CTI Christmas Party

 A very special time was had by all at our 2014 CTI Christmas Party.  From dancing CTI Elves, to CTI Elves-in-Waiting, to a visit from Santa Claus, there were so much fun that happened.  During the evening, the Dickerson Family, Sara Spery and Shekina DeTienne received special awards from the CTI family for all their help and dedication to the aims and goals of the CTI.  Also, Mr. Clayton Garner, 4th dan, received a plaque honoring his twenty years of training and teaching Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo at the CTI.


Here is a special poem about this year's CTI Christmas Party, written by Ed Stanton of the Golden Campus, orange belt

‘Twas the week before Christmas
When all through the land
CTI students gathered
For a party so grand

They came bearing bags
Filled to the brim with good food
For families in need
From the neighborhood

This simple small gesture did seemingly say,
That we know and we care in our own Taekwondo way
The party was held at the perfect location
A church that is friendly, known as Faith Mountain

A pot luck was laid before all our eyes
With crock pots a plenty with goody surprise

More rapid then front kicks
The courses appeared,
All who were hungry had nothing to fear.

Oodles and oodles of dreamy desserts
Such as little black belted gingerbread men
Had us at the dessert table time and again

Following dinner was great entertainment,
Dancing would come; you couldn’t contain it.

But first we needed to know who they were,
Those Christmassy elves all dressed up in fur
                                                                
Introductions were given by Ms Meyung
And I’d swear they danced to Taguek Sam Chang

She named those in training
With the help of her buddy,
She and Mr Kikhia were really quite funny

With names such as "Stinky", "Sparkles" and such
We had a great laugh, it was a nice touch

Then music was played and the elves started dancing,
The music made fun, by the elves silly prancing

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
It was Santa himself, without any reindeer

The elves started shouting and screaming and cheering
The place was a roar, it made hard of hearing

Sweaty the Elf shouted out “Santa”!
I think that he might have been hopped up on Fanta

The jolly old guy was dressed all in red,
He gave us a speech and we heard what he said
A peek at the crowd did surely show
That the kids where all happy, their faces aglow

He then made his way out to the grand entry way
Where kids lined up quickly to hear him say
If they were naughty of if they were nice
I bet some of those kids had to ask twice

The wife of old Claus was present as well
She stood their beside him looking real swell
The kids were delighted and couldn’t contain
The joy of her giving candy shaped like a cane

In the main room, the band started playing
Oldies but goodies is what I am saying

Ho-shin Motion they’re called, a band of great skill
Led by our chief, the Grand Master Sautel

They took turns singing and changing the lyrics
Of songs we know well which lifted our spirits

Mr Ondrejko delighted the crowd
With a jazz trumpet
Which he played oh so loud!

After the dinner and dancing and elves
My family and I had to excuse our selves
For late nights and parties are fun to enjoy
But we had to rest our girl and our boy.

On my drive home with no elf in sight, I heard Santa exclaim
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

CTI Spirit Wear

Start Your New Year with Your CTI Gear!

Available for a limited time only! spirit wear for the whole family. Place your order before January 5, 2015.

Youth Sizes Available:
XS (2-4), S (6-8), M (10-12), L (14-16) & XL (18-20)

Adult Sizes Available:
S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL & 4XL

To place your order, follow these easy steps:

1. Go to http://stores.inksoft.com/COLORADO_TAEKWONDO/Products
2. Select item(s), choose the color and design.
3. Purchase and pay for your item(s) on-line. Please leave your campus in the comment section for delivery.
4. Stand by for distribution date and time.

New Years Resolutions

New Years is right around the corner and chances are adults, you're going to be using it as a reason to make some changes in your life. Lose some weight, get organized, learn something exciting, etc. According to statisticbrain.com, nearly 50% of American's make New Years resolutions each year. And, from the same study, nearly half will have given up after by the end of January and nearly two thirds will have quit within six months.

An article by Time Magazine says that, "only 8% of people who make New Year’s resolutions stick to them, and those who don’t usually abandon them after just one week." The reason, the article goes on to say, is that most people set unrealistic goals and don't have a good plan to reach their goals.

Fortunately, here at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, we have a solution that will assists for many of your potential goals for this year. In each of our adult martial arts classes, including classes at our Golden location, we have goal driven instruction for each of our students.

When a person sees a class in action, they will see students with various colored belts, ranging from white to black belts, around their waist. This is an example of one of our goal systems. Students start at white belt and will have the goal of earning their yellow belt. Each class the black belt instructor will work with that student and help them learn and progress until they are ready to test for their yellow belt. The goals are reasonable and achievable for anyone. Student grow, learn and progress at their own rate and as they earn each belt they build self-esteem and confidence which makes each belt easier and easier to achieve.

Also, fitness goals are a no-brainier when it comes to classes at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute. All of our classes structured and action-packed; full of both aerobic and anaerobic exercises to burn fat, build muscle and will also develop flexibility. Countless adults have came into the program with New Years Resolutions in mind and ended up achieving their goals and going beyond what they ever thought they could possibly do.

No matter what has stopped you in the past, now might be the time to try it. For your physical health and mental health, joining the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, at any of our five locations, including the Golden location, could be the best thing you do for yourself this New Year!

Sources:
1- http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/
2- http://ideas.time.com/2013/12/30/new-years-resolutions-are-bad-for-you/
3- http://www.coloradotaekwondo.com/martial-arts-self-defense

Taekwondo and Developing Physical Fitness

By Nathaniel McKernan, 1st dan

The five components of health related physical fitness are improved through martial arts training at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute. However, we might as well ask the question, “What are the five components of health related physical fitness?”
They are:

• muscular endurance-- the ability to use your muscles for a long time; 
• muscular strength-- the ability to perform feats that requires strength; 
• flexibility-- the maximum range of motion that your joints can reach;  
• body composition-- the optimum body fat ratio;
• cardio-respiratory endurance-- ability to perform feats of either physical endurance or strength and be able to bring oxygen into the lung at the same time.  

All of these components of physical fitness are part of the Taekwondo training.

Now, just in case you didn't know, Taekwondo is a martial art which demands physical fitness and abilities in order to get good at the martial art.  You have to work hard and improve the body.  And, when you work hard at something like Taekwondo, you get a good workout.  And, to become even better at Taekwondo, you will begin the whole cycle again.  So as you work hard in Taekwondo classes at our Westminster location, you will improve the five components of health related physical fitness.

But how?  Well, let’s start with muscular strength.  In Taekwondo, we always do our exercises-- jumping jacks; push ups, etc. and these exercises help build up muscular strength over time.  But it is not just exercises that gives you muscular strength;  doing classes over a long period of time builds muscles.  Think about it, if you were to do kicks over and over again, or push-ups over and over again, you would build up muscular strength.  I myself can vouch for this.  When I first started, I could not do a single push-up (actually, for the first three years, I was doing a bad imitation of a push-up for building arm strength) and doing multiple amount of kicks made my leg muscles sore.  Now,  it’s a different story.  I can do push-ups and also do many kicks without my muscles being sore.  However, it took effort to get that strength.  Working hard in each class helped build muscular strength.

Now, what about muscular endurance?  What about the ability to keep your muscles going even when you are tired?  This is probably the easiest physical benefit you would achieve.   At first, it is difficult to keep one's muscles going during class because you have not developed very good muscular endurance yet.  Even really fit athletes sometimes have trouble because, odds are, they don't practice muscular endurance for all body muscles and Taekwondo uses all the body muscles.  However, over time, you will develop strong muscular endurance.  On that same note, you accomplish the same for cardio respiratory endurance.  For breathing, it would be very similar to muscular endurance; you would be able to breath better during long workouts then when you first started.  I am a living testimony.  When I first started, my muscles were aching and I was breathing hard after only 75 jumping jacks.  However, through years of continued participation, I am now able to do many more jumping jacks without breathing hard or getting sore muscles.  However, getting good at both does require you to try hard.  Just like muscular strength, the more effort you put in, the better you will get.

Next up is flexibility.  I am pretty sure you might have seen those gymnast be able to do those splits in mid-air and other feats and you probably thought “Could I ever be that flexible?”  Well, it is possible, and you can get it from continued participation in Taekwondo.  On your first day, you probably could not kick very high.  However, after continued participation, your kicks start to get higher, and higher, and higher.  Eventually, you would be able to kick so high that you would be considered “flexible.”  How?  Simple.  Stretching.  Every time we do class, we stretch to make ourselves more flexible.  And every time we stretch, our muscles extend a bit.  After a while, you would begin to realize that you are kicking a bit higher.  And, after more stretching, you would eventually be able to kick higher than you thought possible. This increased flexibility will also carry into other aspects of your life!

Last of all, there is body composition.  It is pretty much common knowledge that working out helps you get the best lean  body weight to fat ratio.  Well, Taekwondo demands physical exertion!  Or, in simpler terms, when you practice Taekwondo, you sweat.  That’s called a workout.  And when you workout, you get less fat.

So as you can see, classes at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, including the Westminster location, does address all the five components of health-related physical fitness.  By doing Taekwondo, you can improve in all these areas.

Hanmadang Success!!

The 16th Lee H. Park Team Championships turned out to be the largest Moo Sul Kwan, AMASEA and CTI event of all time!

Taking place on December 6, at Alameda International High School in Lakewood, Colorado, this 6th CTI Hanmadang featured 335 students and instructors competing in exciting team and individual events!

This special once a year event honored the founder of Moo Sul Kwan and the AMASEA, Great Grandmaster Lee H. Park and our United States Veterans.

The participants displayed their Moo Sul Kwan martial arts skills in Team Poomse, Team One-step sparring, Team and individual breaking, Team Staff Poomse, Most Kicks in a Minute, Team Basics Demos and the CTI Basics Challenge.  At half-time, there was also a CTI Black Belt Club Demonstration that began with our CTI before and after school program students leading the way!

Here are the results!!

TEAM POOMSE

1st place
Black Panthers    Mountain Lions    Snow Leopards    Bengal Tigers
Bobcats        Cougars        Bobcats        Lions
Lions            Lions            Giant Cheetahs    Lions
Jaguars            Lions            Black Panthers    Clouded Leopards
Snowy Lynxs        Black Panthers    German Shepherds    Pumas
Lions

2nd place
Bobcats        Bengal Tigers        Black Jaguars        Pumas
Blue Panthers        Snow Leopasrds    Panthers        Siberian Tigers
Leopards        Lynxs            Jaguars            Cheetahs
Wildcats        Cheetahs        Bobcats        Siamese Cats
Cougars        Tuxido Cats        Maned Wolves    Snow Leopards
Osleths

3rd place
Cheetahs        Tabbys            Clouded Leopards    Snow Cheetahs
Lynxs            Lynxs            Golden Bobcats    Cheetahs
Panthers        Cheetahs        Cheetahs        Cheetahs
Panthers        Leopards        Tigers            Lynxs
Cheetahs        Lions            Jaguars            Korean Tigers

4th place
Leopards        Cheetahs        Bobcats        Orange Tabbycats
Leopards        Snow Leopards    Tigers            Mountain Lions
Lynxs            Black Panthers    Leopards        Ocelots
Lynxs

TIGER POOMSE

1st place
Trenton Wheat    Dale Arden        Forrest Braukhoff    Cy Harrington
Oliver Faler        Jack Gittleman    Enzo D'Alessandro    Matthew Hamel
Eli Henthorn        Cole Martin        Nash Politte        Dylan Wellenshek
Finn Kubista        Ella Horner        Jack Habetler        Isaac Roach
Carson Mack        Joseph Stano        Dominic Benavides    Jaxson Wheat
Halston Kuepper    Julian Strickland    Owen  King        Gaven DiNunzio
Allan Stanton        Cash Estes

TEAM ONE-STEP SPARRING

1st place
Cutthroat Trout    Angel Fish        Lion Fish        Spotted Trout
Tiger Sharks        Sting Rays        Blowfish

2nd place
Tiger Sharks        Salmon        Arctic Cod         Brown Spotted Trout  
Pufferfish        Goblin Sharks        Sea Pigs

3rd place
Barracudas        Wajil            Barracudas        Barracudas
Marlins        Tuna

CREATIVE BASICS    

1st place
Rottweilers        Panthers        Wolves        Bulldogs
Bulldogs        Chihuhuas        Red Wolves        German Shepards
Serval            Pitbulls

2nd place
Beagles        Golden Retrievers    Arctic Wolves        Timberwolves
Huskies        Pitbulls        Grey Wolves        Bull Dogs
Arctic Wolves        German Shepards

3rd place      
Bull Pogs        Huskies        Timberwolves        White Wolves
Wolves        Korean Jindos        Arctic Wolves        Arctic Foxes
Grey Wolves        Grey Wolves

4th place
Westwood Wolves    Bulldogs        Blue Heelers        Pugs          

INDIVIDUAL BREAKING

1st place
T.J. Tibbetts        Brecken Lusk        Gillian Boswell    Jovan Moore
Jake Grose        Nancy Fanning    Ed Stanton      

TEAM BREAKING

1st place
Scott/Dean        Wyngarden/Jensen    Field/Mitchell             Brancio/Salamera  
Bilyeu/Artman        Ma/Lincke        Lawlor/Hartmann    Mockingbirds
Red Robins  

BASICS CHALLENGE

1st place
Trenton Wheat    Gaven DiNunzio    Cole Martin        Jaxson Wheat
Derek Mershon    Zach Allen        Luke Vanni        Grady Burkgren
Joy Farr        Amethyst Whiney    Rylee Ross        Tabor Jensen
Bryar Chrismer    Joel Tate        Jack Weichert        Emily Chavez  
Aiyana Godwin    Taylor Allen        Mathias Bauer        Juliane Marine
Christian Lloyd    Zayne Lineberger    R.J. Larson        Mitchell Oleszek
Brynn Konrad        Meryn Probasco    Elijah Alire        Owen King

2nd place
Allan Stanton        Nash Politte        Carson Mack        Halston Kueper
Aubrey Schreiner    Kali Jensen        Aidan Sturm        Ruby Johnston
Evan O'Fihelly    Logan Rumph        Evalin Dickerson    Sydni Wilhelm
Thomas Brankin    Joshua Stencel        Tyler Cobb        Jacob Hoenmans
Noah Bolton        Reed Narva        Tatum Buenning    Zack Bickford
Nathan Tate        Mariah Cordova    Owen Martin        Olivia Henthorn
Kirk Otteson        Cody Jacobson    Colin Palminteri    Dylan

BLACK BELT TEAM STAFF POOMSE

1st place
Blue Spruce        Canadian Maples    Redwoods        Aspens

2nd place
Giant Redwoods    Palm Trees        Butternuts        Hickory

3rd place
Yellow Birch        Blue Spruce        Christmas Trees    Cottonwoods

MOST KICKS KONTEST

1st place
Finn Kubista        Dominic Benevides    Cole Martin        Jack Habetler
Derek Mershon    Kali Jensen        Luke Vanni        Greg Rodriguez, Jr.
Joy Farr        Amethyst Whiney    Rylee Ross        Kaylyn McEwan
Jack Weichert             Chance Keller        Joshua Stencel        Bryar Chrismer  
Mathais Bauer            Kylie Bickford        Aiyana Godwin    Brendan Arink
Osso Siddall               Max Bogdanoff    Owen Martin        Nathan Tate
Mitchell Oleszek        Brynn Konrad        Aydon Lewis        Peyton Beard
Lydia Willis               Justice De La Cruz    Dylan

2nd place
Trenton Wheat    Carson Mack        Matthew Hamel    Jaxson Wheat
Aubrey Schreiner    Zach Allen        Sebastian Popescu    Mia Bowerman
Grady Burkgren    Evan O'Fihally    Bowen Meyer        Amadeo Sandoval
Alaina Faler        Colston Yoder        Rusty Martino        Grant  Miller
Emily Chavez        Liam McCoy        Reed Narva        Grady Bahr
Zack Bickford        Nick Tibbetts        Brecken Lusk        Sean Haverkamp
Jasmine Salamera    Diesel DiPaola    Elijah Alire        Cody Jacobson
Robbie Crandell    Dylan Moga        Owen King

3rd place
Cy Harrington        Gaven DiNunzio    Forrest Braukhoff    Nash Politte
Cash Estes        Levi Burkgren        Theryn Ochsner    Sofia Laws
Lucah Meyer        Elaina Cassidy        Miah Daley        Pierce Drozda
Sydni Wilhelm    Aiden Seashore    Joel Tate        Ridge Blue
Tyler Cobb        Jacob Hoenmans    Lauren Dahlberg    Trevor Mershon
Tatum Buenning    Juliane Marine        Ben Techmeyer    Zayne Lineberger
R.J. Larson        Wiley Kueper        Sigourney Zager    Quinn Nesline
Chloe Churchill    Aodhan Linehan    Oliver Faler

4th place
Enzo D'Alessandro    Jack Gittleman    Halston Kueper    Ella Horner
Jesse Rainey        Mason Harrington    Conor McCarthy    Ruby Johnston
Riley Hagan        Logan Rumph        Evelin Dickerson    Jason Stencil, Jr.
Thomas Brankin    Ellie Stanton        Patrick Konrad    Everett Tompkins
Benson White        Noah Bolton        Taylor Allen        Alex Price
William Maes        Dean Gunther        David Malec        Anya Trilk
Olivia Henthorne    Kirk Otteson        Libby Girard        Colin Palminteri
Christopher Cardella    Eli Henthorn

Excellence from the CTI Monthly Homework

By Jennifer McKernan, 1st dan

As parents we want the best for our kids--the best education and the best experiences.  That's why we try to provide all kinds of opportunities for them to explore and experience, including various sport activities.  One of the most enriching one for us has been doing Taekwondo.  In taking martial arts, the kids gain physical fitness by learning the skill of kicking and punching and doing self-defense. They also experience competition and sportsmanship at the tournaments.  They gain mental training, with all the patterned movements, self-defense and one-step sparring drills they have to memorize and do, and also when studying the history, rules, and various aspects of Taekwondo for the written tests.  They learn and experience so much at Taekwondo!

But these are outside qualities.  As parents we can only do so much in taking them to classes and encouraging them to do their best.  Somewhere along the way, the desire to do well in Taekwondo, and to succeed in life, to achieve EXCELLENCE in whatever one does, has to come from inside.  What I didn't foresee, was how much the kids would learn about various qualities and values, and also experience character building and growth from the Colorado Taekwondo Institute (CTI).

Every month at Colorado Taekwondo Institute, including our Lakewood location, the students do CTI Excellence sheets.  These are either a worksheet for the younger students, or written assignments for teens and adults on various values and characters such as integrity, courage, responsibility, honesty, attitude, perseverance, respect, potential, dependability and leadership.  By completing these assignments once a month, the student earns a yellow stripe to go on the end of his or her belt.  5 yellow stripes equals 1 black stripe, so a student with one black stripe and 1 yellow stripe has done 6 assignments.  This also means that 6 months has gone by if all of the assignments were turned in each month.  The stripes on that particular colored belt can indicate how long that student has been at that belt color level.  Pretty clever way to glance at a student to see how long he or she has been at that belt level, and whether or not he or she has done her homework!  The stripes are important because it goes towards reaching the next belt level.

At first, the assignments seemed to take much time and thought.  How to explain "Integrity"?  What are some examples of "Random Acts of Kindness" you have done in your life?  And goodness gracious, do you admit in "Anger Management" that mom yells at the kids?  Sometimes we had discussions over them, and sometimes not.  As time went on, the kids did them more and more on their own and it became easier to do because they got used to thinking about them and doing them.  When life got very busy, sometimes it was enough "just to get them done" each month.  But somehow, over the years, doing these homework sheets and having similar discussions while at Black Belt Club, the character values had sunk in.  Just like a seed that is planted, watered, and then turns into a tree bearing fruit, I was pleased to see some of these qualities emerge!

During our recent black belt testing period, talk about perseverance and diligence!  There were a lot of requirements to get done along with the physical testing, and the kids did very well in completing them and not giving up.  Certain situations would arise and the kids would say, "Is that Integrity?"  or  "I really want to reach my full potential, so I think I should do this or that instead."  Really?  It could have been easy to take shortcuts or not to do one's best, but that's not integrity.  There has been such a huge leap in maturity in the kids, and even though it is difficult to tell if it was just because of the Excellence sheets,  I'm sure that all those homework assignments and discussions have helped.

Since writing this article I have been more aware of how everyday situations brings up issues of responsibility, leadership, follow-through, courage, and attitudes and how frequently and easily we discuss them.  The kids are open to growth in character and are very aware of these character issues.  It makes life much more pleasant and rewarding when everyone is trying to do their best and is courteous and supportive of each other. After all, these qualities are very much needed in life and helps one to succeed, too.  Gratitude is another topic covered, and right now I am very grateful for the Excellence Sheets and character building that we got to experience at the Lakewood location or the Colorado Taekwondo Institute.  Excellence in what is done on the outside comes from excellence of character on the inside!

16th Lee H. Park Team Championships

The 16th Lee H. Park Team Championships is THIS WEEK - December 6, at Alameda International High School!

This is a very special tournament honoring the founder of Moo Sul Kwan and the AMASEA, Great Grandmaster Lee H. Park.

This once a year tournament is our CTI Hanmadang.  It is our 6th CTI Hanmadang where students and instructors display their martial arts skills in poomse, one-step sparring, self-defense, special demonstrations and other events!

Unique to this tournament, is the team format that participants will follow during this exciting day.  Depending on the division, competitors may be on a team of three, four or even five people.  There are even two people teams in some competitions like black belt breaking or staff.  Other events include individual events like Most Kicks in a CTI Minute, or the CTI Basics Challenge.  All in all, a very exciting day for everyone involved!

The action begins on Saturday morning, and as always, there are no spectator charges for the family members and friends of our students and instructors!

Bring a camera and get ready to have a fantastic day!

For more information, speak with any CTI instructor.

Click here to see the 16th LHP Team Champs brochure.