Students of the Month:  The students of the month for August are Mr. Aaron Reep and Mr. Dawsen Ragone.  We believe they are excellent examples of the finest qualities in TKD, and display the tenets of Taekwon-Do (Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control and Indomitable Spirit). Taekwon!  Please visit the webpage to their information.

Axe TKD Tournament:  Axe Taekwon-Do hosted our first official USTF tournament at the Youth Center on Saturday, July 26th, 2008.  Schools from Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska attended our first event.  We awarded 82 medals, 40 stayed with Axe Taekwon-Do.  Next year we will try and schedule our tournament in May before the summer break to ensure maximum participation.  Please visit our website at www.axetkd.com for pictures of the students that participated.  We thank all that participated and helped organize the event.  We learned a few lessons and next year’s event will be even better.

Testing:  The next testing will be held on Saturday, August 30th in the Large gym at the Offutt AFB Youth Center.  Master Todd and Mr. Bushor will evaluate all current students to determine who will be eligible to test. You must have attended a minimum of 7 classes each month since our last testing; you must be able to complete all the new requirements for your belt as well as all of the requirements from your previous belt levels.  And finally, and perhaps most important, you must demonstrate the proper attitude!  Mr. Bushor will pass out test forms to everyone who will be testing.  There is always a chance that not everyone will be allowed to test.  The testing is composed of a practical test where you will demonstrate your patterns, kicks, step-sparring, Ho-Sin-Sul, and breaking.  There will also be a written examination for students ages 14 and older and an oral test for all others.  These examinations will cover all the general knowledge requirements in the Student Study Guide.  Please contact Mr. Bushor if you have any questions.  Mr. Randall Hake, Mr. Dempsey DeMars & Mr. Dakota DeMars will be testing for 1st Degree Black Belt.

Battle of the Belts Tournament: Region 6 will be hosting the 20th Annual Battle of the Belts in Harrisburg Missouri on Saturday, September 20th.  This is about 4 ½ hours from Bellevue.  We have attended the tournament for the past few years.  It is a great tournament and is USTF sanctioned, meaning it will be identical to our tournament and feature the same rules you are familiar with for team patterns, patterns, sparring and breaking.  This year I will discuss the following with students that wish to attend:

The cost is:

We invite all of you to attend this event.  The tournament including the road trip make for some great Taekwon-Do memories.  Please consider attending the Missouri tournament and I will be taking a poll of who will be attending this week.  If you have any questions please contact Master Todd or Mr. Bushor.

Grand Master Sereff Fall Championship 2008:   USTF will host this tournament in Broomfield, Colorado on Sunday, October 12th.  This tournament will feature team breaking, individual patterns & sparring.  It is open to all ranks.  We are planning on driving to Denver, staying Saturday and Sunday night and returning Monday.  We will have more information in the future regarding travel arrangements.  The cost will be:  $25.00 for Sparring, $25.00 for Patterns, there is a $5.00 discount for pre-registration.  The team breaking is $50 per team and must be pre-registered by Oct 1st.  All competitors will be matched according to rank and age.  Team breaking must be 5 competitors.  Adult teams will perform (punch, downward knife hand, turning kick, side piercing, 180 back kick).  Junior teams will perform (downward knife hand, turning kick, side piercing kick, front kick, 180 back kick).  All breaking will be with real boards.  Adult teams must include one woman and 1 color belt.  Junior teams can be any rank.   If you have any questions please contact Master Todd or Mr. Bushor.  More information will be on our website.

AXE Taekwon-Do Shirts:  We still have Axe TKD tournament shirts.  Please see Mr. Bushor to purchase a shirt.

Upcoming Events:  (all dates are subject to change)

August 30 – Axe TKD Black Belt Testing
September 20th – Battle of the Belts – Harrisburg, MO
October 12th – Grand Master Sereff Championship – Broomfield, CO
November – Axe TKD Testing
Oct or Nov – Ho Sin Sul Course – Kirksville, Missouri
December – Axe TKD Holiday Party

Competition:  (By Master Todd)
Last month Mr. Bushor offered some excellent tips for preparing students to compete in tournaments.  It may seem to some students and maybe parents we have a lot of tournaments.  Actually we have only a few and it is beneficial for students to attend 2-4 tournaments a year.  When I was a color and lower ranking black belt we would attend any tournament regardless of style or rules.  This allowed us to compete roughly 4-6 times per year.  Now, we encourage students to participate in USTF Taekwon-Do tournaments.  The style of tournaments I attended were considered open or “point style”.  Referees were not certified or trained and were terrible.  Home town schools or styles were favored and you really had to completely dominate your opponent to win.  Patterns were almost impossible to compete as our Taekwon-Do patterns are designed for maximum power and are not as “pretty” as the Kung Fu or Karate patterns.  Judges really liked the 40-50 movement patterns from other styles compared to our shorter, harder style of patterns.

Breaking was not really an option at the “open” tournaments since most other styles either don’t break or “fix” their breaks to make it appear only the black belts or masters could perform such a feat.  The fixing can be done by using spacers between board or tiles (coins, rulers, pencils or some other object), or by drying the boards until they are brittle or in the case of other so called Taekwon-Do organizations they will make the boards ½ thick instead of the 1 inch thick boards we use. 

Sparring was one area in “open” tournaments where our Taekwon-Do did very well.  It’s hard to argue a point or strike when our kicks make contact.  Of course in point sparring it’s the first contact that is called a point.  If you are fast you had a great time.  You could literally score 3-5 points immediately and the match was over.  I had many matches that I ended in less than 90 seconds. 

Now our competition is much better with our school attending USTF sanctioned events.  The referees are all trained and certified.  The rules are standardized and we all have an equal chance in the competition.  We are encouraging students to attend both the remaining tournaments for this year.  We do understand the cost associated with these events and we try to car pool and share rooms at these events to keep the cost down.  These road trips also provide some great Taekwon-Do memories.  If anyone has fund raiser ideas we can do that also to raise money for the travel if necessary. 

This year the Olympics feature Taekwon-Do, Judo and a demonstration sport of Wushu (Kung Fu).  The style of Taekwon-Do featured is Olympic style and is not what we practice.  This is also called Sport Taekwon-Do and is associated with the other main faction of Taekwon-Do.  The sparring features “players” who can punch and kick the body with full contact.  They can’t punch the face or head area.  They are allowed to kick the head and face area with full contact.  All players wear a protective vest, pads and pads on their shin & instep.  You can win a match by points or by knockout.  If you have the opportunity to see Olympic Taekwon-Do you will see how vastly different their approach is to Taekwon-Do than ours.  Remember we are the Original Style of Taekwon-Do.  We still teach and train as it was originally designed.  We have not modified our style for Olympic or any other type of competition.   Our main goal is to produce technically proficient students who can defend themselves and carry on the legacy of the Original Taekwon-Do.