|
AchievementsA Progression To become a First-Dan Black Belt, I went back to the basics. Before the weapons class, for many years, I had trained under Grandmaster Jung in the competition Tae-Kwon-Do class. During all that time, I learned all my basic kicks, punches, and forms. I trained and practiced those moves, and I quote from Grandmaster Jung, until I “was sick of practicing.” So when I received my Cho Dan Bo, I turned towards apathy and complacency. I wanted to learn more “advanced” techniques, so I expressed interest in Master Goldstein’s weapons class. However, in essence, I started all over again with new weapons forms and hand techniques among many other new and exciting moves. I did not realize that what Master Goldstein started teaching me was an expansion of my foundation; even though I was learning different arts, all the different arts are not solitary but connected. Through them, I reached out towards my First-Poom like the formation of a diamond. In the Jo purification form from Aikido, Misogi No Jo, there are four sections: the first is Diamond. It furthered my basis and rigidly added more techniques and forms to my knowledge. Like a diamond, my first black belt was my first encounter with the sharper, technical side of martial arts, crystallizing my former knowledge and making it my new arsenal for the my next goal. And my next goal was the Second-Dan rank, which Master Goldstein often compares to second section of Misogi No Jo: Willow (named for its flexible yet durable branches). Now that I had an arsenal to work with, I began to shape and stretch it. Not every technique works for every situation therefore you need to be able to use different techniques. One cannot be “married” to a particular move without eventually getting caught or stuck. Therefore one must have the skill and experience to manipulate the raw core of moves. My previous belt focused on the foundation so that when I progress I have material to work with. The ability to manipulate techniques - how to expand a technique to gain distance, how to break structure, how to pin directly after a throw to control the attacker, how to shift from one technique to another – is essential for adaptation. This rank taught me how to bend like the willow and accept challenges, in martial arts or life, and bend so that I do not break. Now, I’m beginning to understand the reasoning behind the traditions of promotions; in actuality, I certainly did not flow very gracefully into my Third-Degree promotion. The third section in Misogi No Jo is flow, which concentrates on the natural progression of energy, movement, and techniques. The small intricacies of this concept require much more feel than show or tell, more like Eastern rather than Western teaching, and that change challenged my newfound, technical flexibility. For even with the skills that I now grasped, in order to progress my foundation also had to grow; even if I knew what to apply and how to apply it, I began to learn when and where to apply. Master Goldstein calls it learning “to fish” for yourself, to see all the openings and all the possibilities in combat, (with opponents or life). When I began to see these opportunities, they were at first very fleeting and too fast for my mind to grasp, and that initial block frustrated me and put up a second block. A blocked river, by definition, cannot flow. If my mind was blocking me, then the solution did not include my mind, or my excessive thinking. It required feeling. Flow is the natural movement in energy and I had to guide it, not control it, through feeling it and letting it flow effortlessly until the opponent is overcome, I could escape, or simply have control over the situation. So I started to constantly remind myself to “turn off the functioner” and trust in my own body because the only thing blocking me from truly feeling is my own overly analyzed thoughts. Learning the principle of flow, in martial arts, has opened up many more concepts such as the following: to flow from technique to technique without breaking, to remain in constant motion (sometimes very subtly), to absorb and channel force instead of blocking it, and to not break connection with the opponent or opponents and the surroundings. Thus, the Third-Degree has definitely been the biggest challenge for me, as it should be. And I continue, like a river, to progress and to advance my understanding and ability to flow. Now, four years since I began, I have travelled thus far. And now, four years from today, I might stumble upon another post, driven into the spiral road ahead. The final section of Misogi No Jo is Key, the mastery of power. A diamond can be strong enough to pierce. A willow tree has strength and can absorb and adapt the force around it with flexibility. A flowing river has great strength, agility and flexibility, and can shift with constant grace. Power harnesses flowing chi through many things like emotional feeling, spirals, and relaxation. While I worked towards a Third-Degree black belt, my warrior spirit, and consequently my power, developed immensely through strong intent and feeling, but I found that I was mentally blocked by my fear of over-using power. I felt overwhelmed by my helplessness and lack of control until I began to understand that I had to learn how to release my power before I could understand how to control it. Therefore to master power I must relax and release it and my key can harness it, keep it under control, and give it direction. Yet the direction is not confined to the dojo. Until now, I never understood what I knew until I taught, for knowledge and understanding do not coincide. You know something if you can do it; you understand something if you can teach it. So by beginning to teach I understand understanding, and I hope to continue teaching in the future to progress as a martial artist and coincidentally as a person. However, I may slip backward; I may rush ahead. Now I understand not to stop, but continue down my path: a progressing towards the end.
Master Tim Ghormley, Stanford University TKD Program/Director and myself Master M.W.Jung, of the Korean Martial Arts Center in San Francisco attended the event along with a hand full of masters from the United States. There were 195 masters invited from 49 countries that participated. We believed this is the first time in the history of Kukkiwon that this magnitude of Masters were called together to plan for the future of Taekwondo. Many topics of Taekwondo were shared, but the most impressive status was about 70 million trainees of the 189 membered countries, Taekwondo has Olympic status, 42 countries in the Asian Alliance, 49 countries in the European Alliance, 42 countries in the Pan-American Aliance, 43
countries in the African alliance and 13 countries in the Oceania Alliance. Taekwondo trainees in Korea amounted to 6.47 million (based on those who acquired belts). I like to personally give thanks to Chung-won Choue - President of World Taekwondo Federation, Bong-Sup Song - President of
Organization Committee,
Jae-Oh Yi - Honorary Chairman, In-chon Yu - Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism,
Myung-hwan Yu - Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Yoon-Dae Euh - President of the – Master M.W.Jung
Congratulations! Haley Kong Coach Thomas Mar, GM Jung, Haley Kong and Marlene Jung.
2009 Junior Team Members with National Coaches, Juan Moreno (left), Jean Lopez (right) and Haley's Bio Nickname: "Hay Hay" Other Sports Played: cross country Hobbies: collecting pressed pennies, traveling to foreign countries, playing the piano and french horn, gardening, baking, reading manga and attending musicals Favorite Foods: sushi, spaghetti, pizza, ramen and Chinese food Pre-Competition Meal: noodles Favorite Athletes: Shawn Johnson and Kerri Strug Favorite Movies: Transformers, White Chicks, Lion King and Indiana Jones Favorite Music: all types Favorite Country Visited for Competition: Netherlands Did You Know?: Haley is an ambassador Girl Scout, has earned her Bronze and Silver Awards, and is currently working on her Girl Scout Gold Award project...she has a 4.0 GPA...she has trekked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, stood on the Great Wall of China, hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, been inside King Tut's tomb and the Great Pyramids of Giza, seen Big Ben, rode to the top of the Eiffel Tower, gazed at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and most recently swam with the sea lions in the Galapagos Islands...she just completed her advanced level piano exam and plays the french horn in the school symphonic band and the piano in the jazz band. MAJOR COMPETITION RESULTS 2009 USAT Junior National Team Member (Jr. Fly) 2008 AAU Nationals (Jr. Fly): GOLD 2007 USAT Junior National Team Trials (Jr. Fly): 3rd 2006 USAT Junior Olympics (Jr. Poomsae): GOLD last updated 8/31/09
AAU State Qualifier Championships  Brandon Mauricio retired as a junior after his last championships in 2002-2003. This year he rededicated himself to training hard, dieting and focusing on the AAU State Qualifier. In spite of his long absence, Brandon did not miss a beat and thrilled the crowd with his amazing skills! We truly KMAC takes home the 4 foot Team Trophy and we would like to pass this trophy well deserved to Brandon Mauricio.  Golden Gate Open Sanel Velic is one of KMAC's newest junior black belts and is the only junior who rose to the occasion to fight in a junior black belt division. He earned two silver medals and a bronze in three separate championships! He is coming up through the ranks and KMAC appreciates his efforts. KMAC awards Sanel Velic with the 5ft Team Trophy that was presented to KMAC as Best School Award. Special Appreciation: Owain Elliot-KMAC Team Photographer We thank both Owain and Vanessa for spending a full day at the AAU State Qualifier shooting photos of our hard We also thank all the officials from KMAC who devoted their day to support the championships. Because of their hard  Dr. Lee Of course, we als thank all the competitors who competed and will share the results at a later date. Point Sparring Results:  Mr. Anthony Martin, Sr. really cranked up his fighting spirit and captured the GOLD! This is the senior division and Mr. Martin demonstrated that you are NEVER too old to fight. Photographer Owain Elliot captured a must see photo of Mr. Martin's side kick TKO that won his first match. Gaasping for air in his second match, Mr. Martin would not be denied and never looked back to fight his way to first place! Congratulations!
.
About 6 months ago, I signed the weapon class at KMAC and opened up a new world. In these 180 days, I’ve been navigating around this “world of weapon”. I got the chance to work with the knife, the don bong, the cane, the sword and even a little bit of Jo. I am like a kid traveling in the big wide world – curious, amazed, lost… However, beyond the techniques for various weapons, it’s even more important for me to learn about the principles of the art that go with them because they are now part of my value system and incorporated in my daily life, particularly work life. Working in corporate America, I am often encountered unexpected situation and conflicts, and some of these weapon principles are really helpful for me. For instance,
In conclusion, it has been a wonderful journey to explore the world of weapons. I am grateful of the opportunity to learn and get to know my classmates, and I hope to continue to apply the principles of the arts to my daily life.
I began to evaluate how I was performing in class and other competitions. I started to look at my strengths and weaknesses. I tried to build on my strengths, compensate for my weaknesses and when it came time to compete again… I lost. Oh well, “I’ll take the medium size combination without olives, please.” Actually, I didn’t get a pizza, but I came to a realization. My commitment and effort was based upon winning, not excellence. As long as I was losing, To me, his words now urged me to throw my concerns about winning or losing out of my mind and focus on “excellence”. Winning and losing became tools for building excellence. If I didn’t invest in what a loss could teach me, or if winning became my one and only focus, I would not achieve excellence. I bring this up in response to two events that occurred during this year’s Olympic competition. The first involved Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler, Ara Abrahamian, who was awarded the bronze medal. After being awarded the medal, he took the medal from around his neck during the ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the mat before storming off. He disgraced his country, his club, and himself. The second involved former Olympic and world Judo champion, Keiji Suzuki. He lost Tuesday and layed in the middle of the mat and bitterly wept. He cried, “I didn’t do what I wanted to. I couldn’t use my techniques. I have nothing left. If I step onto the tatami again. I may probably be thrown again. I’m really empty now.” To both of these men, winning is the one and only thing of any value. The excellence they had to demonstrate to become two of the top one percent of the top one percent (or the top .001%) of all athletes on the planet means nothing to them. They could have congratulated the winners. They could have shared the spotlight with all of the other great world champions. They could have looked at their losses for what they could learn. They could have committed to becoming better athletes. Instead, they left with pizza stains on their lips. When I come to the Korean Martial Arts Center on Saturday, I see students of every age practicing techniques over and over again until exhaustion. Even the best of them never seem satisfied with their progress as they tediously polish every detail of their techniques towards excellence. Certainly some will compete, and when they do, they’re in it to win… but not at the cost of excellence.
When I first entered KMAC, I felt like I shouldn’t be here. It was like entering a whole new world. People inside the school was doing techniques I never seen before in my life. It was a new experience that was about to happen. When I found out that my mom was about to sign me up for Tae Kwon do. I tried my best to refuse to go but of course, it didn’t work. When I first started to go to KMAC to train, everyone was so serious so I thought that I could make it more fun by joking around and laughing all the time however, that just made everyone get irritated of me. I was like a virus that couldn’t be removed to certain people but I didn’t notice so I didn’t care. Too tell you the truth, I hated going to KMAC to practice Tae Kwon Do, I thought it was a waste of time but as I slowly ranked up, I soon figured out how people thought about me and how much I was a pain. I also figured out that Tae Kwon Do is not only about kicking or defending yourself, it is also about discipline and be aware of your actions. Tae Kwon do is a great experience for me because it helped me look at who I was back when I was a white belt and who I am now as a black belt. before, I didn’t know anything about Tae Kwon do but now look at me; I am a junior instructor in training teaching little kids. I went through so many events that happened in other cities, I went to Vegas, San Jose, St. Mary’s, Golden Gate, and Contra Coasta tournaments to volunteer and watch other people on how well they do their forms or how well they spar. Watching other people’s maturity made me become more mature and pay more attention in Tae Kwon do instead of goofing off. I want to thank all my seniors that taught or tried to teach me at least because without you guys, I would of never been aware of how I acted as a martial artiest. It been a wonderful and unforgettable 2 years. Now when I enter KMAC, I cant wait to train and help the junior belts just like my seniors helped me. I might still be a little goofy and annoying but I know for a fact that I am not like what I use to be when I was a white belt.
Each and every KMAC Kid who attended the camp raved about their team leaders, the coaches, the curriculum and the friendships. When asked if they would like to attend the camp again next year, the replies were a resounding and unanimous. Click here to read a thank you letter to KMAC from Mark Formalejo Jr. KMAC at the Nationals
The USAT Junior National Championship was held in Detroit, Michigan. En-ta Haley Kong and Cody Aguirre Recognition KMAC-San Ramon, receives award for participation at New Black Belt Promotions 7-28 07 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A mere four years ago, I received my First-Dan black belt. A year later, I was promoted to a Second-Dan black belt. And now, three years later, I stand before my progression to a Third-Dan black belt. Ten years ago, I would not have known that I would progress this much; ten years from now, I will know that what I know is hardly progress. But can we know how much we are progressing, or if not, are we progressing at all? Traditionally, one is only considered for promotion to First-Degree black belt after the corresponding amount of years, that is, each degree higher adds a year. The idea is that each degree gets progressively harder so it takes more and more experience to fully grasp. This promotion to a Third-Degree black belt is a reminder to my previous achievements, a bookmark for my current standing, and an opportunity to view my future goals.
Around the World in 180 days
How the Best Become the Worst 
Mark and Haley participated in the AAU Nationals held in Madision, Wisconsin. 