Currumbin Halloween Party
Scenes from last night's halloween party at Currumbin. The normal white dobok (uniform) was no where to be seen. Everyone dressed up and got into the Marial Art ghost spirit. Looking forward to next years party.
Tans Halloween Party
What a great and spooky night at the Tans Halloween party. The day started with making the jellies and decorating the dojang. Claudia and I have great enjoyment setting the place up for a great night. This year we made a haunted tunnel for the kids to go through. Full of surprises and smoke from the fog machine made it a great attraction. At 4.30 the little tigers arrived for their session. There night was mainly about fun dressing up and playing games followed by a little party. We were expecting 12 and ended up with 24. All played well together and enjoyed the theme of Halloween. At 5.30 the bigger kids arrived. There were some great costumes amoungst our 30+ juniors. THeir session was more about halloween with ghost stories, games, and scarier themes. The night ended with pizza and cake. Custom photos have been made and will be distributed this week. Looking forward to 2013 for another halloween. " Hey Michael and Claudia, Thanks for an awesome Halloween party on Friday night. Jorge had a ball!! You guys went to so much effort! The place looked awesome. "
Coorparoo – October events.
Student free day Normal training tonight (Monday 22 Oct) Little Tigers 4-4.30 Junior Blue/Red/BLack 4.30-5.15 Junior White/Yellow 5.15-6.00 Seniors 6-7 Hapkido 7-8pm Halloween - Friday 26 Oct Our annual Halloween Party is this Friday LIttle Tigers 4.30-5.30pm No charge, just bring a plate of food. Juniors 5.30-7.30pm $12 incls Pizza and Drinks There will be no classes on Friday 26 Oct. Saturday classes split till the 9th December grading Junior White & Yellow belts 9.30-10.15am Junior Blue and above 10.15-11am All seniors 10-11am
What a black belt means to me
Taekwondo plays a big role in my life. Whenever I go to taekwondo I always come home feeling great, I don’t know if it is the people I train with or it is just the training. I find Taekwondo is more enjoying after a stressful day at school, because when I am at training I don’t think about anything else but taekwondo, so it takes my mind off most things. Taekwondo is the best sport I have ever done. When I think of taekwondo I think of all the people I train with and the great community that taekwondo has. To me taekwondo almost feels like having another life but in that life you have no pressure and no stress and the only person you are competing against is yourself, and you want to be the best person you can be at Taekwondo. When I hear Taekwondo I straight away think of the enjoyment I have working with others. The community is what I think is the best part about training because everyone is so kind and ready to help guide you when you need it. This motivates me to keep on coming to training and to work harder. There are many difficult times when I am training that I need to remember or correct a pattern to get it right. I keep working at it, even though at times I get confused with patterns because some of them are very similar. Despite this, I like learning new patterns so then I have more patterns to do and that makes training fun because I know I have more choices instead of only having to do the one pattern over and over again. Other difficult times [...]
What has Taekwondo taught me in and out of the Dojang?
Learning and mastering a Martial Art has been a lifelong goal for me. Unfortunately in my early years there always seemed to be some impediment to finding and joining a club. Work, family and other commitments consumed my time in the first two decades out of School. By the time I was in my late 30’s my wife and I were firmly of the opinion that sport was important for moulding our children’s future social skills. My belief is that as they develop; childrens lives need positive influence from parents, teachers, and others so that when they become adults that are culturally and socially adept. After trying the boys out with a number of different sports, I realised that team sports seemed to be more about the parents at times than about the children’s own achievements. After some research I was convinced that Taekwondo may play a role in their ongoing social development. A month after watching the oldest (Lochlan) at Taekwondo training under the instruction of Darryl Gowlett, I decided to join in and was immediately hooked. At first I thought that Taekwondo was going to be easy to master as it didn’t appear to involve much more than some punching, kicking and jumping. As I began to progress through the early belt levels, I discovered that Taekwondo was not just difficult, there was much more to it than simply kicking, punching and memorizing poomse. I learned that it was also about focus, self-discipline, self-control and self-motivation. I particularly enjoyed learning the poomse patterns and adding new ones to my ‘collection’ after each grading. The initial process of memorizing the moves is always a challenge and after mastering the moves it’s then time to [...]
Kumdo – the 3rd Martial Art of Korea.
After nearly 2 years of Kumdo training, I have achieved my 3rd black belt in a Korean Martial Arts. Kumdo has allowed me to be a student again. Having an 8th Dan bo in Taekwondo and a 6 Dan bo in Hapkido, I now have a 1st Dan in Kumdo. Kumdo is different from any other martial art that I have learnt. There is a lot of skill in using the sword. The sword is a mystical and power weapon. Before the invention of the modern weapon, the sword was used for centuries. Through history, the sword has won many battles. Many countries have some form of sword fighting. After achieving my Instructors certificate, I am now approved to teach Kumdo on Wednesdays nights 7-8pm. Kumdo is ideal for adults and compliments other martial arts such as Taekwondo and Hapkido. I encourage black belts from other martial arts to try Kumdo. Kumdo involves more than just cutting. In kumdo, we do patterns, sparring, meditation and of course cutting.
October Newsletter – Coorparoo
Check out our latest newsletter. October Newsletter... Happy reading
Benefits I have experienced through Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a way of life. Taekwondo has been my life, since I was 5 years old. The beginning 5 - 8 years old Back in 1989 I would spend a lot of time on the sidelines of my father and older 2 brothers Taekwondo classes. Stretching, kicking and punching, I would be trying to impersonate their techniques while they trained at the Tugun Progress Hall. Finally my parents decided that I could join the class and try Taekwondo. Within months I was going for my first yellow belt grading. The first grading was held at the Tan's Camp within a very large gymnasium and I was the last to be graded. By this time (several hours later) I was comfortably asleep at the back of the hall. Woken by "Wake Up Joanne!" I attempted my first grading and passed with flying colours. This was the start of my Taekwondo journey. I continued to attend classes up to 3 times a week and received several awards like 'Student of the month' 'Head Instructors award', medals at tournaments etc. Back in the 1990's I would often have to fight boys in competition as female competitors were few and far between. Attending class 3 times a week was just part of the weekly routine as the whole family would be joining in each night at class. My brothers achieved blackbelt with my father also; it made me more and more keen to stick with Taekwondo to reach that goal. I often would use my Taekwondo skills for 'Show and Tell' at school. I can specifically remember wearing my yellow belt to prep and showing everyone 'basic pattern' for my turn up the front. I would [...]
How has Taekwondo been part of your life?
Taekwondo to me is a way that I can connect to myself spiritually and mentally through life. At the beginning I didn't know why I needed Taekwondo in my life but through out the years the reason have become stronger and stronger. It was the first day my Dad took me to the Tugun Progress Hall for my first class when I realised that this was my chance to become something, but at that age I didn't know what it was I was looking for. I was the first to start and then my Dad, Ben Joanne shortly after. Dad had done Taekwondo before in Melbourne and had always wanted to get back into it, so with interested kids, it seemed the perfect time for him also. Through out the early stages of my schooling it was hard for me as I struggled with my school grades and always getting into trouble. At times I felt like just giving up altogether, feeling that if this was how life was going to be, I was not going to make it through easy. It was when I was at that early stage that I felt I was a failure as a student at school and also just as a kid in general, it would be TKD that gave me the belief that I was still someone that could be a winner or just someone that could be good at something. This is what started my love for Taekwondo. It would be the answer for many things though out my life and the tools for my future in many ways. I would often remember times at school where I would think of my teacher as my [...]
Taekwondo is a way of life.
In 1988 my father drove us down the road to the Tugun Progress Hall were we walked into a Taekwondo class. My Father and brother were the first to join but after seeing how much fun my brother was having, I decided to give it a try. My first experience in Taekwondo was my first fight at the Mosonic hall in 1989 as a white belt, fighting in the yellow belt division. It was not easy to jump into that ring at first but once I got a taste of it, I knew I wanted to compete in more. I won my first fight and then lost in the final and received a silver medal. As much as I was happy with the first win, the fact that I got second made me want to enter again to try and get that gold. Through out the first 12 months of training I quickly learnt that being a beginner in the martial art, meant that there was always someone you could look up to, someone you could compete against and someone who was always better. I looked up to the older kids at our club and also the instructors. I guess anyone who was a couple of belts in front of me and a few years older were the ones who I wanted to learn from the most. With my sister joining in not to long after me, now I was not just competing against the other kids in class but also against my brother and sister. Especially when it came to gradings and competitions in class. Sacha Rush was the person who was always better. He was a [...]
