Congratulations to our students who successfully tested at Oneonta Taekwon-Do last week.  The test featured demonstrations by Lori and Ben, Jake and Guaire, Kent and Finn, and Cael.

Please see their individual posts for videos or visit our YouTube channel to browse our entire archive.

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.

Kent made his first appearance at a promotion test in Oneonta. He demonstrated Dan-Gun and basic techniques along with step sparring before finally breaking a board with a rear leg side kick.

Congratulations to Phineas Brown Collins on earning his blue belt. Blue belt signifies “the plant reaching up to the sky”, indicative of Finn’s strength and power. His precise movements in Yul-Gok are indicative of his dedicated practice and we are proud of his growth and successes.

It was fortunate that Finn could spar with his cousin Cael who earned his first black stripe:

The smooth and graceful movements of Guaire are nicely complemented by the intense powerful force of Jake as they earn their green stripes.
Congratulations to both boys on their fine achievement.

Happy Birthday!

Aug 2 – Kent Heidenreich
Aug 3 – Nick Perez

Next promotion test

Our next test is scheduled for Thursday August 26th at 6pm.  Both adults and children will test and we will enjoy some pizza and beverages afterward.  Please be sure to complete your test form and give a check or cash for your test fee to a black belt prior to the day of testing.

Openings for 2 adults and 2 children

If you have friends or family who are ready to start taking classes, please encourage them to call us as soon as possible.  We will only have openings for 2 adults and 2 children.  We always try to give preference to friends and family.  Remember that when you refer a new student who pays for a 3 month tuition, you get your choice of a free uniform or a free test.  Be sure to email your friends and refer them to our website for videos and information.

More T-Shirts have arrived

Due to the quick sellout of the large t-shirts, we ordered a few more and have them in stock.  The price is $15 each.  Get one for yourself or as a gift to a family member.

New York Karate Kids

Recently, NBC news did a segment featuring Grandmaster Kim’s school. The video is cute, funny, and still shows a nice side of Grandmaster Kim and his students.  I highly recommend you take a moment and watch it on the home page of Grandmaster Kim’s Taekwon-Do website.

Mirrors have been ordered

We have ordered three 4′ x 6′ mirrors for the dojang and hope to have them installed before the test.

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.

Most martial artists and non-martial artists understand that a black belt is something you “earn”, not just something you “get”.

But, please hear me out, I would like to take it a step further.  I like to think of a black belt as something in the present tense.

I like to think of a black belt as something that you “Be“.

Today, I’m going to be a black belt.  Tomorrow, I will be a black belt.

I call myself a black belt because I do the things that a black belt does.  I go to a dojang.  I bow to flags.  I try to learn from my teacher as best I can.  I practice as hard and sincerely as I can.  I do sit-ups and pushups, stretch, hit the heavy bag, and practice my patterns.  I try to further the teachings of Taekwon-Do by inviting other people to practice and then I do my best to give them the training they need for their development.  I try to “be” the best black belt I can “be“.  This is something I “do”.

When I’m not training, I hold myself to the tenets of Taekwon-Do by being courteous and being an indomitable spirit.  I also try to build a more peaceful world as General Choi wished in the oath.  This is the way I choose to “be“.  (That’s a great link, by the way – Calvin & Hobbes help explain the Oath!)

One day, I got an email from some guy who wrote:

“Ray, I trained Taekwon-Do for 5 years and just missed out on getting my black belt and was wondering how long and how much it would cost to get one.  I’m only going to be in town for 5-6 months, but I don’t like having loose ends out there.”

I was offended by this for a few reasons.

My first thought was, “you trained for 5 years in Taekwon-Do but didn’t learn that rule about calling black belts Sir or Ma’am or Master?”  Okay, some schools are like that.  I’ll let that go.

I re-read the 1st sentence: “how long and how much…”, I felt like I was Burger King being asked about a special order cheeseburger or something.

To me, a black belt is a personal experience and there is a great deal of growth that goes on during the years leading up to and after black belt.  I do my best to consider each of our students from white belt to 2nd degree black belt and I devote my energy to helping them be the best they can be.  In Master Kim’s school, there is a relationship between teacher and student that transcends mere coaching.  It’s a tough thing for me to consider doing for only a 5-6 month commitment.

Not everybody needs to make Taekwon-Do a lifelong journey.  However, boiling it down to a “loose end to tie up” left me without much common ground upon which to build a bridge with this gentleman.  But, you never know who will turn out to be one of your best students, so I responded:

“Dear Shawn (not his real name), congratulations on your accomplishments.  Thank you for your interest.  I don’t think 6 months is enough time to earn a black belt.  However, please come and see us when you get to town and perhaps when you visit our school, you’ll get a sense of how it would be to train with us.  Nothing is impossible.  Are you familiar with the original Taekwon-Do patterns or the newer ones? “

I forget what his response was.  Something about not being able to attend on the nights when we have sparring and that’s mostly what he was interested in anyway….

I guess what I wanted to say to him was that getting a black belt is not a “loose end” and a black belt isn’t something you just “get”.  It’s something you earn on your way to becoming a master.  It is something you become, and then it is something that you continue to be on a daily basis.

It’s okay that this guy didn’t approach me in a wiser manner.  He didn’t understand my perspective.  That’s called a student.  Who knows, had he finally showed up, he may have gotten more than just a belt that was black…..

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

I stumbled upon this page and thought the man in the pictures looked awfully familiar.
In fact, it is Grandmaster Kim demonstrating the pattern Hwa-Rang.  I’m sure the pictures are taken from one of the editions of General Choi’s Encyclopedia.

Give it a look and bookmark it!