CTI Masters Seminar

Students Getting Ready to Spar!

By David Wallace, 1st dan

The Colorado Taekwondo Institute presented two dynamic CTI Masters Seminars on March 26th, 2011. What a fantastic way to end the month of March. The CTI Master Seminars on One-Step Sparring and Free Sparring were held at Alameda High School and was attended by many students from the Colorado Taekwondo Institutes campuses and clubs.

The morning started off strong with a great warm-up led by Grandmaster Sautel which led right into the first Seminar, One-Step Sparring.  One-Step Sparring, along with our Basics, Self-defense and Poomse, are one of the most important aspects of our Moo Sul Kwan training.  One-Step Sparring breaks down each technique step by step in a choreographed manner which allows the students to focus on the many different aspects of each technique such as maintaining eye contact, judging distances, having correct stances and posture and training with both the right and left sides.

During this Seminar the students rotated between different groups led by some of the finest MSK instructors!  Each group broke down the One-Step Sparring techniques in different and some totally new manners which really helped the students focus on the individual techniques and what the purpose and intent that each technique was used for.

After a short break and some birthday cake, thanks to Eileen Lindner, we strapped on our sparring gear and went right into the second Seminar, which was on Free-Sparring.

Free-Sparring is an important element of training at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, and it's one of the most fun!   During the Free-Sparring Seminar we did a lot of exciting sparring drills and sparred a lot of rounds with many different opponents of different ages, sizes and belt levels  which truly tested our endurance. I am pretty sure we burned off that birthday cake and then some.

To sum it up, each and every CTI Master Seminar I have attended has been an amazing educational experience and this one was no exception. I look forward to taking this knowledge and applying it to not only my everyday training as a student but also my teaching.  I can't wait to see everyone at the next CTI master Seminar!