The Best Weekend of the Summer: The MSK Summer Expo

Two Reasons Everyone Should Attend The Summer Expo

By Jason Stencel, Jr., Teen Red Belt

Moo Sul Kwan Summer Expo XXXV

The Colorado Taekwondo Institute (CTI) offers a lot of opportunities outside of class to expand your learning. In fact, it is #6 of the Aims & Goals of Moo Sul Kwan martial arts: Exercise leadership in the development of regional service by providing demonstrations, promotion rank tests, and by directing clinics, workshops, and tournaments.

Out of all the events that CTI runs, the Expo is my favorite. I think there are two reasons why every student should attend an Expo.

The first reason why every student should attend an Expo is because you learn a lot in every class. At the Expos you have a unique opportunity to learn even more about skills like sparring, self-defense, and Poomse. And, you get to learn from instructors from other campuses that you usually don’t learn from. In fact, instructors come from other states to help teach.

The second reason why every student should attend an Expo is that they are a lot of fun. Expo turns training into team building by doing events like the Amazing Race. The Amazing Race is when you go around Keystone doing a series of challenges with a team of people. You go from place to place and complete the challenge before moving to the next challenge. When I was a lower belt Mr. Eric Evans would always do a fun kid project with us. On Saturday night they do a banquet where you eat, listen to the black belt band, and hang out with your friends.

When you are done for the day at the Expo you can do fun things with your family. Every time we went to Keystone we would ride the paddle boats and feed the geese. They swim right up to the side of the boat and eat right out of your hands. 

Overall the Expo is a really fun event. You get to go to the mountains and stay at a resort and it is useful because it makes you better at Taekwondo, and bring excitement back to class when you are back. 

Families Who Sweat Together, Stay Together!

Taekwondo is a sport that provides many mental and physical benefits to students of all ages. Unlike many other individual and team sports, taekwondo is a great activity to do with the whole family. Families can train together in martial arts to exercise, learn techniques, practice self control and discipline, and grow in self confidence while building family bonds at the same time.   Also, since families would be going through the same training process, they can help motivate each other to keep working harder and improve their taekwondo skills. Not to mention, you will always have a training partner at home to practice with!  Training in Moo Sul Kwan taekwondo is especially great for families. Moo Sul Kwan taekwondo places an emphasis on creating a safe and positive learning environment for all students. No matter the student’s skill level, age, or previous martial arts experience, they are accepted into a welcoming community.   

The Colorado Taekwondo Institute offers classes for people of all ages.  Students are able to take classes with people who are of a similar age and belt rank to create the safest and most productive learning environment.  Classes are offered to all age groups to ensure that all students are able to experience the benefits that taekwondo offers.  This is great for families because each member of the family will be able to be in a class that is more tailored to their needs and skill levels.  Although you may not be training side by side with your family member in the same class as you, you will still be experiencing the same fun activities, exercises, and benefits.  

Many families already train with the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, and they would all agree that it enhances their training journey and helps motivate them through their training journey.  Whether you are training with your siblings, parents, children, or your whole family, you will be able to experience the family fun in taekwondo.  Not only can families train in classes, but they can also experience the numerous events that the Colorado Taekwondo Institute offers.  From tournaments to expos to camps to demonstrations, our taekwondo school holds many exciting, fun, and family friendly events every year.  

Also, taekwondo is a wonderful sport for family martial arts to participate in because each student is able to receive a unique training experience.  It is likely that a young child would not have the same goals in taekwondo as their parent would, and each person would be looking for different benefits.  Taekwondo is a great sport for families because each individual student is able to receive a very personalized training experience.  Each instructor who teaches a class gets to know each of their students as individuals and teaches them in the ways that work best for the student.  The training experience at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute is great for families because family members can be part of the organization together, but each individual student can meet their needs at the same time.  Students of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to set goals for themselves as they grow in their training, which promotes a community of growth both inside and out of taekwondo class.  

Overall, family martial arts is an amazing sport for families to participate in together.  Taekwondo allows the whole family to exercise together and allows each individual member of the family to set their own goals, grow in confidence, learn discipline, and have fun, while strengthening bonds between members of the family.  Also, taekwondo encourages long-term commitment because it is a year-round sport, not a seasonal sport.  Family members who do taekwondo together can help encourage and motivate one another, and can help each other with practicing outside of class. This mutual participation in taekwondo can help strengthen the bond of a family and create skilled martial arts students at the same time.

Superbowl Sucess!

By Cody Jacobson

The CTI Superbowl is one of the best tournaments of the CTI year. And this previous one, on February 28-29, 2020 was one of the best ones yet.  This amazing event is one of the greatest out of all the events we hold.  It has been one of my favorite tournaments for a long time.

This tournament is a special one.  Usually, at tournaments, the only competitors allowed to win the Grand Champ, and the amazing sword that goes with it, are Black Belts. This tournament was for the lower belts. They had the chance to win the Grand Champ.  This year the winners of this award were Ivy Jensen (Red Belt, Littleton Campus), Lance Schwartz (Red Belt, Westminster Campus), and Alex Schwartz (Red Belt, Westminster Campus).  A lot of people did really well and the competition was at its best. It was very entertaining to watch!

While the lower belts did phenomenally well during their day of competition, the Black Belts did well too.  Even though they could not win the Grand Champ award, they still had a very great tournament.  One of the best things to watch was the breaking. The younger black belts did fantastic but the 3rd Dan and up power breaking was killer.  The competition was entertaining and thrilling. The competition was very fierce. 

Signifying the end of the CTI year, attendance levels at the tournament were very high, in fact it was the largest Superbowl of all time! Students of all ages and ranks competed in divisions, some with eight people in them. This has been one of our best tournaments yet, and more are on the way.