Leading the Way at the 26th MSK Symposium

By Abbey Salamera, 2nd dan

The 26th Moo Sul Kwan Black Belt Symposium took place on October 7-8, 2022, at Alameda International High School in Lakewood, Colorado. Nearly a hundred Moo Sul Kwan black, red, and brown belts gathered during this two-day event to train in classes and seminars to strengthen their understanding of Moo Sul Kwan martial arts. According to Great Grandmaster Park (who brought Moo Sul Kwan Martial Arts tothe United States) and his Model Concept, these upper belts and instructors should concentrate on strategies of movements and techniques of teaching for program instruction, respectively; the MSK Symposium gave these students an opportunity to focus on these elements of their training through the theme of the event: “Leading the Way.”

“Leading the Way” serves to be important for all MSK Taekwondo students, especially as the participants of the Symposium grow into the leaders of the school. The upper belts and instructors take the knowledge they’ve learned at the Symposium and pass it down through classes, assistant teaching, mentoring, and other opportunities to collaborate at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute. Participants trained extremely hard on Friday evening and during the day on Saturday as they improved their skills in poomse, sparring, one-steps, self-defense, and more. The Symposium culminated in a banquet at Alameda International High School for a night of entertainment, food, and fun!

The first class that Symposium participants embarked on was poomse. Each class was given the opportunity to practice each poomse that they know, and do each one of them to the best of their ability. Each participant was given a sheet of paper with these poomse names and marked down every time they made a mistake on the poomse. Given the fact that perfect practice makes perfect, a mistake on a poomse resulted in practicing that same poomse five times to ensure that it would be done correctly with the best technique. All participants collectively did so much poomse in just the first couple hours of the evening.

Both days of the Symposium ended in sparring seminars between all the participants. Students and instructors from all CTI campuses were able to spar one another, no matter the difference in age, rank, and ability. This gave participants the opportunity to practice their skills on new opponents as they improved their speed, blocking, spin moves, fakes, footwork, and all techniques that create a good sparrer. At the end of the day, respect and sportsmanship amongst the participants filled the gym of Alameda International High School to reflect the qualities of a Moo Sul Kwan black belt.

After the two-day event, MSK students were able to develop their CTI teaching and leadership and concepts for their physical and mental training. The many hours of training made an impact to progress students towards their next belt and become better Taekwondo students that embody the values of Moo Sul Kwan. With an emphasis on increasing both athletic and academic knowledge, the 26th Moo Sul Kwan Black Belt Symposium was able to fulfill both of these aspects for MSK students to continue leading the way.