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Grand Master Dong Hoon Kim
Tae Kwon Do
Chung Do Kwan School,
TUCSON
4126 E. Speedway Boulevard
Tucson, Arizona 85712
520-881-4710
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Vol. 22 Issue 4
NEWSLETTER FOR THE TAE KWON DO CHUNG DO KWAN SCHOOLS
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Message from:
GRANDMASTER DONG HOON KIM
Merry Christmas everybody, and a very healthy and happy New Year! I prey for you all. Today I would like to talk about health. It’s an interesting and unique time we live in. A time of mechanized civilization. We all grew up in a wonderfully developed county. Everyone uses a car, airplane, boat, bus or other public transportation. And hence, there is little chance to walk any substantial distance now. Even inside buildings, we use escalators or elevators. We don’t have a lot of opportunities to exercise or move our body to any great degree during the course of our normal daily life for the most part. Even in factories, most of the work that once involved labor is now done by robotics or is otherwise automated or mechanized; this is good for worker productivity but does little to promote exercise of full body utilization to any extent. Unfortunately, this causes our physical level to shrink every year, which is compounded further by the normal aging process.
And with this trend is also the fortunate trend of income growth; but our growth in income also leads to an increase in the daily caloric intake. Food is plentiful; food makes us feel good; we over indulge and find our food quality lacking while our food quantity ever increasing. Too many calories coupled with not enough exercise can make us overweight, but more importantly, unhealthy, feeble, and cause a lack of energy, enthusiasm, and life motivation. Sedentary work, little exercise, too much food, and we get lazy.
Many, many years ago, we had to do a lot of exercise to survive; getting food required substantial effort; if you were not in shape, you would not eat. People were moving their entire bodies though great exercise feats in the course of their daily lives. In current times this is not the case; now we have to look for ways to exercise; we have to be motivated to exercise; exercise is not required in performing most daily tasks. Of course there are those of us whose work does include exercise, but that’s becoming more and more unusual. For most of us, it’s not required in order for us to make our livelihood.
Not exercising is not good for our health; we must recognize this. We must move our body to keep life. And that’s where Tae Kwon Do is of most importance. It’s a whole body moving exercise. You can do TKD anyplace, alone, or with others; you can do punching, forms, kicking; you set the pace and it can be fast enough to get a great cardio workout and get great results; TKD is a special martial arts in this regard, as it incorporates strength, flexibility, cardio, focus, power, and self defense – and you can do it alone.
During any one of our forms, punching, or kicking techniques done at a pace fast enough to make us sweat we get a great workout attested by the feeling we get afterward; we feel great when we’re done. Our body is stronger; our reflexes are sharper; are senses are more keen ane we are more flexible. All this while learning self defense. What better “side affect” but to get a great workout for the body, mind and spirit than to also learn how to protect ourselves, family, friends and country. Staying in shape and being prepared to help others at all times is part of our code at TKD practitioners. We are to be counted on, and when called upon, to be ready and able to offer aid.
Yours in mutual Friendship,
Dong Hoon Kim
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INSTRUCTORS CORNER
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Always Right
By: Gerry Bates, 7th Dan, Tucson, AZ
A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue of truth but on his own side. – Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719)
Once upon a time there was a TV show called All in the Family. It was a sitcom about a dysfunctional family headed by a loveable, but pretty opinionated, guy named Archie Bunker. In one of the episodes, there was a scene where Archie watches his son-in-law, the Meathead, put on his shoes and socks. Meathead puts on the left sock, the left shoe and then starts on the right sock. Archie gets livid. “You’re not supposed to do it that way. Any idiot knows it’s the right sock, then left sock, and then you start on the shoes.” Archie is absolutely convinced that there is one right way, and one way only, to put on your shoes and socks. He is addicted to being right.
We all know people who are addicted to being right. They feel compelled to comment everything, especially your every foible. They tell you when you are over-dressed and when you are under-dressed. They will argue for hours about whether the forks go in the dishwasher with the tines up or the tines down. They are absolutely convinced that they are right and they will make every effort to make sure you know it. And heaven forbid if you ever point out that they may be wrong about something.
Being right is different than being addicted to it. It is your responsibility to know the truth and stand by it. You must defend righteous behavior. But being right about something doesn’t give you the right to drive other people crazy. Trying to convince anyone who will listen that you are right, and the corollary refusal to admit that you are ever wrong, can be a real problem for an instructor in the dojang. Aside from being annoying to both your students and your peers, it is reflective of your insecurity as an instructor. When you are addicted to being right, you see anyone’s attempt to correct you or show you that there might be another way of doing things as an insult to your hard earned body of knowledge. You may even come to see an affront to your authority. This is the point when your stubbornness becomes argumentative and toxic.
Even worse that this sense fo insecurity is the very real possibility that you might actually be wrong. No instructor knows everything. We forget things. We change things inadvertently. That’s just the human condition (particularly as we get older). The problem arises when your hubris or insecurity won’t allow you to see or admit you’re wrong. When it gets to that point, even if you don’t see it, everybody else will. You have just lost your credibility as a teacher.
Your students don’t expect you to always be right, but they expect you to show them the path to rightness. If the students ask about a move in a form (i.e., “Is that a front stance or a back stance?”), the reality is that you may not know the answer off the top of your head. But if you guess, without acknowledging that it is a guess, you’ve ultimately done a lot of harm to the student, the art and yourself.
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KID’S CORNER
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Getting to Black Belt
By: Austin Wagner, 1st Dan, Tucson, AZ
A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue of truth but on his own side. – Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719)
Some people are into Tae Kwon Do the instant they see someone doing it, and other kind of take their time to enjoy or like it. I’m one of the people who take their time learning to like and eventually enjoy Tae Kwon Do. I took a long time, like 5 years to learn the benefits of learning Tae Kwon Do, physical and mental benefits. I became a black belt 3 months ago, on September 20th, 2008. after I became a black belt I realized the duties and responsibilities I would have to assume, duties such as setting an example of how to behave in class, a role model. I needed to be some one the lower belts looked to see what they should be doing, and what they were doing wrong. I never expected to have so much more responsibility than I had only for months ago. I will tell you a little about the journey I undertook to become a black belt.
When I first started as a white belt, I had very little interest in the martial arts; I took nearly 3 months to even learn my forms. Learning the warm up exercises never gave me any trouble really to learn, making the stances and punches and kicks perfect though would probably take an eternity, it took me about 6 months to become ready to test for yellow belt, I passed. As I started going to the second classes I realized more how Tae Kwon Do could help me more in life and started trying harder to learn my forms, I tested in only 5 months that time for green. Much of the rest of my belts passed the same way; ultimately the time spent on a belt grew shorter as I became more and more enthralled in learning my forms and passing my test to the next belt. For brown though, I had some trouble; I’m one of those people who learns what they need to and then kind of forget it, I had to relearn them, although it was easier seeing as they were half in my memory, I just had to jog it. Low-Brown was pretty easy to learn the forms of, there are only two. What took me longest was relearning almost all of the previous forms. After I did though, low and high brown came a lot easier to me. And then came the day, black belt testing!!! I had practiced my forms the night before several times and had been able to practice breaking boards the week before, I was ready. I passed my test. I had trouble with the board breaking but other thatn that it was great! Just to learn my forms completely and keep going and keep trying to be a good role model for people who need one.
I know that people often times have trouble, such as I did, learning their forms, or making the time to go, or one of the other many such problems that occur; but if you just keep persevering and you keep coming, you can become any belt, even 9th Dan.
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PASS IT ON
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By: Tom Dombroski, 3rd Dan, Poughkeepsie, NY
Chung Do Kwan is very old and traditional martial art that continues today because of the dedicated people that pass it on to the next generation. Many aspects remain form the ancient beginnings. We play by the guidelines given to us by our instructors. These guidelines include the protocols we follow that keep our art strong, focused, friendly, and pure.
I have memories of when I was a white belt and my instructor talking about the events that influenced his martial arts. This included the people, events, and pieces of historical value and the added to the anticipation of a great experience for us. We heard of large outdoor workouts, which included people from all around the world and their instructors. It was wonderful to know that we all learn the same style of TKD that had begun to be passed down so long ago.
As in most martial art schools, we bow in respect upon entering a training facility. Many know this from movies. This action is the first protocol we learn and is at the core of our art. Respect. The mere boe tells a lot about the person at the door. The instructor often sees the student as they enter. Perhaps not making direct eye contact but they see so much more than one would think. All students should make a point to stop, stand, and bow to the highest level in the room. Every effort should be made so that your bow reflects your spirit. A new student learns this protocol either by the person who first brings you through the door or when the next unfortunate student enters neglecting this protocol and is re-educated in proper ways. The bow also is often used as a respectful gesture of thanks. When we finish a form, we bow to the instructor or perhaps turn to straighten our dobok then bow.
Another type of protocol involves the uniform. The uniform is often adorned with symbols. These are components we hold in high regard. The flags and associated patch are worn with pride and should always be treated with respect. Good protocol would keep them looking good, showing pride for country and our art. I was taught whenever donning ones belt, never allow it to make contact with the ground or floor. We earn the right to wear the belt around our waists. It is a major component of our uniform. Wear it with honor.
Respect of rand is another of the long-standing aspects on the ancient arts. Our belt is our rank. Early on we learn the progression of belt order. Just like the stripes on a military uniform, we must pay due respect to all of those who have worked hard to earn that rank. It is just as important for the upper belt to respect the abilities of a lower belt and act as a helpful guide.
In our classes, this is always important. A lower belt always listens to the upper belt. If questions arise during class, wait for an appropriate time to ask the instructor. Remember the long tradition of rank passes down its knowledge and thus it can be worked back to the top for answers. Everyone has a teacher. Everyone is a teacher.
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PROMOTIONS
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Fall Promotions:
7TH Dan Ricardo Dos Anjos, New York
6th Dan Jean Pierre Avit, New York
4th Dan Frank Scarfone, New York
3rd Dan Lars Wander, New York
2nd Dan:
Frederick Clore, Arizona
Frank Demer, Arizona
Steven Fregonese, Arizona
Mark Bradford, Colorado
Kevin Kluzek, Colorado
1st Dan:
Lou Ann Branch, New Mexico
Austin Wagner, Arizona
Emily Wagner, Arizona
Isaac Zarif, Arizona
Jacob Rathstein, New York
Emily Pius, New York
Tina Lopez, New Mexico
Tammie Lopez, New Mexico
Keyonna Moore, New Mexico
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