Axe TKD Tournament:  We hosted the fifth annual Axe TKD tournament on Saturday, May 19th. It was a great success thanks to our extraordinary students and the Axe TKD family.  There were 70 students competing from Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska.  Thanks to our special guest Senior Master Stan Martin, the President of the United States Taekwon-Do Federation.  It was an honor having him at our tournament this year.  Thanks also to Master Stephenson for taking on the role of Tournament Director.  Congratulations to all who participated and especially to those who brought home medals and trophies.  While winning is nice, we wanted everyone to try their hardest and to do their best.  If you can say you did both, then you are a winner whether you brought home a medal or not.  We are already looking ahead to the 6th Annual Axe TKD Tournament in 2013, and we hope to do even better then.

 Black Belt Testing:  Congratulations to Mrs. Sharon Buckley and Miss Ashleigh Ragone on the recent promotion to I Dan.  It is a great accomplishment and each of them has spent years training to reach this point.  But the real training starts now.  Congratulation to all the other Color Belts who tested and were promoted.  As always, there are thing to fix and new techniques and patterns to learn.  So there is no time to waste, training starts immediately. 

Self-Defense Course:  We will hold a USTF Ho-Sin-Sul Ground Course later this year at the Youth Center. We are not sure of the exact date yet, but it will be one day of training and everyone is invited regardless of rank.  There will be a fee associated with this as well as a certificate of completion for everyone who attends.  This will be an excellent course taught by Master Hannon from Kansas. 

Travel:  We will make several road trips this year for courses and tournaments.  When we travel all students are invited to attend and so are their parents.  We typically have enough parents attending that we can take students that travel without their parents. However Master Todd and/or Mr. Bushor need to approve this ahead of time.  Remaining opportunities for travel this year will be for tournaments in Wyoming, Missouri and Colorado.  This year we are adding the Wyoming tournament that is hosted by the President of the USTF, Sr. Master Martin.  Since students from other states attended our tournament we will support their tournaments also.   

Upcoming dates - 2012- Saturday, July 14th – 2nd Annual Axe TKD Bike Ride. 

- Saturday, August 18th – Promotion testing will be for all eligible and approved students.

- Saturday, September 15th – Wyoming Invitational, Casper, Wyoming

- Saturday, September 22nd – Battle of the Belts. This annual tournament will be in Kirksville, Missouri.

- Sunday, October 21st – Senior Grand Master Sereff’s tournament will be held in Broomfield, Colorado.

- Saturday, November 3rd – Class B Instructor’s Course, Broomfield, Colorado

- Thursday, November 15th – Promotion testing will be for all eligible and approved students. - Thursday, December 20th – Annual Axe TKD Holiday Party. We are then closed the next week for the holidays.

 2nd Annual Axe TKD Bike Ride:  On Saturday, July 14th, we will have our 2nd Annual Bike Ride.  Like last year, we will start and end at the trail head near Capehart Road and Highway 75.  There will be drinks, fruit, and some food at the half way/turn around point.  Everyone, to include your family members, is invited as long as you have a bike that will make the trip (about 12 miles total).  Master Todd volunteered to stay back with the slow group last year and may be convinced to do it again this year!  It was a great time last year and should be again this year.  We will talk about moving it to a different day if the weather is too bad (rain, temperature, etc.). 

PERSEVERANCE (In Nae): (By: Kevin Bushor, VI Dan) One of our tenets of Taekwon-Do is Perseverance.  General Choi states in the Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do “To achieve something, whether it is a higher degree or the perfection or a technique, one must set his goal, then constantly persevere.”  I set a very high goal for myself this year when I decided to ride by bicycle in a one day, 200 mile race (all on gravel roads).  I have been training very hard and thought I was ready.  The race was the first Saturday in June and I started the race along with about 400 other riders.  As it turns out, 200 miles is a very long way, and riding on gravel roads didn’t make it any easier!  Unfortunately I did not prepare enough and only completed 106 of the 200+ miles.  That is still a loooooong ride and it took me over 9 hours straight to get that far.  The key here is not that I fell short of my goal, but that I set a high goal and trained hard to accomplish that goal.  I think I can eventually achieve a 200 mile ride in one day, but it will take a great deal more training.  I have told my wife that I would not attempt the ride again next year, but I will still continue riding my bike and when I do decide to try again I have a much better idea of how much work and perseverance it will take to reach that goal.  If you remember the movie “Brave Heart” with Mel Gibson, the main character Robert Bruce lead his fellow Scotsmen in an effort to free themselves from the British rule.  It is said that Robert Bruce learned his lesson of perseverance from the persistent efforts of a lowly spider. It was this perseverance and tenacity that finally enabled him to free Scotland in the fourteenth century. General Choi says that one of the most important secrets in becoming a leader of Taekwon-Do is to overcome every difficulty through perseverance. I hope you set your goals high and work and train hard to achieve them. 

Footnote by Master Todd:  Mr. Bushor provides some great comments and examples of perseverance.  I was proud of his achievement even if he didn’t reach his goal.  I talked with the class about how long of a distance this is and could they really visualize it.  This would be the same as going from Bellevue to Lincoln, Nebraska AND back.  Just think about how long 106 miles would take you in a car.  Better yet, consider your attention span.  It took him 9 straight hours.  That is longer than a full day in school or longer than most people work in a day.  Consider all you accomplish in one day of work or school then compare that to Mr. Bushor sitting on that bike seat the entire time riding.  Consider that you attend 2 classes per day for TKD on Tuesday and Thursday.  This would be the entire class time for Tuesday, Thursday, Tuesday, Thursday and one class the next Tuesday or for those of you that train only one class 9 CLASSES!  I think most people don’t realize how much time and dedication this took.  So congratulations to Mr. Bushor for setting a goal and striving to meet it.  Like any goal in life, even when we don’t meet it fully the path toward the goal is the real challenge and tests us both mentally and physically.  I encourage all of you to set goals and work toward them.  They don’t have to be goals such as I want to be a 9th degree.  Maybe it is just to pass your next test, break more boards, spar better at the next tournament or lose 5 pounds.  If it is a Taekwon-Do goal share with us and we will help you reach that goal!