black stripe! Ken performed Hwa-Rang and Choon-Moo, sparred against two other testers and performed three different breaks.

Congratulations to our blue belts on earning their first red stripe! On July 22nd Theo and Jennifer tested for their 1st red stripe, after testing their knowledge, Jennifer and Theo performed Choon-Gun, broke 2 boards with a back kick and sparred.

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 that evening, the three demonstrated four different three kick combinations followed by four different forms that the three had learned in their training. The four patterns that John, Priscilla and Kristian showed were Choong-Moo, Hwa-Rang, Joong-Gun, and Won-Hyo.

The three showed the outcome of their hard work, with strong and percise forms. After multiple rounds of free fighting amongst the participants, They each had to perform three different breaks, as can be seen in the embedded video(s).

The three performed excellently and we are very proud to welcome Mr. Buck, Mrs. McCabe and Mr. Frye as black belts.

John Buck, Priscilla McCabe, Ray Mannion, Kristian Frye

Oneonta Taekwon-Do School picture July 2010

John Buck, Priscilla McCabe, and Kristian Frye earned their black belts on July 22, 2010

Happy Birthday!

July 2 – Ben
July 4 – Guaire
July 8 – Kara
July 17 – Kristian
July 24 – Jaden
July 27 – Tyler

No class Monday, July 5

In observance of July 4th holidays, there are no scheduled classes for Monday.  If you would still like to practice, please go ahead and use the lockbox or talk to a senior student who knows the lockbox code.

Next promotion test

Our next test is scheduled for Thursday July 22 at 6pm.  Please come and support Priscilla McCabe, John Buck, and Kristian Frye as they test for their 1st Dan black belt. In addition, we will have a few of the juniors testing for their green stripes including Alex, Jaden, Guaire, Jake and Addison. We are very pleased to have 4th dan Master James Kelley coming up to certify the test on behalf of Taekwon-Do International.  Master Kelley and I have known each other for 12 years.  To learn a little about Master Kelley, I encourage you to read his 4th dan essay and watch his demonstration video.

From the looks of things, we will probably need to have a promotion test in August as many students are on the borderline in terms of having enough classes.  I would expect this to be in the last week of August.

Welcome new students

Congratulations to Ben, Kara, Lori, Erika, Devin, Aidan, Dylan, Jack, and Nick. Our 9 new students have shown tremendous commitment and made significant progress. Those first few classes are very awkward and challenging and a large percentage of people quit before their 5th class. We are very proud of you for your commitment and hard work and hope Taekwon-Do remains a valuable part of your life for many years to come.

No new students until September

Oneonta Taekwon-Do will not be actively soliciting new students until September in order to give maximum attention to all of our existing students. In particular, our new blackbelts will require continued classes to help them transition into the role of teacher.
Given our space restrictions and an inability to offer more classes at this time, I want to focus on supporting and developing all of our existing students for a couple of months before seeking out new students. Obviously, if someone walks in, we won’t turn them away. However, we will most likely begin a waiting list for September.

T-Shirts have arrived

Please bring a check or cash for $15 for a T-Shirt next time you come to school.  We ordered white t-shirts in adult sizes S-XL and they look terrific!

Summer camp

Grandmaster Kim is hosting his annual summer camp the weekend of August 27th in southern New Jersey. The camps are a very unique opportunity to learn new techniques and master old ones from Masters and Grandmasters. Among the expected instructors will be Master Marr (6th dan), Master Yang (4th Dan), Master Meany (6th Dan), Grandmaster Donnelly (8th Dan), Master Nathanson (6th Dan) and of course Grandmaster Kim (9th Dan). Perhaps the best part of the camp is having the opportunity to get away from the daily grind, the housework, the job, the computers, and simply be a camper, with a book, and having all (fairly healthy) meals prepared for you. The camp features swimming pools, courts, and rec rooms for you to enjoy in between the training sessions. I think you’ll find that you learn a tremendous amount during the weekend; lessons that will stay with you a lifetime.
I will be renting a van to drive everyone down and back (it’s a 4 hour drive). We will leave early Friday morning and return at approximately 4pm on Sunday. A signup sheet will be available next week. Please indicate if you are a yes, no, or maybe so that I can schedule an appropriate vehicle. All students age 9 and older are urged to attend. You can download a copy of the SJKim Summer Camp flyer here.

The 4th school rule

Thank you very much to the students who remember to vacuum the dojang every day and mop it on Thursday night. Emptying the garbages, replacing the toilet paper and paper towel rolls are greatly appreciated. Vacuuming the hallways, changing rooms, offices, and entryway all contribute to giving the school a nicer appearance. If you haven’t taken a turn, please ask a black belt or senior student how you can help.

On Thursday 6/17 we will be hosting a special class in Neawha Park from 5:30-6:30. The class is open to all belts and all ages.

Warmup will be at the Dojang and starts at 5:30 sharp! Be suited and ready to go.We will then run/jog to the spot in the park where we will be holding class. Sparring gear will be driven over so we don’t have to carry anything on our run.

Depending on the weather you might want to bring along a bottle of water or Gatorade. For class, TKD shoes/slippers are recommended but barefoot or sneakers work just as well.

I’m excited about the prospect of having all of our students together and uniting our whole Taekwon-Do family for what is sure to be a unique class.

Our promotion testing this past week was an interesting one. We had two black belt interim tests and our lowest rank testing was a green belt.

Everyone had trouble breaking boards it seemed. It’s been my experience that sometimes you just get a tough batch of boards.

I hope everyone took away some confidence and determination from this test. Sometimes you break the boards and it is easy. Sometimes it doesn’t work and it is not so fun. But, if you never push yourself too far, you never know how far you can go.

I’m very proud of the dedicated training put forth by all of our students who tested this time around. Please enjoy starting over and taking the time to make corrections and focus on the improvements you need to make for your next tests.

Unfortunately, I did a lousy job as cameraman. Please offer to help next time so that everyone gets a chance to review their test. I have no videos of the red belts at all and I missed a couple of board breaks and patterns.

In the month of June, please expect to have one night of classes at Neawha Park!

Phineas Collins-Brown earns blue stripe

Tyler and Terri earning red stripes

Tom and Chris earn red stripes

Owen McCabe board breaks and sparring

Brian Davis interim pattern demonstrations

New students

Oneonta Taekwon-Do is pleased to announce that we are accepting new students in the month of May.  We have room for 2-4 adults and 2-4 children!  Please forward this to your friends who have shown interest in learning self-defense.  Remember that your referrals earn you a free uniform or a free promotion test!

We offer 8 classes per week for adults and 3 classes per week for children.  Please see our class schedule for details.

Children’s classes

We are pleased to note that our Junior Beginners have worked very hard over the past 4 months.  Many are testing on Monday May 10th for their yellow belt.  In order to make room for new children, we invite our yellow belt juniors to attend the Thursday 5pm class with the adults effective Thursday May 20, 2010!  We expect that the children will continue to attend two classes per week, thereby making room for new children to take classes on Monday and Wednesday at 4pm.

Finn and Owen win 1st and 2nd place in NY Championship

Congratulations to Owen and Finn for their fine performance at Grandmaster Kim’s championship in New York City.  They are our first competitors at a Taekwon-Do International event and we are very proud of them.  For a first hand account of the day, please read Finn Brown-Collin’s article.

Adult promotion test

The next promotion test is Thurs May 20 at 6pm.  Many of our senior belts are expected to test including Mr. Davis  (interim), Mr. McCabe (interim), John, Priscilla, Terri, Tom, Chris, Tyler.  If you are testing, please complete a form.  If I neglected to mention your name, please speak to me.

Belly Dance Seminar May 22

Badra Bahiya has been a long time supporter of Oneonta Taekwon-Do and continues to offer classes at our school.  Their practice is consistent with our goals of training the Mind, Body, and Spirit.  Please help spread the word and invite women you know to “come on and dance”.  Caroline Huxtable is offering another half-day intensive belly dance seminar in Oneonta.

T-Shirts

Since the school has no air conditioning, we invite students to wear an Oneonta Taekwon-Do or SJ Kim t-shirt to class during the summer months.  (Memorial day – Labor day).  There are still a few t-shirts available at the school for $14.

Saturday, May 22 is your last chance to participate in our Spring Bellydance Workshop series at Oneonta TKD!  Learn to bellydance tribal fusion style with Caroline Huxtable of Badra Bahiya Dance Troupe.

The first half of the workshop will introduce the basics, including shimmies, isolations and finger cymbal technique, and the second half will put it all together in a fun choreographed dance.  11am-2pm with a lunch break at 12:15, $20 prepaid or $25 at the door.

For more information or to pre-register, contact Caroline at 607-547-5909, 607-434-3525, or upstatebellydance@yahoo.com.  And stay tuned for the Summer Session Bellydance class schedule…

Gift certificates are available at the Do-Jang and make a terrific mother’s day present!