This Weekend: the 51st Superbowl Tournament!

We are looking forward to our 51st Superbowl tournament this Friday and Saturday, February 27 & 28!  

Private Lesson Extravaganza: 

The Private Lesson Extravaganza will begin at 4.30 pm on Friday night. Please arrive 5-10 minutes before your scheduled time to get checked in and warm up. 

At this point, drop-ins are welcome, but we cannot guarantee the availability of 3rd dans and above for drop-ins. If you wish to schedule with a 3rd dan and above, come at 4:55, 5:20 or 5:45. The 4:30pm slots are full for 3rd and above. The 20 minute private lessons start at 4:30pm, 4:55pm, 5:20pm and 5:45pm. You can use this link through Thursday to sign up. 

For the private lesson extravaganza only, students will enter the gym directly through the gym doors near the black belt parking on the map below.  On Saturday and other future events, students will enter through the entrance described below. 

Competition and Arrival Times: 

Black Belts will compete on Friday night at 6 pm. Spectators are welcome.  

All other students (white through red) will compete on Saturday. 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. 

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 and all tigers: 10.30 am start time, 10 am arrival time

Ages 9 and up; white, yellow, orange, green, blue belts: 12.30 pm pm start time, 11 am arrival time

Tournament Collection:

For this tournament, we are collecting new underwear, new socks, hats, gloves and new or clean, used blankets for the Brown Bag Ministries. You can bring them to the tournament or through next week at your campus locations.

Location details, parking:

The tournament will be at Alameda International High School which is located at 1255 S Wadsworth Blvd., Lakewood, CO 80232.  

Please park in the large parking lot on the southwest corner of Louisiana and Allison St. (There is another parking lot on the northwest corner of Arizona and Allison / north of the tennis courts that can be used for overflow parking).

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 or you can see if there is room in the main entrance parking lot.  

You will enter the school through the doors facing west. The title 'ALAMEDA INTERNATIONAL' is written in large block letters above the doors. 

Checking students in, getting them to their rings, their competitions:

Once you enter, you will be directed to a check-in table. 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.

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, announcements, etc., 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.  

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 pick them up at the photo podium after their Most Kicks division.

All other students will compete in poomse first. We ask that parents remain in the upper bleachers during these competitions, please. After poomse competition ends, students will then go to the RED ring number on their LEFT hand for sparring. 

Parents of students ages 7 and under, please come down to the podium to collect your student after their first competition and to help them get to their second. You are welcome to take photos at the podium.

After-school program students will compete in poomse and most kicks.  After most kicks, they are free to leave.

All other students will compete in poomse, sparring and first point wins. 

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

Students ages 9 & up will compete in three or four events. Please do not leave until your student has competed in everything (poomse, two sparring divisions, and then students ages 12 & up, ranks orange and above will also compete in breaking). After sparring divisions conclude, please stay in the gym and listen for their name to be called to their additional divisions and ring numbers.

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.

Lastly, please do not attend the tournament if you or your student is ill. 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 this weekend!  Thank you.

Martial Arts for Classes for Families

By Lydia Willis, 3rd dan

Are you interested in martial arts lessons for yourself or a family member? Why not everyone! The Colorado Taekwondo Institute offers a unique opportunity for families to participate in the same sport, while still having their individual needs met. We have 5 different campuses located in the Denver-Metro area, each offering a variety of classes for all age ranges. This allows families to enroll not only younger children, but teens and parents as well! By participating in family martial arts, you are all learning the same discipline, emotional, and physical skills, taught at age appropriate levels. At the Colorado Taekwondo institute, we have many families who are all taking classes and are enjoying these benefits.

I started at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute when I was just four years old because my younger sister was taking classes at the time, and it piqued my interest. When we started, she was 2 years old, and I was 4 years old. We began in the same class, ages 2-4, learning the basic movements of martial arts and ideas of discipline. I loved being in the same sport as my little sister, we got to spend more time together in a structured manner, meaning we weren’t getting into little sibling arguments. Another benefit of having my younger sister in class was being encouraged to practice more at home. It’s important to practice Taekwondo skills at home as it helps to solidify the complex movements that are learned in class, but also to build up physical endurance. Being in classes with my younger sister, we were motivated to go home afterwards and practice together, or even put on little performances for our parents in the living room. As we got older, I moved out of the “tigers” class, but having the opportunity to be able to train with her at home helped us both to continue working on those discipline skills. The more motivated one of us got to practice and learn new moves, the more the other one also felt motivated. We had learned to be disciplined and spend time learning together at home, which meant it was easy for us to learn to get home and get our homework done right away, or to practice our instruments for music lessons. Family martial arts was an essential part in developing who we are as people.

Along with pushing each other to become better martial artists and more disciplined, having a family member in class helps to create a sense of competition that pushes training to a higher level. Healthy levels of competition are incredibly helpful in creating improvement in martial artists, each member of the family has a small part of them that wants to be “better” than everyone else, and that helps to push everyone further. It creates a higher interest in participating in events like tournaments, expos, and symposiums, as well as attending extra classes and events. This healthy competition also teaches family members important emotional skills like self-control and sportsmanship. It’s easier to make a mistake with a family member than it is to make a mistake once you’re in the real world, so having healthy competition with family makes it easier to learn those skills. It provides an opportunity to practice being a good sport and being kind within the safety of people you already know and trust.

If your family is looking for a sport to participate in, family martial arts at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute is a perfect option. With classes for all ages that help train physical fitness and self-defense skills as well as emotional skills like discipline, respect, and kindness. 

Responsibility

By Evan McEwan, teen 1st dan

Responsibility is a cornerstone fundamental in most everything you will encounter. Responsibility teaches you so many lessons through hardship, mistakes, and other processes. Responsibility grows in importance as you go up the belt ranks in our program being a quintessential part of every individual's Moo Sul Kwan career. Responsibility also shows integrity and builds strong bonds and connections.

The lessons responsibility teaches are so important to growth in any aspect. You start to understand what those who are responsible for you need to sacrifice, having to make the same sacrifices yourself. You give up time, money, and energy when you are responsible which gives you great respect for your caretakers. Responsibility has many facets and applications, there is responsibility for others just as much as there is for yourself. Self-responsibility teaches necessary fundamentals like how to work by yourself, time management skills, and the ability to have balance in between different tasks. These three skills are some of many that come with being self-responsible and are essential to success. 

Beyond its educational properties, responsibility has incontestable vitality within the Moo Sul Kwan institution. It walks in tandem with every student along their career, growing in presence as they climb the ranks. A Moo Sul Kwan student’s first class holds minimal responsibility, however it is still present, having the responsibility of learning and remembering protocol and custom of the class. As one progresses however, they must become responsible for their behavior, practicing their moves and forms at home, do the monthly excellence homeworks, balance taekwondo with other aspects of life, and so much more. When moving up the ranks you gradually gain all of this knowledge and eventually you may get the opportunity to teach a class. 

Responsibility fosters meaningful and valuable relationships through trust. If one gives someone responsibility for their belonging and they perform well then trust is built, this principle is applicable everywhere and helps one climb ranks and earn positions. In Taekwondo it’s important to build bonds with others to develop as a student, having the skill of responsibility will ensure that you can effectively advance. Moreover in any developmental aspect in life connections are so important to growth so having that responsibility will be so valuable to anyone climbing the ranks.

All things are encompassed by responsibility, being a key to success, among many other things. It teaches you how to adapt, develop, persevere, and push through hardship. It is also a necessary part to development i n Taekwondo, growing in importance as you go through the belt ranks in Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo.  Responsibility also helps you build relationships through integrity and trust. All in all, responsibility is one of the most key things to any development at all.