Tournament Information for this Weekend!

Hi everyone!

We are looking forward to our tournament this Friday and Saturday, April 28th and 29th!  

Competition and Arrival Times: 

Black Belts will compete on Friday night at 6:00pm (in the SMALL gym).  Spectators are welcome.  All other students (white through red) will compete on Saturday (in the LARGE gym where the tournament normally takes place). You will find details on your competition time below.  You will need to arrive 30 minutes prior to the start time of your competition to check in, etc.  Some divisions may begin early, so please be at Alameda at your arrival time.  Thank you.  Note: You will be entering the large gym from the end doors to the right of the gym.  You will NOT be entering through the doors that lead directly onto the large gym floor.  Signs will be posted, and you can also refer to the map below.

Purple, Brown, & Red belts, all ages (8 am start time, 7.30 am arrival time)

Ages 8 and under; white, yellow, orange, green, blue belts (10.30 am start time, 10 am arrival time)

Ages 9 and up; white, yellow, orange, green, blue belts (1 pm start time, 12.30 pm arrival time)

School program students will be competing with the correct age groups so 9 yrs and up will start at 1pm.

Location details, parking:

The tournament will be at Alameda International High School which is located at 1255 S Wadsworth Blvd., Lakewood, CO 80232.  Please note that Alameda is undergoing a large amount of construction at this time, and the parking situation will be tight for the next few tournaments.  We have included a graphic below to help you find parking and the entrance to the gym.

Upper belts and black belts, please park in the old main parking lot (labeled 'overflow parking' in the graphic below).  All other families and students can park in the new main parking lot on the south side of the school off of Louisiana Avenue.  Once this lot fills, you can also use the overflow parking on the corner of Louisiana and Allison St.  Please do not double park and/or block someone in.  If both parking lots are full, there is a lot of neighborhood street parking available in the area.  

Please Note: Due to the construction, parking will be hard to find.  Please give yourself time to adjust for this.

You will enter the gym through the doors on the right far side of the gym.  It is marked with a red star in the graphic below.  You are welcome to drop age-appropriate students and/or equipment off near the entrance if you need to park farther away.  

Checking students in and getting them to their rings:

Once you enter, you will be directed to a check-in table.  Due to the construction, we are going to have you enter the school, walk down the hallway, up and across the gym, and over to a larger hallway area on the other side of the gym.  While we know this isn't ideal,  this will allow us to have more check-in space than what we can fit in the smaller entrance hallway and help us avoid a back up.  The check-in will be divided up alphabetically by last name so please proceed to the table marked with the first letter of your last name.

While checking-in, someone will write ring numbers on your hands.  You will have a green number on your right hand and a red number on your left hand.  Once you have your ring numbers, you will head to the upper bleachers of the gym to settle in.  You will be called down to the floor for the group photo and will proceed to the green ring number after the group photo.

Older students, you will then proceed to the GREEN ring number on your hand RIGHT hand.  Your judges will direct you on the order of your competitions.  These ring signs are not color coded, so please go to the number on your hand that is green and disregard the color of the ring sign.  

Parents of younger students competing at 10.30 am, you will take your student down to the gym floor when called for the group photo.  After the group photo, demonstration and announcements, black belts will take the students to their correct ring number which will be the GREEN number on their right hand. The ring number will be labeled with big signs.  These ring signs are not color coded, so please look to the ring number on your student's hand that is green and disregard the color of the ring sign.  There will be a demonstration after the younger student group photo.  If you are from Green Mountain and have a younger student in the demo, you will want to sit in the west bleachers.

Once students are settled at their rings, we ask that spectators stay in the upper bleachers and off the gym floor for safety and to provide more room for the competitions.  Please show your students where you will be so they know where to find you.  If you have a very young child (tigers ages 2 - 4) who needs assistance, it is okay if you need to stay nearby on the gym floor. 

Tiger students (2-4 and some 5 year olds who attend 30 minutes classes) will compete in two divisions in the same ring and then will be dismissed for the day.  Please come down to the podium to collect your student after their competitions.

All other students will compete in poomse first.  After that competition ends, students will then go to the RED ring number on their LEFT hand.  School Program students will compete in Self-Defense and other other students will compete in sparring and first point wins.  Sparring/1st point or Self-Defense will conclude the competition for 8 year olds and unders.  

After your student is done competing in their divisions, please come down to the edge of the gym floor to collect them.  Thank you.

Sparring will also be the final competition for white and yellow belts ages 9 - 11.

Orange belts and above, ages 12 and up, will also compete in breaking.  After their sparring division concludes, please stay in the gym and listen for their name to be called to their breaking ring.

Etiquette and Uniform

All students should arrive already dressed out in their uniforms with their belts tied.  Anyone with long hair will need to have it tied back securely.  No jewelry is permitted, and freshly pierced ears need to be covered from front to back with medical tape and/or bandaids.  Students should wear a white crewneck t-shirt beneath their uniform top.  Students should not wear jeans or secondary pants underneath their uniform pants as this will inhibit their ability to kick.

Boards

If your student is competing in breaking (students age 12 and up, orange and above), they will need to provide their own boards for this competition.  Please touch base with your instructor with any questions you may have here.

Lastly, please do not attend the tournament if you or your student is ill or if anyone in your household is symptomatic or has tested positive for Covid.  Thank you.  

If you have any questions at all, please reach out to your instructor.  We are so proud of all of our students' hard work and preparation, and we look forward to Saturday!  Thank you.

Last Tournament of the Season - 2023 All-City Champs!

Mark your calendars for the 2023 All-City Championships tournament, to be held April 28 & 29 at Alameda International, in Lakewood, CO.

Moo Sul Kwan martial arts were brought to the United States in 1969, by Lee H. Park. For over four decades, Moo Sul Kwan has hosted championship tournaments and events for the positive educational experiences of its students and instructors. Our 2023 All-City Champs is a wonderful event and a chance to begin the Summer of ‘23 with success!

There are CTI Campus locations in Green Mountain, Littleton, Westminster, Golden, Conifer and Craig, CO.  The CTI also provides educational excellence at Alameda International, Montessori Peaks Academy, Red Rocks Elementary, Our Lady of Fatima School, West Woods Elementary, Meiklejohn Elementary School and Westridge Elementary.

Events will include:

• Poomse

• Tiger Poomse & Following Directions

• Self-Defense

• Breaking

• Target Kicking 

• Staff

You can read more about this event by clicking here. You or your student should receive a hardcopy of the brochure in class soon.  You can register for the event by clicking here. Please note: All registrations are due April 22nd, and all registrations must be completed online. 

Please contact your instructor if you have any questions!

MSK Taekwondo and Modesty

By Eric Evans, 3rd dan

Modesty is the quality of living with restraint in speech, actions, dress, and daily life. Spend 5 minutes on social media and you may wonder where our modesty has gone. It seems like every act is set to impress others, show off or perform something extreme. As martial arts students, we should use modesty in our daily lives to build each other up. Our model concept teaches us that our goal is to provide opportunities and leadership for others. Practicing modesty can be a powerful tool in helping us navigate our daily lives.

As a father and instructor, avoiding hubris and keeping my expectations in check, can help build up those I hope to lead. I have personally struggled with setting proper expectations for my boys. I see tremendous potential in both of them, but I must temper my expectations so that they can build up their potential over time. Taekwondo classes teach us this temperament. We are taught that there is an expectation to perform moves correctly, show outward and self respect, but it comes with the understanding that we will make mistakes. We are taught that if we are paying attention and trying our best, mistakes are ok; they are how we learn. 

Modesty allows us to be more aware of our own limitations, which can help us to focus our energies on the tasks that are truly important. At work, a team will excel and achieve more if each individual is modest in their actions. Relying on each other makes a stronger team and in the end a better product or service. Teams that lead by arrogance often do not last, do not grow and produce a product that boasts features that can not be obtained. Modesty can also help us to be more aware of the needs of others. By avoiding arrogance, we can be more mindful of the feelings and needs of those around us. We can more easily recognize when someone needs help or support, and can more readily offer our assistance.

Modesty can also help us to better manage our expectations and to be more accepting of failure. We can use this acceptance to help us to be more resilient in the face of adversity and to be more open to learning from our mistakes. This can help us to stay motivated and to stay focused on our goals. Not getting 1st place at a Colorado Taekwondo Institute tournament event can be upsetting. Practicing modesty however can help you focus on improving your poomse, sparring or endurance. It can be the driving factor for bringing you to the next level. When we are modest, we are more likely to be humble and to recognize our own limitations. We can use this humility to help us to better understand our own capabilities and to strive to do our best. This can help us to become more successful in our endeavors and to better manage our stress.

Finally, modesty can help us to be more confident in our own decisions and to better manage our emotions. We can use this confidence to be more assertive and to be more decisive in our actions. This can help us to be more successful in our endeavors and to better navigate the complexities of life. At the same time, it will build others around us up, bringing them along for the journey, rather than tearing them down.