USTF Internationals
We attended the USTF International Championship tournament in Broomfield, Colorado on June 25th and 26th.  It was a huge success not only for our school, but for the USTF also.  There were around 500 competitors from around the globe.  Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Canada, Scotland, Malaysia, and almost all 50 states in the USA were represented.  It was a well organized and well run tournament.  Ms. April Bowing is our school’s first International Champion; congratulate her when you see her again.  We won a total of 14 medals:

Ms. Bowing – Gold Medal in Heavyweight Black Belt Female Power Breaking Knife Hand Strike
Ms. Bowing – Silver Medal in Heavyweight Black Belt Female Power Breaking Turning Kick
Mr. Luke Carter – Silver Medal in Heavyweight Black Belt Jr. Male Sparring
Ms. Ashleigh Ragone – Silver Medal in Peewee Girls Sparring
Ms. Ashleigh Ragone – Bronze Medal in Peewee Boys and Girls Patterns
Mrs. Ragone – Bronze Medal in II Dan Black Belt Female Patterns
Mrs. Ragone – Bronze Medal in Heavyweight Black Belt Female Power Breaking Side Piercing Kick
Mrs. Ragone – Bronze Medal in Heavyweight Black Belt Female Power Breaking Reverse Turning Kick
Mr. Toppi – Bronze Medal in Heavyweight Black Belt Male Sparring
Mr. Jacob Carter – Bronze Medal in Lightweight Black Belt Jr. Male Sparring
Mr. Cochran – Bronze Medal in Heavyweight Black Belt Jr. Male Sparring
Mr. Buckley – Bronze Medal in Adult Men Red Belt Sparring
Ms. Sarah Navratil – Bronze Medal in Adult Men and Women Blue Belt Patterns
Ms. Sarah Navratil – Bronze Medal in Adult Female Blue Belt Sparring

All of our students preformed at a higher level than ever before, and all that extra training time really paid off.  Even those who didn’t come home with a medal should be proud of their performances; I know that your instructors are proud of how everyone did.  The Australian team invited the USTF to their homeland for a tournament in 2012 or 2013.  The exact dates and requirements will be coming in the future when they are finalized. 

Axe Taekwon-Do Jackets
Take a look around for the new Axe Taekwon-Do Jackets, they look great.  We will place another order if there is enough interest.  Please see Mr. Bushor for an estimated price and more details.

Tuition (By Mr. Bushor)
The Youth Center is the single point of contact for paying your monthly tuition.  Their requirement is for it to be paid not later than the first class in any given month.  Axe Taekwon-Do also requires you to be a student in good standing (meaning all your tuition is paid) before you will be considered for promotion testing.  If you are unsure if you are paid up, please check with the front desk at the Youth Center.  If you will miss an entire month of class for any reason, let your instructors know and notify the front desk at the Youth Center so they can put you in a “Leave of Absence” (LOA) status.  You will not be required to pay the monthly tuition during the month(s) you are in an LOA status.

TKD Camp: 
The "Week-End with Region 6 – 2011" is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; July 29th, thru July 31st.  It will be at the Missouri Military Academy in Mexico Missouri.  The cost is $100.00 per student, with a Family Rate of Full price for the first person and $85.00 each for additional student from the same family.  Parents, etc. who wish to attend (not participating in the TKD classes) will only be charged $75.00 per person.  The Fees includes training, meals, pool, and a place to sleep.
Everyone who wishes to attend will need to fill out a registration form and pay a $50.00 registration fee no later than July 7th.  Registration forms and deposits can be given to Master Todd or Mr. Bushor.  Details and directions are available at www.axetkd.com.
   
Campers will depart from the Youth Center parking lot on Friday, July 29th at noon, and we will return to the Youth Center Sunday evening, July 31st.  Master Todd and Mr. Bushor will make sure we have rides for everyone who wants to attend the camp.  This is a weekend of training that will teach you more that you would normally learn in a month of regular classes, plus the opportunity to learn from some of the best instructors in the USTF.  Don’t miss it!

ITEMS TO PACK:

TAEKWON-DO UNIFORM & BELT (with school patch, ITF & USTF patches, flag patch)
Sparring gear, mouthpiece, cup
Towels, wash cloth
Pillow, sleeping bag or sheets & blanket (there are beds but no covers, pillows, etc)
Personal Hygiene items: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, hair brush, etc
Clothes for Friday night, Saturday & Sunday (it will be hot and you will sweat ALOT, bring extra changes of underwear and shorts are a good idea)
Light jacket, hat
Tennis shoes or martial arts shoes (training outside)
Swimming clothes
Notebook & pen
Money for gas on trip ($10.00)
Money for one meal each way (we will stop at least once each way)
Healthy Snacks (no snacks will be available between meals unless you bring them)
Indoors stuff: Cards, books, etc.
Outdoors stuff: Balls, Frisbee, etc.
Shower shoes (optional)
Bug spray (optional)
Camera (optional)
Sunscreen (optional)
Water bottle (optional but recommended)
Lock (optional)
Small fan (optional)

Promotion Testing
            The next promotion testing has been moved to August 2011.  The date will be announced soon as well as who will be eligible to test.  There will be a Pre-Test for all students Black Stripe and above to determine who will be allowed to test for their next Black Belt rank.

Calendar
July – Promotion Pre-Test for Black Stripes and above
July 29th, 30th, and 31st – Camp Taekwon-Do, Mexico, MO, Missouri Military Academy
August – Promotion Testing, Axe TKD
August 13 - Advanced Ground Tactics Course 9:30, Broomfield, CO (replaces advanced HSS)
Sept – Battle of the Belts, Kirksville, MO
Oct – Promotion Pre-Test
Nov – Promotion Testing, Axe TKD
Nov 6th – Testing in Missouri (Mr. Bushor for 6th degree)
Dec – Holiday Party – Axe TKD
 
Bike Ride (by Mr. Bushor)
            I enjoy riding my bike along the Papio Creek on the weekends.  The trail is very flat and paved the entire way from Hayworth Park north to Maple Street in Omaha.  You can ride as far as 35 miles round trip without having to cross a street.  I usually ride 18 to 20 miles depending on which direction I travel.  The flooding of the Missouri River has limited access to a beautiful section of the trail South and East of the base, but it is clean and dry North and West of the base all the way to Omaha. 
I would like to suggest a Saturday or Sunday morning ride with the class.  We could all meet and ride as a group (or several groups depending on your fitness level and bike) out for several miles, stop for water and/or lunch and return.  I see scouts and families on the trail all the time and it might be a nice time.  Please let Mr. Bushor know if you are interested so we can start planning.  Either way, I will be out there every weekend on my bike burning up the trail!

Summer Vacations (by Master Todd)
Since summer is here we understand people will be out on vacation.  Please make sure you notify us if you are going to miss any classes.  This requirement applies to all including your instructors.  We have seen a busy year thus far, with testings, an instructor’s course and two tournaments.  We still have a lot of functions planned for the remainder of the year.  Remember, I totally understand the time and financial commitment this places on the families of Taekwon-Do.  However, I will continue to offer many opportunities for students to expand their martial arts knowledge and opportunity.  I do not place TKD above family commitments.  With that said, remember some TKD functions are necessary to obtain a student’s requirements, especially for the black belts. 
For some of the newcomers, my focus is not always on tournaments; however the focus of the class shifts depending on the next event.  We will probably shift focus now to prepare for testing.  We did train intensely for the International event.  There were roughly 500 students there and at that level of competition the contact is heavy.  I didn’t want any of my students to get hurt or be unprepared.  Now that the event has passed, there will be less focus on the competition.  We typically attend 2-3 tournaments a year and really only focus on those right before the events. 
This is a lot of information but I understand it all.  ….  There are many facets of TKD to prepare for such as: basic hand techniques, basic kicking, multiple kicking, flying kicking, patterns, self defense, sparring, step sparring, breaking and mental knowledge, to name a few.  We can’t cover every topic in an hour with the students so that is why it’s important to attend as many classes as possible.  I do have a method to the training and instruction.  I have trained hundreds of students over the last 28 years, producing many black belts.  TKD does demand a lot from a student if they want to rise in the ranks of black belt.  It’s a long road with many training hours.  In November, Mr. Bushor will test for 6th degree black belt.  That means he has been a 5th degree now for 5 years.  So look at his road, 3 years (typically for 1st degree), then another 2 years to make 2nd degree, then 2 more years to 3rd degree, then 3 years to 4th degree, and finally 4 years to 5th degree.  In all that time, I am guessing he has missed a handful of classes and events.  His testing will be an event that I hope all our students can attend.  Since we have to travel to Kirksville, Missouri for the testing I know that will be a challenge for some of you.  Remember he has been there for all of you and we should try to do the same for him.  His testing is not really just about his performance of patterns, breaking, and step sparring.  It's also a testament to his dedication to TKD, the sacrifice of the hours and training.  Look again at the years spent, the hours are really difficult to calculate.  Most students won’t reach that level.  His 5th degree number is USTF-5-253, that means he is the 253rd person in the U.S. to be promoted to 5th degree.  When I made 5th degree back in February of 1998, I was the 121st person.  So you can see in 13 years only 132 people made the 5th degree black belt.  Pretty impressive!  Also, in case you are curious the reason we have to travel for his testing is that he will be testing in front of one of the 9th degree, grand masters.  There will be large testing in Kirksville.
Because of my passion for TKD I do expect dedication to TKD and hard training, but I don’t expect you to forgo all other things in life, including family.  I understand when other things in life take priority over TKD.  However, I still attended all my kids events, worked full time, attended and finished my college degree at night AND made all my TKD events.  You can ask both of my kids at 22 and 19 years old and I don’t think they were ever cheated out of any family time.  I challenge all of you to do the same.  Find time in your busy schedules and life for TKD and your other events, it can be done.  I know you always hear me asking when will you be in class, where have you been, attend more, etc., that’s just my nature to push.  If you attend 2 classes per week I will ask for 3 or 4, again just my nature to push you. I want all students to enjoy Taekwon-Do as much as I have during my lifetime.  Taekwon!