End of the Month Tournament Sparring #4

Patrica (Blue Fighter) vs. Jose (Red Fighter)
Winner: Patricia (Blue Fighter)

End of the Month Tournament Sparring #3

Eric (Red Figher) vs. Richard (Blue Fighter)
Winner: Richard (Blue Fighter)

End of the Month Tournament Sparring #2

Gino(Blue Fighter) Vs. Brandon (Red Fighter)
Winner by Split Decision: Brandon (Red Fighter)

End of the Month Tournament Sparring #1

Gabriel (Blue Fighter) vs. Brandon (Red Fighter)
Winner: Brandon (Red Fighter)

I finally figured it out!

I asked Master Bosse to watch my pattern "Ge-Baek" today, to see what I needed to work on. He said that I was de-connected from my pattern afterwards. He said that my techniques were good, but I looked like a robot. He explained that I needed to put my personality into my pattern. Comparing it to lasagna, Master Bosse said that it would be like someone just cooking up lasagna noodles and eating them plain. Not very exciting. Or, you could cook them and add a little butter, which would give it a little bit different flavor. Or you could add all kind of spices, changing the taste totally. It's the same lasagna, only you have to put your own spin on it, your own personality into it. It's the same with patterns. He said that my patterns had pretty good technique, but there was no Patricia in them. It was like a robot doing a pattern. Some people do their patterns a little bit slower. Others faster. Some people pause at different times. You put yourself into those patterns. If not, then it will be robotic. It could even be unexciting. The patterns are the same, but I have to make them different. He also suggested that I move my eyes a little more, instead of keeping them strait ahead all the time. I tried this. WOW! EUREKA! It's completely different! I always watch my patterns and wonder what is wrong with them. Master Bosse has been telling me I looked like a robot, that I was too stiff, for pretty much forever. I just didn't get it! It completely makes a difference. I also figured out that I need to not be nervous and get into my pattern, put myself in my own little white room of Ge-Baek, or Choong-Moo, or Dan-Gun, or whichever pattern I am doing. Master Bosse also compared it to teachers. You could have a teacher with the same tone of voice for the whole class, making it boring no matter how exciting what they are talking about should be, or you can have a teacher who moves his or her voice up and down, and move his/her eyes around, and body and arms, making you hang onto every word, never knowing what they'll do next. Below is what I decided you need to have good patterns:

To Have Good Patterns:
Know the pattern
Have spirit
Have good technique and stances
Have good sine wave, power, and speed
Have smooth, flowing motion
Put yourself into your pattern

As soon as I tried putting myself into the pattern, I got a result. It made such a difference. I'll imagine sparring, or doing a Ho Sin Sul. I'll have perfect technique, smooth. Patricia will be in that pattern.
Thank you, Master Bosse!

To all of you Taekwon-Doins, tomorrow (Thursday) is the End of the Month Tournament. You can go if you're from any of Master Bosse's classes. See you there!

How Sweet Is That?

An obviously Taekwon-Do belt cake (Notice 'Taekwon-Do' Written in Korean- I wonder if the eater took ITF?)


We don't eat our candy for Halloween. Instead, I build a huge candy house- this year it was a country farm nearby a stage, lake, and outdoor TKD do-jang! Here are some images of the Taekwon-Do guys- the girl doing the splits would not stand up to kick or punch, so I had to make other arrangements. And I had to give them belts that look brown because there wasn't any other color that was good except yellow, and I forgot why I didn't use that...
And I found a Taekwon-Do belt cake that looked cool, so I posted that too. This year, maybe I can make a Taekwon-Do cake!

I'll have somebody kicking on it, maybe, drawn in frosting. Possible on top of marshmallow fondant. Maybe in front of the LVTKD logo! Yes...

What would you make a TKD cake look like?

"The Only Thing You Have To Fear is Fear Itself"

They say the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. I wish that was the only thing I feared! You see, breaking boards with side kicks, jumping front kicks, and flying side kicks normally aren't too hard for me. But when I do reverse hook kicks and reverse turning kicks, I stop at the last second and don't break the board. It's because at the last second, I get afraid of the board. I don't go all the way through; I barely even kick hard! I don't feel scared at first, but when I spin, my foot just stops. I wish I could stop this, I wish I could get over my fear. I remember when it used to be like this for me when I did jumping high over the head front kicks. But I wasn't as afraid, I was extremely FRUSTERATED. But when I got to the Christmas Demo, when I looked at that board, I felt nervous. Very nervous. But soon, it wasn't regular nervousness. It became excitment, confidence, exhilleration. All on top of the nervousness, as if the nervousness only empowered these - I guess I'd say brave- feelings. I'd say that this would be'getting into the zone.' I barely even remember breaking the board on the first try. After that, I felt like a champion!
Above is a video of that moment. I was a blue belt, at 12 years old. If only I could do that with reverse turning kicks. It isn't too difficult to preform these kicks, it's just I get freaked out. This is harder for me that a jumping high over the head front kick ever was! This is more than frusterating; I know that at the moment I should be braking the board, I feel fear instead of my heel flying through the board. And now, when I go to kick, I automatically assume I'm going to get scared at the last second and do bad, so I don't even try hard enough, accidentally!

This is a question: how did you overcome your board breaking fears/chokes/lack of power? Did you ever have any problems with certain breaks?

If you could please answer this question, I would be very thankful.

Because the only thing that you should have to fear is fear itself, and if I can get rid of this silly reverse turning kick and hook kick fear, then I'll be one step closer to getting to that point.

Thanks!

Jumping Long Distance and Early Red and Black Belt Class

In my basement I Jumped Really far on a bean bag. and master bosse let me do the red and black belt class even if I am a red stripe. And could somebody post on this blog?

Grand Master Tran - President of the ITF- is missing

Above: Grand Master Tran

The ITF president is missing! Below was copied from the ITF website:

Grand Master Trân was in Port-au-Prince on business when the earthquake struck Haiti last Tuesday. He was staying at the Montana Hotel (room 306). Grand Master Trân was seen going to his room 10 minutes before the earthquake. “My husband is trapped in the rubbles of the Montana Hotel and our family is still awaiting news from the rescue teams", Mrs My Nguyen Tran, his wife, said this morning.

Dr. Janel Gauthier, former Chair of the ITF Ethics and Discipline Committee and close friend of the Tran family, stated: "Taekwon-do practitioners all over the world are hoping that Grand Master Tran will be found alive and well very soon. Their thoughts and their hearts go to his family. Many Taekwon-do Masters, Instructors and practitioners from the Americas are deploying tremendous energy and using all possible channels and tools of communication to get vital information to the multi-national professional rescue teams to locate Grand Master Tran in the rubble of the Montana Hotel. Others are rounding health and sanitation stations in Haiti and neighbouring countries in case Grand Master Tran has been evacuated without identification".

"I thank all of those who are working the medias and the web, searching for information or spreading information on my father and his possible location", said Grand Master Tran's daughter Joliette.

Grand Master Tran is the father of Joliette (6th degree black belt), Cécilia and Nicolas (4th degree black belt).



For further information:

Master Willem Jacob Bos,
ITF Secretary General
E-mail: itfadmhq@fastwebnet.it
Phone : + 39 06 45443165

Notice anything different...?

The blog layout is different! That's right, we have a blog with a columm on either side of the posts! Wow! I have always dreamed of a template like this.... ahhh...

I found this at blogcrowds.com, it's free, no download required, and fantastic!
Don't worry, posters, everything is still the same to do. It's just... better!

Today was the Red and Black Belt Class! Gino got to come- even if he is a red stripe and not a red belt! He behaved very well and did a great job! Yay, Gino! We got our new schedules for the Red and Black Belt Class for 2010 today. I posted it here, you can find it by clicking on the Red and Black Belt Class image on the left side of this screen. Also, I added a translator to our blog- that way, readers can translate comments and posts to their languages. (I got a few comments in Chinese, and I got the idea)

Red and Black Belt Classes for 2010

Lost your paper? Here is a list of the dates of the red and black belt classes for 2010:

Red and Black Belt Classes for 2010:

Jan. 9 & 23
Feb. 13 & 27
Mar. 13 & 27
Apr. 10 & 24
May 8 & 26
Jun. 12 & 26
Jul. 24
Aug. 28
Sep. 11 & 25
Oct. 9 & 23
Nov. 13 & 27
Dec. 11

They are held at the Heinrich YMCA from 1:15 to 4:15 PM- be on time!(We have to start later currently because there is a karate class that goes on before the Red and Black Belt Class now, since we hold TKD in the aerobics room)

FAQs

Find FAQs at the LVTKD Website.
But, here are some more that are not answered on the site:

Q. How can I find time for Taekwon-Do?
A. There is always a way to find time for Taekwon-Do! Firstly, the classes are timed after most kids are done school, and some adults are done work. To see the days and time of the classes, click Here.

Q. I took Taekwon-Do somewhere else and got to a certain belt. Will I have to start over from white belt again?
A. No. If, however, you took another style of Taekwon-Do, you will still keep your belt but be taught our techniques and patterns.

Q. Can you actually defend yourself with Taekwon-Do?
A. Absolutely! ITF Taekwon-Do is a very effective martial art that can be used in a real fight- but only if you absolutely need to defend yourself. Getting into a fight to test or show off your techniques would be misusing Taekwon-Do, and that isn't right!

Q. I heard that Taekwon-Do is almost all kicks. Is this true?
A. No. You may be thinking of WTF, where in competition, there isn't much hand techniques at all. Actually, there are many hand movements, blocks, strikes, and releases in Taekwon-Do, too!

Q. Do we learn how to use weapons in Taekwon-Do?
A. True Taekwon-Do does not include weapons. However, we learn many defences against weapons as we progress through our belt levels. This includes defence against almost any weapon you can think of!

Q. Any weapon you can think of? How about a light saber?!
A. Well, since that is a lot like a sword, then I assume the answer is yes.

Q. I have seen some of the stuff you do in Taekwon-Do. Will I be able to do things like that?
A. If you persevere, then yes! But of course, we are not going to be teaching you how to do 360 reverse hook kicks at white belt, or try to force you to learn how to do a back flip because it looks cool.

Q. Do I have to be flexible to do Taekwon-Do?
A. No, not at all! You can be the least flexible person in the world and still do Taekwon-Do! TKD will help you become more flexible as you do it, too: before I took Taekwon-Do, I couldn't even touch my toes! Now I can put my hands flat on the floor without bending my knees!

Q. Is Taekwon-Do an acrobatic martial art?
A. No, not really. However, there are a few kicks that require you to jump, spin, or even flip in the air to preform, but you won't learn these for a while. The flipping kicks are very, very few, and I believe some of them are just to show techniques in demonstrations, not for actual fights. But if you feel like learning how to do flips, then it can really make a Ho Sin Sul exciting, though this is entirely not required.

Q. Is Taekwon-Do expensive?
A. Our ITF Taekwon-Do is very inexpensive as far as Taekwon-Do classes go. Taekwon-Do imitators' classes are expensive, and they don't even train you in a true martial art! The prices for our classes vary from $30 to $60 per month depending on the location, as Master Bosse teaches in different places. It is very much worth it to just pay up to $60 per month for something that will last you for life; something enjoyable and beneficial for anyone from age 6 to 600!

Q. How can I post on the Taekwon-Do blog?
A. Once you start taking Taekwon-Do, explain you want to post on the LVTKD blog and give Master Bosse your email and tell him to give it to Patricia at Mt. Charleston. You'll then receive an email asking you to 'contribute to Patricia's blog.' Make a Google account (it's all free) and start posting!

Q. I am already on the TKD blog but don't know how to post (ect.)How do I..?
A. Please click Here to learn how to post. Scroll down and check out the 'help' area on the right side of the screen for more assistance.

Christmas Demo 2009 Clips

Above is a video I made with short clips from the Christmas Demo. It doesn't include everything, and I might make another movie with more things in it at another time. Also, I just created a new label: 'demonstrations and competition.' You posters can add this label to your posts that have to do with any tournaments

Another Cool Video

Here's another movie that was on the MySpace (the LVTKD MySpace is pretty much out of use, but it is still worth it to visit- look at the cool pictures! There is a link in the link list on the right side of this screen- just scroll to find it)

The patterns don't always have good technique in the above video, and I think there was a mistake in Chung-Moo, but you have got to see the breaking and the self-defence. (Ho Sin Sul) I wonder if that roundoff-back-flip-mid-air-kick thing that girl used to break a board can be used in real life, or was that just to show her technique? I haven't learned that yet, so I don't know. But it is in the Encylopedia of Taekwon-Do; it just isn't listed on how to use it. Unless I missed that part.

And just so you know, the sparring looks full-contact because I think it is. They only do that in Britain or something, mostly everywhere else you are not allowed to go full-out. They must have a lot of rules at those full-contact tournaments to keep people safe!

Some cool ITF TKD vidoes

I got these off the LVTKD MySpace.


Wow! Awesome breaking!


Somebody's cool Ho Sin Sul (an acted, pre-arranged fight) the stances aren't too good, though, the weight distribution seemed 50-50 even though it looked like they were supposed to be L-stances.


Another Ho Sin Sul! It seems to skip the end though, aw...
Still, with weird stances. Good, though! I wish I could do that back-flip kick!


Part of yet another cool Ho Sin Sul!

Blue Belt Reverse Attacks

Here are the Blue Belt Reverse Attacks that I did with Gino for his test. He got a 6.5 on it, which means that they are good. His first ever!
Testing scores are:
6.0- Passing, needs work
6.5- Good
7.0- Really good
7.5- Exellent
8.0- Perfect. Not given out.

Master Bosse has only given out like two 7.5s ever. And 7.0s are hard to get as well. It is my goal to get one!

Tests and a (possible) Snow Storm

We could be practicing in the snow! Okay, not literally. We aren't going to be practicing barefoot in the snow anytime soon (however, it feels awesome to do it- we just don't do it during class) But we are expecting up to 7 feet of snow up here at Mt. Charleston, (in fact it is snowing right now) and that'll mean it will probably be hard for Master Bosse to get up to class pretty soon, not to mention some of the students! And this will also mean my family won't be able to get to the end of the month tournament or the red and black belt class! Ahh!

Also above are some pictures from a test the other day. Gino and Richard tested and passed! Gino is now a red stripe and Richard got his green stripe! Congratulations! Gino is very happy that he got his first 6.5, ever- two of them. One was for his Joong-Gun and another for his Reverse Attacks, which I'll probably post here.

Me and Gino did the Reverse Attacks. I think we did okay. Gino did awesome, his best ever, though!

We are writing the tenets on the kicking pad boards. We have most of them colored in.

Recent Classes & The Upcoming Tournament That Is Making Me Jump For Joy and Giggle Rather Uncharacteristically

Just yesterday my youngest little brother Gabriel tested for his gold belt, and broke a board for the first time- then afterwards, he broke boards with ease! He did well and passed his test with a 6.5 on his Chon-Ji and Four-Direction Block. Afterwards, we all broke boards instead of free sparring- I think that it is the best we have done in board breaking at Mt. Charleston, ever. One person once got push-ups for not breaking a board the entire time! (For those of you who do not take our class, we sometimes line up and take turns breaking boards with various kicks, and if you can't break the board after a few tries, you do 10 push-ups and then get back into the line to keep going- it is really fun!)For other tests, before Christmas my dad and brother Roman got their green belts, and my other brother Gino (current blue belt) and Richard (current gold belt) will test next week. Congratulations and good luck!

Also, I am very excited about the ITF World Cup in Las Vegas. I discovered (among other things) that the sparring rounds are two minutes long for black belts, and that the ITF is holding more than 1,500 rooms for those attending the event, and that building that they are holding it in is the Las Vegas Convention center, in the Hall N3 Hall, which has a 101,443 square feet capacity, under a 25-foot high ceiling. Wow! And so, when finding out about just how many people from all over the world they expect to attend the event, I jumped around and giggled with excitement. Yes.

YAYYYYYYYAAAAYYY!!!!!

They also have pre-arranged free sparring (which seems to be like Ho Sin Sol) for black belts, and of course the power-breaking and pattern competition. This is very exciting, and I plan to start sprinting as soon as all the snow melts and it warms up a little bit so that I will have more endurance for the free sparring.

Taekwon!

Taekwon-Doman (AKA The Taekwon-Do Snowman)

I made a Taekwon-Do Snowman- a Taekwon-Doman - outside yesterday. Unfortunatly, his punching arm fell off, and when I put it back on, it's alot smaller since the snow got hard. But from the front, he still looks okay.

Happy New Year!

Well, it's the new year! 2010, a new year of Taekwon-Do, and also the year of the Taekwon-Do World Cup in Las Vegas ! New Year's Day was on Friday, Taekwon-Do day, but we did Taekwon-Do anyway. Besides, nothing special ever happens on New Year's Day, right? It's New Year's Eve that's the best!
Think of it, in 2010, it's another great year of Taekwon-Do classes, and each month there will be End of the Month Tournaments, Mid-Month Tournaments, and Red and Black Belt classes. There will be another Christmas Demo, and anyone blue belt and higher will have a chance to compete in the ITF World Cup this year. There will be alot of sparring, patterns, promotions, board breaking and new students. This will be the year I earn 5,000 dollars so that by the time I'm 16 I can buy a car, get 'Taekwon' written on the licence plate, and drive to all of Master Bosse's Taekwon-Do classes. (Ahh... Taekwon-Do almost every day...I can't wait!)
Well, Happy New Year's, everyone!
-Patricia