CTI Black Belt World Tour '14

The Black Belt Team is Traveling to South Korea!

The announcement was made at the CTI Christmas Party on where our Black Belts will travel in 2014.  This will be the 7th leg on the CTI World Tour and it's going to be South Korea!

We made a trip to South Korea in 2001, and we return for more training, education and fun!  On our first journey to Korea, we discovered Seoul, Busan, Kyongju and many other fantastic places.  We visited a Korean Folk Village, trained at the Kukkiwon, sparred at a University in Seoul, visited ancient temples, went to the DMZ Zone, shopped in Seoul and much more!  Some of us even went to Great Grandmaster Park's Mother's 80th birthday celebration and visited a local Taekwondo school in Kyongju.

This next trip to the "Land of the Morning Calm" will involve new adventures for our Black Belt Team!   There is a CTI Head Start Pre-Training Schedule available for interested black belts and red belts from their instructor.

Practicing vs. Training

By Eileen Lindner, red belt

I practice my Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo every day.  I’m pretty sure we all do – whether we are going over our poomse moves, doing walking drills in the hallway, getting in a few extra sit ups & push-ups, or using Ho-Shin – we all practice our martial art.

However, I don’t train every day.  What’s the difference, you ask?  Well, to my mind, the difference between practicing and training is huge.  Practicing is extremely valuable, and without practice & proficiency, training is difficult.  Training is more intense than practice & often is associated with a specific goal: an event or date marking a test or competition.

Practice, to me, is the baseline of maintaining a skill.  Practice is repetition – during class, perfecting that new move in a poomse, and then incorporating it into the poomse smoothly so it doesn't look newer than the rest of the pattern.  This happens during class, under the watchful eye of your instructor.  It really happens at home, when you realize that you needed 5 more repetitions with your instructor; but do it the best you can as many times as you can & go to the next class with detailed questions on foot position, which hand moves first, etc.  This practice polishes your poomse so you can start training on it.

Training is challenging yourself after you've been taught the moves – training really makes your poomse come together & enables you to get your moves to the right speed with as much power, focus, balance & control as you have – that day.  Training means you’re never satisfied with a poomse.  It means you've taken this exercise as your own & you will master it – but not today – not tomorrow – but it will happen – and then there will be another aspect of it to perfect.

Training means you accept that this is a long-term deal.  That you will push yourself farther & more completely than any instructor could – and your instructor will recognize that in you & push harder, since that’s what you need to train.

The difference between practice and training is the difference between learning a skill & doing that skill; between being satisfied with good & wanting to be the best you can be.

Both practice & training will bring you from being a white belt, dreaming of achieving black belt – and being that black belt, striving for the next level.

14th Lee H. Park Team Champs

The 14th Lee H. Park Team Championships was held at Alameda International High School on Saturday, December 8th.  The event marked the 4th Colorado Taekwondo Institute (CTI) Hanmadang, whereby students from all CTI campuses come together to compete in the spirit of Hanmadang.  The primary aim of the CTI Hanmadang is to focus on helping each individual competitor learn the values of competition: sportsmanship, developing winning strategies, developing preparation skills, and learning from the experience of doing.  

Participants of the Team Championships and Hanmadang events benefitted by experiencing how competition benefits individual students and the CTI martial art family as a whole.  The Hanmadang event is unique as compared to other CTI competition events, in that there is no sparring event. This provides the opportunity for event participants to focus in on other aspects of Moo Sul Kwan (MSK) martial arts through specialized events, including Team Poomse, Creative Basics, One-Step Sparring and Self-Defense, Team Staff Poomse, Board Breaking, and Family Demonstrations.  The Family Demonstration event provided CTI family members with the opportunity to develop, practice and present a demonstration of their martial arts abilities.  Several families participated in the event, which was both educational and entertaining.

CTI students and parents of CTI students had the opportunity to learn the rules of competition, which included how to score keep during various events.  Upper-ranked students honed their judging skills in the eight rings that were setup for competition.  Students that helped with the setup and running of the event learned how to think individually, work with other students, and respect the wishes of those in authority at the event.

Students had been focused for many weeks on their training.  Their goal was to do their very best in competing with their respective teams.  Regardless of where a competing team placed in the competitions, all CTI students gained from their experience, knowing that they had done their very best. As MSK martial artists, CTI students progressed significantly by  practicing and participating in the event.  The upcoming 39th CTI Super Bowl event in February 2013, will provide another opportunity for students to learn and grow in fellowship with their MSK family.  Details of the event are  forthcoming.

Here are the results!

TEAM POOMSE

1st place
Falcons        Llamas            Tasmanian Devils    Dinosaurs
Raccoons        Black Cheetahs    Hyenas            Cheetahs
Hawks            Jaguars         Pumas            Jaguars
Cougars        Lizards

2nd place
Flying Squirrels    Pythons        Lionfish        Jaguars
Kitties            Leopards        Kimono Dragons    Platypi
Black Eagles        Great White Sharks    Flying Squirrels    Blue Whales
Bears          

3rd place
Wolverines        Pandas            Wolves        Sharks
Panthers        Stingrays        Meerkats        Pythons
Ladybugs        Rattlesnakes        Leemurs        Frogs
Monkeys        Wolves

4th place
Leopards        Ravens            Aardvarks        Leopards
Monkeys        Reindeers        Cheetahs        Jaguars
Wolves        Lizards            Cheetahs        Tigers
Flamingos                   Sharks            Pigeons        Elephants

TIGER POOMSE

1st place
Jack O’Day        Daniel Bergman    Julian Marine        Ridge Blue
Lovendy Rai        Logan Shephard    Isabella Rai        Gabriel Platt
Xavier McRant    Anya Trilk        Owen Martin        Rachel Kirschner
Nia Weiss        Ashton Price        Nick Tibbetts        Osso Siddall
Leo Lukosky        Dylan Mueller        Madison Mueller    Cole Walters
Braedon Eddy        Violet Beattie      Jake Walters

TEAM ONE-STEP SPARRING / SELF DEFENSE

1st place
Cobras            Wolves        Bunnies        Lions

2nd place
Bengals        Bobcats        Jungle Cats        Stingrays

3rd place
Man-o-Wars        Aardvarks        Honey Badgers    Kiwis

CREATIVE BASICS    

1st place
Lions            Sharks            Lions            Jaguars  
Hyenas            Black Wolves        Pandas            Wolverines

2nd place
Monkeys        Emus            Aardvarks        Pumas
Cranes            Cardinals     Donkeys        Tigers

3rd place      
Golden Eagles     Chipmunks        Iguanas        Cheetahs
Kimono Dragons     White Wolves        Tasmanian Devils    Sugar Gliders

4th place
Tucans            Red Tail Hawks    Giant Squids        Leopards

BASICS CHALLENGE

1st place
Cole Walters        Sean Haverkamp    Olivia Cassara        Caiden Ward
Gwen Gutierrez    Ian Wilson        Nico Huggins        Logan Gill
Zuzanna Janowska    Ethan  Kirschner    Benson White        Ridge Blue
Lovendy Rai        Julian Marine        Daniel Lobelo        Owen Martin
Charlie Smith        Brynn Konrad        Lucas Richardson    Ary Dizayee

2nd place
Jake Walters        Charlie Lasell        Wilson Clark        Charlie Hunsicker
Casey Feagans        Aspen Hawkins    Mathias Bauer        Caiden White
Jacob Henderson    Charlie Greco        Alexander Karasow    Osso Siddall
Daniel Nelson        Isabella Rai        Violet Beattie        Anya Trilk
Jacobi Field        Jamie Barnes        Zoe Dickerson        Jaden Perez

BLACK BELT POOMSE BREAKING

1st place
Freddy Sautel         David Wallace

2nd place
Clayton Garner    Eric Evans

3rd place
Karen McHugh    Terry Copper

TEAM BREAKING

1st place
Madayag/Feagans    Ondrejko/Spery    Feagans/Dean        Ma/Lincke
Williams/McCartney    Reynolds/Dahl        Madayag/Louth    Neel/Bish
Hulin/Lincke        Lewis/Gutierrez    Brancio/Smith        Artman/Huggins
Lindner/Feagans    Greaves/Copper

2nd place
Louth/Lawlor        Sautel/Field        Sarche/Price        Rupp/Hartmann
Watkins/Koch        Teglovic/Price        Wyngarden/Brauch    Walker/Grose
Johnson/Luper        Simpson/Barnhardt    Malmgren/Trapp    McKernan/Brown
Rupp/Kreutz

3rd place
Louth/Brophy        Sautel/Watkins    Carreon/Price        McKernan/Boender
Lautrup/Trapp        Bear/Wong        Nowak/States        Miller/Spery
Barnard/Apodaca    Miles/Barnard        Kelly/Spery        Hoenmans/Fernandez
Page/Lindner        Murphy/DeTienne

BLACK BELT TEAM STAFF POOMSE

1st place
Possums        Bears

2nd place
Barracudas        Antelopes  

3rd place
Capybaras        Jellyfish

MOST KICK KONTEST

1st place
Jack Eller        Nico Huggins        Logan Gill        Jeffrey Bowen
Charley Greco        Dylan Mueller        Victor Lobelo        Kylie Bickford
Malaki McRant    Olivia Cassara        Max Bogdanoff    Casey Feagans
Merrick Oleszek    Osso Siddall        Isabella Rai        Jack O’Day
David Lobelo        Rachel Kirschner    Charlie Smith        Sean Konrad
Jason Cassara        Alex Price

2nd place
Abbey Salamera    Garrett Colehour    Devan Bagley        Devon Lewis
Cris Quintero        Benson White        Zoe Dickerson        Ary Dizayee
Wilson Clark        Lily Dwyer        Everett Douglass    Keet Holdridge
Aspen Hawkins    Ridge Blue        Lovendy Rai        Julian Marine
David Malec        Anya Trilk        Jacobi Field        Evelyn LaMorgese
Maddy Vaughn

3rd place
Justin Nelson        Libby Girard        Franco Otero        Benjamin Kirschner
Diesel DiPaola    Nick Tibbets        Isaac Meja        Grayson Clark
Mitchell Oleszek    David Bogdanoff    Tyler Tatman        Samantha Beisemeier
Ian Wilson        Logan Shephard    Xavier McRant    Violet Beattie
Eric Guldbeck        Owen Martin        Grant Haverkamp    Alejandro Deppemeier

4th place
Brendan Zandin    Christina Manna    Matthew Williams    Jacob Henderson
Erick Rodriguez    Alex Karasow        Jaden Perez        Andrew Morgan
Alaina Walker        Charlie Hunsicker    Konnor Evans        Robbie Crandell
Nia Weiss        Gabriel Platt        Ashton Price        Daniel Nelson
Braedon Eddy        Ryker Blue        Jamie Barnes