Colorado Martial Arts News

(Aurora, CO) – The 2017 Lone Wolf Classic was held at Aurora Quest Academy on April 22nd, 2017. Improbably, it once again snowed, although this time it was just early in the morning during setup. After asking “What are the odds” so many times in a row, Master Bill Pottle actually calculated the odds conservatively at 1 in 500.

Nonetheless, the tournament was a great success, with 315 competitors and participants registered from 3 countries and 5 states. The new event this year was Totem Forms, where one person does the hand techniques of a form while the other does the stances. Although there were only 8 competitors, it garnered a lot of compliments and applause.

Master Kunkel’s ALL TKD continued their streak of demo team victories, defeating Team Xtreme in the Championship Demo Division.

Elementary League Results – . In our 6th season, we have a new champion! Congratulations to Ins Paola Andrea and MDM Taekwondo! Although they were the clear winner, the competition for 2-4th places was fierce, with only a couple of points separating the winners. Congratulations to CVA Taekwando Team, Aurora Quest TKD, and Carbon Valley Academy (under Ins. Dean Leverett). These are just the top 7 teams.

All in all the tournament was a positive experience for those who participated. The Phoenix Medal was a big hit, and may make a comeback. Next on tap is the 2018 White Tiger Championships!

KAT and UNC face off in the Cloud Chess Grand Final.

Demo Team Action

Totem Forms Champions Rylan and Mahayla pose with Toko, the KAT Mascot.

Master Ron Roe, 70, competes in board breaking.

Tournament Co-Director Master Laron Younger poses with Taylor and her medal.

(Denver, CO) – There will be several historic events coming this June to Denver, CO, timed to coincide with the US Open Taekwondo Hanmadang. (www.usopentkd.com)

The Kukkiwon is celebrating its 45th anniversary, and is working together with the Korean government and the US Taekwondo Centers to give tremendous opportunities to US Taekwondo instructors. There will also be many, many, senior martial artists in attendance.

Special Promotion Test – They will hold a Special Promotion Test which will feature regular promotions of all Dan ranks, including 8th and 9th Dans. This is the first time this has ever been held outside of Korea. They will also hold a ‘skip dan’ testing, which is for people whose masters never ordered their Kukkiwon certificates, or for other special circumstances. The test is on Thursday, June 15th. Everyone doing the Special Promotion Test must also attend the Master License Seminar.

Master License Seminar – The Kukkiwon will also hold a training for all instructors. The seminar will cover proper techniques, as well as how to teach them to students. The seminar will be on Friday, June 16th and Saturday, June 17th. The seminar is usually $350, but in this case it is only $200. They are also offering 2 nights in the hotel as well as 2 banquet dinners, making it an even better value. Everyone who completes the seminar will also be invited to participate in the Korea Trip.

Korea Trip – Everyone who completes the Master License Seminar will get to go to Korea from July 27- Aug 3rd. Participants will have to pay for their own airfare, but hotel, food, ground transportation and more will be covered. Participants will get to spend 3 days at the Kukkiwon and 3 days at the newly constructed Taekwondowon in Muju. (http://www.tkdwon.kr/eng/)

What’s the Catch? 

At this point, many people may be wondering about the fine print. There are two important restrictions –

1. The trip to Korea is only for 4th Dan Kukkiwon holders and up.
2. The event is limited to the first 300 people who sign up.

As of press time on April 3, there are still a few spots open. For more information or to register, please visit www.kukkiwonlicense.com

Click the link below to view file containing Paul’s Black Belt Service Project.

BlkBltSvcProj

Black Belt Service Project for Yilun Parkhouse-Song

For my service project I organized donations for lunches for homeless people. I also organized a group of people to make sandwiches, pack the lunches, and go downtown to hand the lunches out to the homeless on November 13th, 2016.  The lunches had a ham and cheese sandwich, granola bar, chips and a bottle of water. There were about 30 people who helped. Some only helped pack and make the lunches and some only helped pass out the lunches to the homeless people. We made about 130 lunches for the homeless. I was very surprised when I saw how many homeless people there were along the streets near the Samaritan House. There were easily more than 100 homeless people along the streets. The homeless people were very thankful when we gave them the lunches.  I felt happy that the homeless got some food and some water.

(Aurora, CO) – Students from 15 different schools competed in the Fall Elementary League Championships on November 12th, 2016 at the Korean Academy of Taekwondo. Events contested included forms (memorized patterns of movement), board breaking, grappling (trying to earn points by getting partners into a dominant position or causing them to tap out) and sparring (earning points by kicking and punching opponent’s targets).

The event was popular, with 81 athletes competing in a total of 149 events. This marked an 86% increase in the number of events contested over last year’s championships. The battle for top overall points was intense – with 12 points, this year’s fifth place winner would have earned first last year.

Instructor Paola Perez’s Montessori Del Mundo Team was the clear winner throughout, diversifying their sparring only performance from last year. In fact, their 42 points was more than last year’s champion, Aurora Quest, earned the entire 2015-2016 season (28).

MDM Taekwondo celebrates their victory

Master Bethany Lopez’s Murphy Creek Jets have to feel good about their performance with 2nd place. At 21 points, they already have more than the 15 they earned all last year, when they finished 5th.

Instructor Dean Leverett’s Carbon Valley Academy and Aurora Quest were right behind at 20 points, and Master Kamil’s Crescent View Academy ended in 5th place with 5 points.

Special thanks to Luevano’s TKD for also bringing excellent competitors.

The students took the opportunity to do a ‘mannequin challenge’ before competition began.

Full Results

MDM – 42

Murphy Creek – 21

Carbon Valley – 20

Quest – 20

Crescent View Academy – 12

Shoemaker – 9

Arrowhead – 6

Highline – 4

Lotus – 3

GVA – 2

Vassar  – 2

Mosley – 2

Sagebrush – 2

Mracheck – 1

Fox Ridge – 1

(Denver, CO) – The Twin Dragons Tournament was held at Metro State University on April 16-17. It seemed fated, but once again it snowed. The forecast caused the addition of a new event, the best school spirit snowman contest. Fortunately, although it snowed for 40+ hours straight at the venue, the snow didn’t stick except during the earliest hours of Sunday morning. Despite the weather, almost all of the 300+ competitors managed to make it and compete successfully. The event also completed the 2015-2016 CO K8 School League Season. 

Saturday featured all of the events besides sparring and grappling, and the level was high across the board, especially in the black belt divisions. In the Men’s Black Belt Forms division, Joshua Sallee (ALL) top top honors followed by Chris Endo (Victory) with John Lynn (Left Foot) and Ian Fleddermann (CU Denver) earning the bronzes. On the Women’s side Angela Olsen (ALL) took first with Summer Cannon (ALL) in second and Emma Hatfield (UNC) in third.

In board breaking, Master RJ Tomas (KAT) won with a mind-boggling routine that included 3 separate boards with spearfingers as well as a 2 board break with one finger. See the video here. Joshua Sallee (ALL) took second while Chris Garcia (ALL) and Sam Waters (ALL) finished third. On the Women’s side Angela Olsen (ALL) took gold. The boys 15-17 breaking had incorrect results. The order should have been Matthew Doyon (ALL) Gold, Janus Tomas (KAT) Silver, Jeremiah Manzanares (ALL) Bronze.

Yes that actually happened.

Blaster Pad sparring and Junk Weapons were once again a big hit, with students young and old alike going all out and coming up with creative martial arts uses for all sorts of everyday household objects. The team forms and group forms were amazing, with a special performance by the ALL Snapdragons, a team of women in their 40s and 50s who were amazingly skilled and synchronized.

The new Cloud Chess event featured few competitors but fierce matches, with Theo Sisson (Victory) and Master Laron Younger (LaKai) taking the Jr and Sr divisions respectively. They were unable to play for the Grand Championship, and the event will have to be scheduled for a later time.

Matthew Doyon (ALL) captured gold over Janus Tomas (KAT) by virtue of long combinations and thunderous crowd noise.

Grandmaster Barb Kunkel’s ALL Competition Demo Team continued their domination of the main event, with a poignant and powerful Olympic themed demo. It was the 5th year in a row that they took top honors. The trick kick battle provided some fantastic aerial stunts, including several competitors landing full twisting flips and Master RJ throwing a 540 Gyro. The Trick Kick Battle is one of the most positive events, with competitors cheering loudly for their opponents, crowd noise factored into the judges’ scores, and even an impromptu kindergarten/pre-school division.

Shin’s Academy took home the School Spirit Snowman building award

Sunday featured some great sparring and grappling matches at all levels from young beginners to top black belts. In the Men’s Black Belt Lightweight division, Augustin ‘El Tinito’ Luevano (Luevanos) dominated, bringing home the gold in one of the largest divisions. Brandon Lau (UNC) finished second with Dylan Badiga (Delgados) and Trenton Alberts (Han Lee) taking bronzes.

The Men’s Middleweight Black Belt Division was won by Bruce Mejia (Rock) with Jacob Gonzalez (Gonzalez TKD) earning second and Andrew Lopez (ACT) and Francisco Santos (Gonzalez) rounding out the podium.

The Men’s Heavyweight Division champion was Farhang Mousavizadeh (KAT) who defeated Sam Douglass (KAT). 

Adult women’s black belts had a combined weight division, which was won by Eva ‘Bubbles’ Luevano (Luevanos) with Angela Olsen (ALL) in second and Katelyn Wiegand (UNC) in third. 

In the adult advanced grappling divisions, Andrew Lopez (Auraria Campus Taekwondo) took gold for lightweight and Sir ‘Reaper’ Salonis (STORM) took it for heavyweight. In the women’s division, Angela Olsen (ALL) earned the top honors.

All in all the tournament was a big success, with numerous compliments and not a single complaint about the organization. Still, there is much that can and will be improved to make it an even smoother experience.

Many students won the Grand Champion ring (11 points) but the MVP of the tournament has to go to Angela Olsen (ALL) who dominated the women’s black belt divisions, winning gold in Forms, Breaking, Demo, and Grappling and silver just in sparring.

Much thanks to all the competitors, coaches, and parents who attended and we look forward to seeing you at the 2017 Lone Wolf Classic.

Two of our strongest warriors at the opposite ends of the belt system but united by their success in defeating cancer. USA Olympian Grandmaster Barb Kunkel (ALL) congratulates Daisy Walsh (KAT) on her gold medal in board breaking.

(Denver, CO). The Twin Dragons Tournament formed the final piece of the puzzle in determining the standings for the 2015-2016 year. It once again came down to the wire with more than 25 schools earning points. The following table summarizes the standings of the top finishers.

Aurora Quest became the first team to win the title three times (2012, 2014, 2016), breaking Crescent View Academy’s streak of two consecutive victories. The victory was bittersweet for Instructor Cathy Burson, as it was her last year at Quest. She was instrumental in starting the program 7 years ago and has been in almost every class since. Although there were some veteran competitors such as Addie ‘The Annihilator’ Burson,  Avery ‘The Impossible’ Stelzreide and  Maya Braunstein, the bulk of the points were earned by Kindergarten and 1st graders.  Instructor Cathy noted: “Each of them competed with great sportsmanship, excellent technique and (very importantly) big smiles! I am always proud at the effort students put into the tournament, but this year was particularly rewarding to watch.”

Avery receives the scores for her forms. Photo credit Chris Mancuso.

Carbon Valley Academy ended up in second place. It was a great start for a program less than one year old. Instructor Dean Leverett added: “I believe the thing that has impacted me the most has been the dedication of the kids. I have seen children who don’t last in other sports give their whole heart to their training in Taekwondo. A child with severe autism has more social skills now than previously and a couple with ADHD have more focus and something to keep them motivated. The program has assisted the children in being more confident in both their social interactions at school and in their lives. To see the proud smiles on their faces is a dream come true for me.”

Ins Dean holds a board during the breaking competition. Photo credit Chris Mancuso.

Master Kamil Latipov had two teams in the top six, Crescent View Academy in 3rd place and Joe Shoemaker in 6th place. CVA was missing several key families in this event which impacted their ability to win overall. Master Kamil was especially proud of his Shoemaker students. “The students did really well for their first year of competition. They have a really strong base and I can’t wait to see how they grow in the future.”

Montessori Del Mundo ended up taking 4th place. The school finished first place in the sparring competition, but didn’t participate in the other point bearing events for this year. Instructor Paola Perez stated: “It’s not how big you are, it’s how big you play, and MDM gave everything out there. Proud of my kiddos. They did a great job.” 

Fifth place was earned by Master Bethany Lopez’s Murphy Creek program, another program a little more than one year old. Vanguard Classical School East and Mosley P8 rounded out the top 8.

The tournament was an amazing finish to the 6th league season and the league keeps growing and growing with new teams and students.

(Aurora, CO) – The traditional powerhouses were dethroned in the Fall Colorado Elementary Taekwondo League Championships on November 14th as three new programs stormed to the top. Instructor Paola Perez’s Montessori Del Mundo team took top honors with a spirited performance centered around Olympic Sparring. Master Bethany Lopez’s Murphy Creek Jets came in second, with dominating performances in breaking and forms. Third place honors were won by Dean Leveret’s Carbon Valley Academy squad.

The tournament also featured a great showing by many students from Luevano Taekwondo.

Murphy Creek Team

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Of course, it remains to be seen whether the results can hold after the Twin Dragons Tournament (April 16-17) when more points are up for grabs and most established teams are usually stronger. In any case, it is a great start!

Full results.

1. Montessori Del Mundo. (12)
2. Murphy Creek (10)
3. Carbon Valley Academy (8)
4. Crescent View Academy (7)
5. GVA Ft. Collins (6)
6. Highline Academy (5)
7. Vanguard (5)
8. Aurora Quest (5)
9. Lotus School for Excellence (4)
10. CO International School (4
11. Aspen Crossing (4)
12. Belleview (2)
13. DSST (2)
14. Archuletta Elementary (2)
15. Centennial Elementary (1)
16. Loremy Johnson (1)
17. Greenwood Academy (1)
18. Plays Bridge Academy (1)