Returning to Taekwondo After 40 Years

            I had an exciting and adventurous day competing at the New Jersey TaeKwonDo Open! It turned out to be a fantastic experience—I earned a silver medal in Poomsae (forms) and a gold medal in Olympic Sparring in my division (red belt). This was my first time trying Olympic-style sparring, so it was a significant learning opportunity. I also made several new friends along the way. One gentleman, in particular, kindly stepped in to be my coach, helping me put on my gear and offering invaluable advice from my corner. It’s moments like these that make the journey in TaeKwonDo so rewarding! Lesson's Learnt:   Comment #1:   For the Poomsae I was more relaxed, but I had a moment in my form where I forgot the next movement and had a 2 second pause - which I think costed me the gold in Poomsae. The good thing was I did not stop, I went blank, but did not show it, took a deep breath, and then recovered.  In the end the judges wer...

  7th New Jersey Tae Kwon Do Open Championships I registered for this NJ TKD Open Championship as a Red Belt for WT Forms.   Likely my last tournament for 2024.   I thought this would test my nerves before the Houston tournament.   :) 

 This is exciting tournament, but will require far more preparations for.  I am required to know and compete in four different TaeGeuk forms5-8.   I've already forgotten 5-6, and I presently learning number 7.   I sat down with Master Nam last week, and he told me to relearn 5-6, and learn 7 during the month of October, then learn 8 during the last two months.  This will be my biggest challenge up to this point.  The pressure was big the last two (in person tournaments) but this is going to be huge.  

  This is me, almost 62 years old. I’ve just finished the promotion test for my red belt (4th Keub). I never thought I’d make it even this far at my age, but I’m so glad (by God's grace) I’ve stuck with it!!! Being Red is important because I've now been training for 2 years, brings me into the Advance belts ranks, and marks that I only have three more color belts before my black belt. Note: I had to do a break a one inch board doing a tornado kick. I was bringing my leg up too close to my body, and it took three attempts to break the board. I definitely need to work on this.

 My Latest Competition is an online tournament called the  4th Han Wong Worldwide Open Online Poomsae & Speed Kicking Championship 2024. I only entered the Poomsae Competition doing my TAEGUK OH JANG (5) form. The form has been recorded at my Do Jang, and updated to youtube here ( LINK ) The registration closes on July 24 and the competition is aired live on 07/30/2024. Update:  I won in my division (Under 65, advance, male) since I was the only one in my division.  However I was grateful that I received a 7.8 score - which is quite respectable and gives me a new goal of doing better.  ( link to the final video of competitors - I'm at the very end). 

On June 12, 2024 I was testing for my brown belt test (5th Keub) in the Korean art of Tae Kwon Do. The picture below is with my examiner Grand Master Jae J Kang which is a 9th degree Black Belt. Kukkiwon Certified. Grateful my wife came and witnessed me doing my test.