Oneonta Taekwon-do

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:

Below are videos of the January promotion test. Our red belts took turns sparring each other. It takes a great deal of courage and confidence to stand face to face and fight with people. Especially people who are already pretty good at fighting! We are very pleased that our students demonstrate self-control while still demonstrating solid sparring skills.

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…

The following was submitted to the Hometown Advantage for the October release.

Owen McCabe of Worcester earns 1st Degree Black belt

On September 24, 2009, Taekwon-Do International recognized 14 year old Worcester resident Owen McCabe as a certified black belt. Having trained diligently since March of 2006, Owen was invited to test by Oneonta Taekwon-Do instructor Ray Mannion. In addition to his training in Oneonta, he attended camps and seminars under Grandmaster Suk Jun Kim, a 9th degree black belt and founder of Taekwon-Do International.

For promotion to…

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