2006 Year in Review

2006 Year in Review

2006 was one of the best years that we've had at Korean Academy for some time. Sometimes, we're working out so hard every day that we forget to take a look back and see how far we've come. Here is a look back at some of the highlights of the last year.

10. Belt Tests – This year we conducted the 101st-104th promotion tests, and awarded a total of 119 new belt ranks. Notable moments included Nicholas's flying side kick in the park, RJ's spinning combinations on BOB, and Genesis attacking the wrong people in 3 on 1 sparring. New Black Belts- We awarded eight black belts this year. Nicholas Reutter promoted to 1st degree black belt, Vincent Tio, Malia Tio, Zak Kirk, Liz Brewer, RJ Thomas, and Ron Roe promoted to 2nd degree black belt, and Master Emelio Tio promoted to 4th Degree black belt. Cameron Gillespie and Chris Brown also tested this year at UATKD before coming over. This was a good year, and we'll most likely double it in 2007!

9. Demos – We performed many demonstrations this year including two performances at Buckley, a performance at the State Capitol, one at Big Bear Ice Arena, one at the Aurora cultural festival, and Master Bill helped out at a demo in New York. Early next year is our largest performance ever, at the Denver Nuggets game!

8. Tournaments – This year KAT sent people to 11 different tournaments including the CO State Championships, Attitude for Gold Tournament, Castle Rock Tournament, AAU Qualifiers, MSCD MMA Tournament, Tiger Kim's Tournament, Regional Qualifiers, USAT Senior Nationals, AAU Junior Nationals, the US Open, and the World Military Championships in Korea. We also hosted a number of scrimmages. Next year, our specialized competition training will kick into high gear and our results should be even better!

7. Summer Camp – This year we held our first summer camp. It was a great success. Students were able to work on their requirements for hours at a time, and each day we also had a picnic in the park and competed for colored beads. Each day focused on one of the five tenants of Taekwondo. Next year's camp looks to be even better!

6. Farewell to Balance Boba – KAT had to close our boba shop due to poor sales and repeated financial losses. We are all sad to see it go. However, now the school is healthier and I am able to focus all of my time doing what I love the best- running the KAT school!

5. KAT's 1st Grappling Tournament – This year we competed in our first ever grappling tournament. It was so amazing to watch everything come together as KAT students defeated people from grappling and MMA schools. Although we ended up being only one point away from winning the entire tournament, we definitely earned a lot of respect for our program. Our grappling skills keep increasing, and it's only a matter of time before we take home the first place trophy.

4. Better internal systems – 2006 also saw us invest in better internal systems so that the business of the school is run much more efficiently. These systems help us give everyone from prospective students to black belts better customer service and ensure that we can focus more time on teaching and less on business.

3. New Instructors – We were very lucky in 2006 to get more masters here at KAT. Master Matt Bailey earned the WCAP designation from the Air Force so that he was able to come back here and train full time. We also got Master Yosvany Perez, a fantastic teacher and competitor. And although he is leaving soon, Master Emelio Tio promoted to his forth dan. It really is unprecedented in our school history (or that of any other school) to have so much teaching ability in our place. Now, Master Emelio will be opening the KAT Texas branch in Joshua, TX.

2. Expanding Programs and Locations – We explored many new locations this year, although most of them didn't work out. We did get a great program going at Big Bear Ice Arena, under Edwin Montero. They are going steadily, and the student quality is great. We also started the Little Tigers program at KAT this year to be able to teach pre-school age children. The first Little Tigers are now yellow belts, and have above-average basics and great enthusiasm! Our new schedule also provides more time for the Adult Medium class. We are now able to teach many of the parents of KAT students and other people who are here for a great workout and great progress!

1. Students from UATKD – The highlight of the year, of course, has to be the infusion of new students we received from the former UATKD. Although it was a very traumatic time for them, the two schools blended together almost seamlessly. There are a few people that we still need to get caught up and current, but others have already become indispensable here at KAT. In truth, the transfer went far better than anyone expected that it could. The reason is because of the dedication, determination, and open-mindedness of the transferring students themselves. Our future together looks bright indeed!

A new year is a time for looking back on what you've achieved, and also looking forward to the future. In 2005, we grew our student base by 30%, and in 2006, it grew by nearly 70%. The beginning of 2007 looks better than ever for our school. It's always difficult to provide the best training for a range of people from 3 year old beginners to 20 year olds seeking a spot on the national team to 50+ year olds who give inspiration to everyone. While we'll always work to improve, I think we've finally got things working really well.



Thank you all for your time, energy, and dedication! It's all the students and parents who have allowed us to achieve so much this past year.

New Site Design

Please post comments on our new kattaekwondo.com site! We added more content, included a lot of automatically updating widgets, and embedded more videos. Let us know what you think!

Why do we Train?

Why Train?

- Taekwondo as a way of life.

If I ask this question to ten different students, I’m liable to get ten different, and equally valid answers. Some people do it because they are just there for a workout, some like to kick and punch, some love the feel of competition, and some just want to believe in themselves. Some are even in it because their parents made them in an attempt to get more discipline at home. Taekwondo is many things to many people, and there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, this is part of the reason why Taekwondo appeals to so many people.

However, if you talk to the more seasoned students, the high ranking black belts, they often have a different and slightly more consistent idea of what Taekwondo is and why they practice it. The “Do” in Taekwondo stands for an Art, or a Way. Taekwondo truly is a way of life. I’d like to share something that Jon Baker wrote in his black belt essay when questioned about his ultimate goal for Taekwondo. He said :

"My ultimate goal in Taekwondo is to be able to look back on a life filled with improvement, without regrets of opportunities lost or challenges I never had the guts to face."


Notice that he makes no mention in his ultimate goals of kicking or punching powers, of winning gold medals, or even of defending himself or his family. Certainly, those things may be included in his life, but the central point is that he will constantly be improving. Too often fear holds us back in life. Life is hard enough when just dealing with external obstacles, adding internal ones as well can prove the final blow. However, Jon has realized that with his Taekwondo training, he will be able to transform his whole life. I’ve always stated that our goal of Taekwondo training is “to become better people.” Once you’ve experienced the power of Taekwondo to change your life for the better, it becomes part of what you do every day. Then, Taekwondo truly becomes as it was intended- a way of life.

December 2004

I wanted to thank everyone who made it to the Memorial Service for
Kristy Cutright this last week. We had nearly 25 people there from KAT!
I was really heartened by the response from our school. Even those who
couldn’t make it brought and signed cards and flowers and personally
expressed their condolences to the Cutright family.

I wanted to get a chance to talk to everyone for a few minutes
immediately afterwards but there were so many people that it wasn’t
really feasible. So I decided to write this to the entire school and
post it on the Sabumnim’s Corner section of the site.

Things like this are really tough to deal with and it leaves students
with a lot of emotions from anger to fear to uncertainty to
hopelessness. However, as martial artists we must always try to learn
what we can from every experience. I’ve been pondering what there is to
learn from this tragedy and I came up with three important lessons.

1. Life is Not Fair. It’s just not. While most of us deep down believe
that life should be fair, or have religious beliefs that say that the
next life will make things fair from this life, its important to
recognize that this life is not fair. Its also important to recognize
that for those of us who live in the US, have good health, access to a
good education and good martial arts training, life is usually unfair in
our favor. But it goes both ways. There is no rational reason why
someone young like Kristy who by all accounts was kind to everyone and
full of life and potential should die, while there are people out there
who just want to hurt others and yet they live. I know that in these
extreme cases its really hard to accept, but this is just one of those
things about life that we cannot change.

2. We Must Live Our Lives As Best As We Can. We never know how much time
we will be given, so we much make the most of it. There was a Deep
Thoughts quote that said:

I try to live every day like it’s my last day alive. That’s why I never
have any clean laundry, because, come on: who wants to do any laundry on
their last day alive?

So, obviously this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work or plan for the
future or go to school and study hard. We still have to do all those
things. But we have to be careful not to sacrifice the present for the
future. Make sure you tell the people that you care about how you feel.
Make sure you take the time to go for walks, watch sunsets and sunrises,
and spend time with relatives and friends outside of Taekwondo.

3. The Value of the TKD Community. Although there are few positive
thoughts to come out of something like this, its good to see the school
coming together to help comfort the students who were the closest to
Kristy and the most affected. In todays modern society, it is often
difficult to find this type of community. At Master Curtrights house, I
also saw the closeness of the extended TKD community, as many masters
stopped by or called to express their condolences. Training together
increases the bonds between people far more than other activities.

Things remain difficult, and Master Ghassan and I are here to help talk
to students if they feel like they need more help dealing with Kristy's
death. Ian and Ryan are working on memorial bands and embroidery, so
contact them if you are interested in helping.

Aug 2004 Thoughts

First of all, let me say how excited I am to be back at the KAT. I’ve had the privilege of training with many different programs while I was back east, and it’s always good to come back to where you started. This Sabumnim’s Corner section of the site is going to be a forum for me to periodically share my thoughts on the school with the rest of the KAT community.

There are so many things happening at the school right now that I had a hard time choosing what to write about. Yet, I finally settled on ATTITUDE, because no matter what you’re doing or what level you’re at, attitude is really the core of martial arts spirit. The attitude you bring to training is what determines how you are going to react when you’re faced with challenges. If you see everything difficult, every loss, every failed board break, as something stopping you, or some ‘sign’ that you’re never going to amount to anything, then you’ll never overcome your obstacles. However, if you see these temporary barriers as what they are, learning experiences, then you’ll truly learn something and end up a better martial artist.

I wanted to point out two examples from class the last couple of weeks that show one facet of this martial arts spirit. The first one was during the double kick contest. Davi and Ri had come in the day before with 90 + doubles in 30 seconds, so I challenged the adult class on it. Peter knew that he had fast doubles and I could see in his eyes how bad he wanted to win it. He gave everything he had to win the day with an even 100. He pushed himself so hard for 30 seconds that he was in visible pain for the entire rest of the practice. The pain that he felt for the rest of the class is forgotten now, but not the fact that no one else could match his doubles.

Another example was during the obstacle course when I gave the adult class the option of jumping over either two or four pads. Spencer was the smallest and he knew that the two pads were mostly meant for him, so he raised his hand and asked if he could try three instead because he thought three would be more of a challenge. It doesn’t matter that when he tried to jump over three he fell down and cried. He got back up and kept going. What mattered was his attitude that made him want to push himself and try difficult things. This six year old is pushing himself harder than some adult competitors. He knows that you will usually learn more losing to a black belt than beating a white belt. So he sets his own bar high and goes for it.

Competition Philosophy

Originally Published in Fall 2005

Competition

- an important part of our training, not our ultimate goal.

As our competition season begins in earnest, especially leading up to the U.S. National Championships in December, I wanted to take some time to discuss the proper place of competition in the martial arts. There has certainly been much debate over this, although the value of two competitors training “live” with each other, or sparring against a resisting opponent rather than just practicing forms should have been apparent to everyone since the decisive victory of Jigoro Kano’s Kodokan Judo at the Tokyo police tournament of 1886. The Kodokan students practiced free sparring and the other schools practiced only forms.

Personally, I love competition, because competition always leads to innovation. Just look at the success of capitalism over communism during the last century. Without competition, School A has technique A and School B has technique B, and both assert that their way is superior. With competition, the public can see which technique actually works better, and thus the martial art improves, with other schools free to build off the base. This is one reason for the rapid technological development of Taekwondo over the last 30 years. Competition provides an important ‘reality check.’ I know there have been times that I thought what I was doing was working, only to step into the ring and find out that my training wasn’t enough. Competition also teaches us patience, how to deal with adrenaline, how to figure out an opponent quickly, how to perform even on your bad days, and builds team spirit. Thus, competition is an important part of our training.

However, this is really the key. The ultimate goal of our training is to become a better person and a better martial artist, not solely competition. This is what distinguishes Taekwondo from other sports. Competition should be seen as a means only, not an end in and of itself. Some schools think that the only purpose of their training is competition. This leads to three main problems. First, they may engage in behavior at the tournament that is not frowned on in other sports, but very disrespectful for Taekwondo. No match is important enough for you to throw your helmet or cuss out the referee or hit your opponent with a cheap shot. Consider this your warning that that type of behavior will not be tolerated by KAT students. Secondly, this exclusive focus on competition may cause the school to neglect other important areas of training, such as self defense. Thirdly, if competitions are seen as the most important thing, people will tend to have a mental lapse after a tournament is over, and only train hard once a tournament is coming up. You must train hard all the time, regardless of when the competition is. Training when others are resting is the only way to make up ground on people who are better than you, because before the tournament when everyone is training hard everyone is progressing.

The last thing I would like to mention about competition is the terminology. Although this is not strict, it is proper to refer to people sparring as competitors, athletes, or sparrers, rather than ‘fighters.’ It is proper to refer to the match as a match, not a ‘fight.’ The reason for this is that a sparring match is very different from a real fight. Olympic Style sparring does not have much to do with fighting, thus it is not proper to say that someone who is a good sparrer is a good fighter. Many elite Taekwondo athletes could be taken down and choked out by someone with only an elementary knowledge of grappling.

The KAT has historically done very well in competition, and now it is time for us to step up our training even more. With the proper attitude, competition can go a long way towards making us better martial artists.