May 23, 2009

On Saturday, May 23, 14 Athletes represented Ontario in the 2009 CAN-AM Championships.  The tournament featured 220 competitors from across Canada.  Here are the results of our athletes:

Maxime Landry Gravelle won a Gold Medal in Boys Yellow Belt & Green Stripe Patterns
Angie Routier won a Gold Medal in Junior Girls Heavy Weight Sparring and a Silver in Junior Girls Red Belt & Black Stripe Patterns
Nadine Hana won a Gold Medal in Women’s Black Belt Hyper Weight Sparring
Michelle Marshall won a Silver Medal in Women’s Middle Weight Sparring
Brigitte Jobin won a Silver Medal in Women’s 1st Degree Patterns
Kayla Maduk won a Gold in Pre-Junior Girls 1st Degree Patterns & a Silver Medal in Junior Girls Hyper Weight Sparring
Mitri Hana won a Silver in Men’s 2nd Degree Patterns and a Bronze in Men’s Hyper Weight Sparring
Clement Goh won a Bronze in Men’s 2nd Degree Patterns and a Gold in Men’s Micro Weight Sparring
Graham Campbell won a Bronze in Junior Boys 2nd Degree Patterns and a Gold in Junior Boys Heavy Weight Sparring
Louis Mendez won a Bronze Medal in Junior Boys Middle Weight Sparring
Martin Campbell won a Bronze Medal in Men’s 3rd Degree Patterns and a Bronze Medal in Men’s Light Weight Sparring
David Lim won a Silver Medal in Men’s 4-6 Degree Patterns
Steven LeGrow won a Bronze Medal in 4-6 Degree Patterns

Congratulations to all our Ontario Athletes who competed in this event and we look forward to seeing you in the next Ontario Sanctioned event!

May 16, 2009

The Ottawa Region has recently added eight new Black Belts to their ranks.  Two students from Freedom Taekwon-Do in Cornwall and six from Trigger’s Taekwon-Do in Ottawa were put through a test the spanned over two days.  The test was conducted by Ms. Kathy Trigger and consisted of physical fittness, written and verbal theory, patterns, fundamental movements, sparring and board breaking.  Congratulations to all who were successful.

May 11, 2009

Thirty students from Johnsons Taekwon-Do in Ottawa recently attempted and were successful in their quest for new ranks.  The test was conducted by Mr. Rudy Johnson, Head Instructor of Johnson’s Taekwon-Do and assisted by Mr. Mitri Hanna.  Congratulations on your promotions and good work promoting Taekwon-Do in the City of Ottawa.

May 9, 2009

TAO Technical Director Mr. Mike Morningstar recently conducted a 3-hour technical seminar in London, Ontario. The event was hosted by Mrs. Cathy Hadubiak, head instructor of Oakridge Taekwon-Do.  Thirty seven participants were put to the test with a very challenging warm up.

After the first hour, Mr. Morningstar moved into to fundamental movements, kicking and leg strengthening  exercises, patterns, 3-step and 1-step sparring and self-defense.  At the conclusion of the seminar, Mr. Morningstar and a few of his students performed a small demonstration including pattern, model sparring and breaking.  This was the 2nd annual training workshop hosted in London.

April 24-25, 2009

On the weekend of April 24 & 25th, Ontario sent 40 competitors to Montreal, Quebec to participate in the 2009 Canadian National Championships.  Included in the 40 competitors were Mr. Steve Legrow of Blackburn Taekwon-Do in Ottawa and Mr. Louie Mendez of Morningstar Taekwon-Do in Oakville who, as a result of their performance, were selected to represent Canada at the 2009 World Championships in Argentina this November.  Congratulations to all Ontario competitors who participated!

April 18, 2009

On April 18th, Morningstar Taekwon-Do held their seventh break-a-thon since the school’s inception in 1988. What started as a relatively small Break-a-thon 500 raising a modest amount of $4,800 for the Halton Lung Association has now grown into a huge Break-a-thon 2000 generating $12,294 for this year’s charity, the Diabetes Hope Foundation.

This year’s event was certainly successful bringing the total of money raised by Morningstar Taekwon-Do for various charity’s through the Break-A-Thon to over $60,000.  For more information visit www.breakathon.ca

March 7, 2009

Morningstar Taekwon-Do recently promoted 15 students to 1st Degree Black Belt and 5 students to 2nd Degree Black Belt.  The test was conducted by Morningstar Taekwon-Do head instructor Mike Morningstar and began at 10:00am and continued through until 6:00pm.  Congratulations to all who were successful.

February 26, 2009

Twenty Oakridge Taekwon-Do students from White Belt to Green Belt recently attempted and were successful in their quest for new ranks.  The test was conducted bt TAO Technical Director Mr. Mike Morningstar and assisted by Oakridge Taekwon-Do head instrcutor Mrs. Cathy Hadubiak.  Congratulations on your promotions and good work promoting Taekwon-Do in the City of London.

February 6, 2009

TAO’s 1st Umpire and Referee Course was recently held during the weekend of the Provincial Championships. The course was instructed by Technical Director Mr. Mike Morningstar and Umpire Director Mr. Mitri Hanna. The event was held at Blackburn Taekwon-Do. The course aims to provide students and Instructors in Ontario with the knowledge and the criteria to Judge and Referee all sections of ITF tournaments on a provincial level. The topics covered ranged from Sparring and Patterns to Special Technique and Power Breaking, and the regulations that govern the events in each of these categories.

January 23-25, 2009

Over 100 participants from black stripe to 7th dan, from Alaska to Philadelphia, from Texas to Ontario, from Newfoundland to New York attended our 3rd Annual Technical Conference.  Special guests in attendance were Master Fabian Nunez and Master Vincent Affatigato.  On the Saturday TAO Technical Director, Mike Morningstar, put everyone through the paces covering from Chon-Ji- Juche Tul.  Keeping true to the teachings of the Founder of Taekwon-Do, General Choi Hong Hi, Mr. Morningstar covered sine-wave and the proper application of techniques.  By the end of the 6hr training on Saturday, everyone was exausted but motivated in their efforts to keep Chang-Hun Taekwon-Do alive in it’s purest form.

Mr. Morningstar left everyone with a few quotes to help in their Taekwon-Do journey….”when you know one thing through and through, then you know everything”.  “One becomes a beginner after one thousnad days of practice and an expert after ten thousand days of practice”, “Paralysis by over analysis”.  Master Nunez conducted Sundays training for 3rd dan and above and covered from Sam-Il to Tong-Il Tul.