April 28, 2011,

In celebration their 10th year as a school Cabot Taekwon-Do held its first school tournament on April 9th, 2011.  This all day event was attended by many Cabot TKD students and was a very exciting experience for everyone. Students competed in pattern and sparring competition.  The pattern consisted of each individual completing a pattern of their choice followed by a pattern chosen by the center judge.  The sparring competition which partnered participants according to weight divisions had one 2 min round and each final was two 2 min. rounds.

During the lunch break the Black Belts presented a demonstration which included a team pattern, board breaking and model sparring.  This was also an opportunity for Cabot TKD to raise funds for the relief efforts in Japan.   Cabot Taekwon-Do would like to thank everyone who donated, it is acts like this that really show others that we are doing our part for those in need.  That is what Martial Arts are all about.  A special thank you to all those involved in helping make this a very successful and rewarding event.

April 24, 2011

On Monday April 18^th Chon-ji Martial Arts Academy organized a skip-a-thon fundraiser and demonstration to benefit the victims of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami.  Chon-ji students of all ages participated by collecting pledges from sponsors for each minute they would skip. Students attempted to skip 10, 2 minute rounds, for a total of 20 minutes.  Should a sponsor pledge $1.00 a minute, the student will collect $20.00.  When all was said and done, $1400.00 was raised with more donation still trickling in.

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Chon-ji Martial Arts prides itself in promoting the virtues of compassion, charity and empathy. This is an excellent opportunity for our students to explore these values while helping out others in a time of great distress.  Through events such as the Japan fundraiser, we are not only contributing to the relief efforts, but we are building ethically aware and compassionate, sensitive future community leaders.

April 16, 2011

TAO  fundraising events to help support the relief effrots in Japan have begun.  Mr. Rick Winsor and the students of Cabot Taekwon-Do in Newfoundland kicked things off with a fundraiser tournament on April 9th.  Mr. Denis Alvey and the students of Chon-Ji Taekwon-Do in Hamilton, Ontario have organised a skip-a-thon on Monday April 19 and Mr. Mike Morningstar and the students of Morningstar Taekwon-Do will have a demonstration night on Thursday April 21.  All funds that are raised will be donated to the Japan Red Cross.  We will keep you posted with reports from each event.

April 15, 2011

On Saturday April 9^th, 2011 White Tiger TaeKwon-Do hosted their Unity Championship in South Windsor Connecticut.  There were many different organizations in attendance, which included Hwa-Rang Warriors TaeKwon-Do, schools from ITF-USA, GrandMaster Choi’s Group, North Korea ITF, A.T.F.I, and a lot of independent Non-ITF Schools. The Competition started after the host had every Black Belt in the Tournament Compete in a Chon-Ji Competition. This is where every competitor chooses a number then they compete two at a time in a random order decided by lots. The tournament had more or less then 250 competitors. Opening Ceremonies where Scheduled at 9:00am

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April 11, 2011

It was on this day, 56 years ago, that Taekwon-Do was born.    As the climate of Taekwon-Do is ever changing, we all agree on one thing……General Choi Hong Hi, the Founder of Taekwon-Do, is very much missed.   Happy Birthday Taekwon-Do!

March 22, 2011

On Saturday March 19th TAO Technical Director Mr. Mike Morningstar was invited by Lighting Taekwon-Do and Mr. Chris Howes to conduct a 5-hour training session.  The first 3 hours of the session was for all levels and covered physical conditioning, kicking, basic movements, self defence and patterns Chon-Ji through Choong-Moo.  The last 2 hours was for Black Belts and covered sparring drills, sparring and patterns from Kwang-Gae to Moon-Moo.

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March 8, 2011

TAO Technical Director Mr. Mike Morningstar recently conducted a 7 hour technical seminar for students and Instructors from Chon-Ji TKD, Oakridge TKD, Thames Valley TKD and Morningstar TKD. Fifty participants from yellow belt to 6th Degree Black Belt attended. The seminar covered stretching, conditioning, basic and advanced kicking drills, patterns, step-sparring and self-defence.

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March 9, 2011

Mr. Winsor and the students of Cabot Taekwon-Do would like to congratulate Mr. DJ Clarke who successfully completed his testing on February 19, 2011 and has received promotion to 2nd Dan. Mr. Clarke was required to complete a physical and written exam in order to be eligible for this testing. The 2nd Dan testing consisted of a series of required exercises, patterns, self-defence, sparring, board breaking and theory. Mr. Clarke did very well in all aspects of the test.

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February 21, 2011

Saturday, February 12, 2011, Chon ji Martial Arts Academy held a food drive for the local community food bank. The food drive was in conjunction with a colour belt and black belt grading. Traditionally Chon ji students only break plastic re-breakable boards, but for this exciting event, students were exposed to breaking wooden boards for the first time. For every wooden board they broke, students donated $5.00 worth of non-perishable food items to help local families in need. The local newspaper, The Hamilton Spectator was on hand to cover the story. A slide show of the black belt grading can be seen on the Hamilton Spectator website at;

www.thespec.com/photozone/484670–black-belt-test

30 students were promoted to various colour belt levels and following the colour belt test, black belt candidates endured another 2 hours of theory, sparring, self-defense, grappling and board breaking. Bram Alvey was promoted to 2nd Dan, Harry Liang 2nd Dan, and Nick Sterling to 2nd Dan. Also, Gabe Hodges & Spencer Kelch were promoted to 1st Dan.

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Last month Chon ji held another food drive by offering a free month of classes in exchange for a non-perishable food donation. This event was also covered by the local media. The event was a great success! Chon ji takes great pride in our community involvement and in being a positive force of social awareness and change.

February 14, 2011

Lightning Family Martial Arts in Calgary, Alberta recently held their annual Club Championship where over 150 LFMA students attended and competed in their respective divisions. The tournament featured demonstrations from the Lightning Strikes Kinder Program and the Senior Leadership Team and ran all day with individual patterns and sparring divisions and team pattern Divisions. The Day ended with a Team Sparring Competition between two 5-man LFMA Junior Boys Black Belt Sparring Teams age 13 – 17 and two 3-Women Junior Girls Teams. The competition was exciting and everyone had a great time.

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