The summer is almost over and we should have students returning from summer vacation or from visiting with relatives.  Several people have moved away or quit class and we also have several new students that have started within the last few weeks.  Please take the time to meet and greet these new students and welcome them to your class.   

Etiquette:  One area that we would like to see improve is etiquette.  Remember that martial arts are based upon discipline and etiquette.  This is what separates us from the “Karate classes”, “Cardio classes” or the fly by night schools that promote students to black belt within one year.  We expect and demand etiquette.  It is demanded by all students from white belt through 9th degree black belt.  Everyone is addressed as mister, miss or misses.  You are required to bow to students prior to and after talking with them.  We must work on this.  You are also required to notify Mr. Todd or Mr. Bushor when you are not going to attend classes for any reason.  You can call or email Mr. Todd at 293-2610 or rtodd@axetkd.com or Mr. Bushor at 291-4013 or kbushor@cox.net.  There is a new rule in effect that if you fail to call or email us you will be required to perform 50 pushups prior to class.  We must take this step to enforce this area of etiquette.  We have talked about courtesy before and it is one of the tenets of Taekwon-Do, however etiquette is slightly different and we will try to explain this aspect of Taekwon-Do on our web site.  Please visit http://members.cox.net/ustfneb/ to read more about etiquette. 

Testing:  August 14th at 1230 in the main Youth Center gym.  We have a large portion of the class testing including Ms. Bowing for 2nd degree and two students from Missouri testing for 1st degree.  It is a requirement of all students to attend testing, even if they are not testing this promotion cycle. 

Camp:  Mr. Todd, Mr. Bushor, Mr. Randolph, Ms. Green and Mrs. Schultze traveled to Mexico Missouri for the Taekwon-Do summer camp.  Look forward to an article on the web site from Mr. Randolph and Mrs. Schultze relating their experiences from this camp.  The camp was held in a military school that is closed for the summer.  The dormitories and eating facilities are very nice and a pool was available for swimming.  The camp started each morning at 630pm and ended around 11 pm.  Next year Mr. Todd and Mr. Bushor will attend with hopefully at least 12 students from our class.  Traveling and participating in Taekwon-Do events is a great way of expanding your martial arts training and an essential step in becoming a black belt. 

Tournament:  Battle of the Belts - The 2004 Battle of the Belts will be held in Harrisburg, Missouri on Saturday, September 18th.  This is the 16th annual tournament promoted by Region 6.  Please contact Mr. Bushor for further information.  We would like to encourage maximum participation in this event from our students.