July 28, 2009

The TAO “AGM & Annual Technical Conferenceâ€� is scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday January 29-31, 2010.  This training is open to all Red Belts and Black Belts and will cover from Chon-Ji to Tong-Il.  There is no cost for this training.

The Annual General Meeting will be on the Friday evening at 7:00pm in the Argus Meeting room of the Holiday Inn Oakville Center.  The Saturday portion of the training will take place in the Trafalgar Ball Room of the Holiday Inn Oakville Center and will begin at 9:00am and run through until 5:00pm.  Sundays training will be at the Main Dojang of Morningstar Taekwon-Do in Oakville, just minutes from the Holiday Inn.  Sundays training will be from 9:00am to Noon and will be for 3rd Dan and higher.  8th Dan Master Fabian Nunez will once again be our guest instructor for Sunday’s training.

This training is limited to the first 100 participants.  Deadline for registration is January 10, 2010.  Rooms have been reserved at the Holiday Inn for those who need to stay a few nights.  Please mention the “Taekwon-Do Technical Conference”  to benefit from the special event room rate of $104.00/night based on 4 people per room.  The room release date is December 29, 2009.

July 19, 2009

On Sunday July 19, Johnson’s Taekwon do conducted a demonstration at the St-Elais Lebanese Festival. The demonstration was lead by Mr. Mitri Hanna (3rd degree black belt) and Miss Nadine Hanna (first degree black belt). The students performed various basic techniques, patterns, step sparring and board breaking.  Mr. Mitri Hanna and Miss Nadine Hanna demonstrated the pattern Gae Bek, model sparring, self-defense and board breaking.  The demonstration was very well accepted by the audience, thanks to all those who participated in making this demonstration a success.

June 13, 2009

To end off three years in operation, thirty nine Oakridge Taekwon-Do students were recently promoted to new ranks.  The test was conducted by 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.

June 7, 2009

Our first Provincial 3rd Dan test took place the day after the ITF Challenge and it was a huge success.  The test began with a physical test of 15 min. of skipping, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 20 berpies which took 25 minutes for everyone to complete.  The actual test is divided into 5 catagories: patterns and fundamental movements, self-defence, sparring (which included 3, 2, & 1-step sparring), breaking and theory and each candidate had to acheive atleast a 70% overall average.  After 4 1/2 hours, a few bruises and good amount of broken boards, all candidates were successful.  Master Creighton expressed his approval at the level of technique and the overall performance of the participants.

June 6, 2009

Friendship and fairplay was the theme as 253 competitors from 20 Dojangs met in Oakville for the 2nd ITF Challenge tournament hosted by Morningstar Taekwon-Do.  Competitors from Canada and the USA as well as from the ICTF kicked and punched their way throughout the day.  Opening ceremonies started sharp at 10:00am with the Canadian and American Anthem, Instructor introductions and a demosntration by 7th Degree Master Seymour Creighton and tournament host Mike Morningstar.  The day finished with and all Canada Heavy weight final as Mitri Hanna from Ottawa scored a close decision over Jeff Phipps of Woodstock.

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!