May 18, 2011

TAO Technical Director Mr. Mike Morningstar recently conducted a 7-hour technical seminar in London, Ontario.  The event was hosted by Mrs. Cathy Hadubiak, head instructor of Oakridge Taekwon-Do and was attended by students from Woodstock, Oakville and London.  Twenty-seven participants from yellow belt to 3rd degree black belt were put to the test with a very challenging warm up.

Mr. Morningstar covered fundamental movements, kicking drills, patterns, 3-step sparring and self-defense.  The last hour of the day was devoted to black belt patterns.  This was the 4th annual training workshop hosted in London.

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May 5, 2011

On Thursday April 21, Morningstar Taekwon-Do put on a demonstration night in support of the relief efforts in Japan.  The all black belt demonstration team performed various aspects of Taekwon-Do for a packed house at their main Dojang in Oakville.  Before the demostration night, Mr. Lee Benson, TAO VP-USA made an offer to match whatever was raised.  The students and members of Morningstar TKD were up to the challenge and raised $3000.00.   Mr. Benson came through and matched it penny for penny.  Thank you to all those who donated and a special thanks to Mr. Benson for his generosity.

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May 4, 2011

On Saturday April 30^th twenty-five Johnson’s TKD students attended a training seminar conducted by Mr. Rudy Johnson in support of the Japan tsunami relief efforts. The seminar was a total of three hours long. It began with a series of intense warm-ups, followed by basic techniques and some combo kicking drills. Mr. Johnson then covered patterns from Chon-ji through to 2nd Degree patterns. All those who attended trained hard and kept those affected in Japan in mind.  A total of $420.00 was raised.  “We would like to thank everyone for supporting this extremely worthy causeâ€�

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May 2, 2011

On Saturday, April 30th from 9:00am to 12:00pm HwaRang Warriors TKD held a demonstration to raise funds for the relief efforts in Japan.  A total of  $1049.03 USD was raised.  The demonstration was held at Juniata Park Located at J & Cayuga Street in Philadelphia. The Demo team performed two shows which consisted of  patterns, step sparring, self defense, combinations, breaking and free sparring.

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April 29, 2011

On April 16, 2011, TAO Senior Advisor Master Vincent Affatigato conducted a 3 hour class at the International Taekwon-Do Academy in Phoenix, Arizona.  Master Affatigato encouraged the participants to spend a greater amount of time outside the dojang working on conditioning as well as dallyon.  Overall, it was an amazing session which challenged the participants to push themselves beyond what their mind may limit while training.

In conjunction to the class, Master Affatigato welcomed two new schools into the Original Taekwon-Do Federation.  The newest members are the Hwa-Rang Warriors from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Integrity Martial Arts from Flagstaff, Arizona.

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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!