June 2007 Testing

Spectacular breaks and sharp forms work highlighted taekwondo testing with 14 black belts promoted at the YMCA Sunday.

Mark Henkel, Karen Johnson and Jim Henkel earned

their sixth degree black belts after performing the jitae form and submitting ten-page papers, and then summarizing their papers in speeches. Mark Henkel spoke on “Teaching Breaking”; Johnson on “Taekwondo: A Way of Life” and Jim Henkel on “Spirit of Eight Manners as a Leadership Guide.” Mark Henkel broke three boards in a spinning side kick. Jim Henkel used a front kick and a roundhouse kick in an aerial crossing technique to easily snap two boards.

Carol Landrath and Peter Chan achieved fifth degree black belt level with their performance of advanced kicks and combinations, the sipjin form and oral presentations on taekwondo. Landrath easily sliced through a board with a spinning side kick. Chan, of Milwaukee’s Southwest YMCA, wowed the crowd with an axe kick through four concrete slabs.

Jerry Hajewski advanced to fourth degree black belt following his demonstration of the pyongwon form and advanced kicks and combinations. Hajewski smashed two cement slabs with a knife hand.

Teri Jenkins, Meghan LaPoint and Chun Yee Wong moved up to third degree black belt level when they demonstrated advanced kicks and sparring and the taebek form. Jenkins used a working roundhouse to a back spinning hook for her speed break. LaPoint smashed two boards with a back spinning sidekick and Wong got airborne in a flying side kick, through two boards..

Fourteen-year-old Bridget Williams earned full black belt status in her successful testing. She demonstrated koryo and four taegeuk forms with great precision, sparred and broke a board with a back spinning side kick, before excelling in a lengthy oral exam with questions from more than twenty black belts.

Entering the ranks as deputy (bo dan) black belts, Matt Moore, Matthew Straub, Cavan Jones and eight-year-old Rosabella Wolosek sparred and performed five taegeuk forms. Moore broke two boards with a jumping back spinning side kic. Straub snapped a board with a knife hand and then another with a back spinning side kick. Wolosek and Jones each used a back spinning side kick to slice through their boards.

From the color belts testing on Sunday, blue belt Christopher Clark won first place, high green belt Jocelyn Donahue took second and high red belt Leopoldo Soria placed third.

Grandmaster Dr. Dwight Stevens judged the testing, assisted by Mark Henkel and Bill Dragolovich.




Testing Together Important



Training together and encouraging each other helped three local martial artists achieve very advanced black belt levels.

Karen Johnson and father- son duo Mark and Jim Henkel earned their sixth degree black belts Sunday after 19 years of study and practice of taekwondo at the Stevens Taekwondo Academy, instructed by Grandmaster Dwight Stevens..

Few black belts reach such a level, so having three achieve what is considered senior master level is unusual. Stevens, an eighth degree black belt, says he is “extremely proud of these successful students.”

“I don’t know of any taekwondo school where three have been promoted to sixth dan (degree) from the same school at the same testing,” says Stevens.

“My high ranking black belts are all teaching for the right reasons,” says Stevens. “It’s not about street fighting, but to make our students the best they can be.”

Over nearly two decades, the trio has traveled through many life stages, medical challenges, employment changes and educational challenges. When they all began training under Grandmaster Stevens, Jim Henkel was in fourth grade. He is now married and working on a PhD in microbiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he started a taekwondo club. Mark Henkel, an attorney with First Law Group, is now the assistant instructor for the school at the YMCA, and has sometimes struggled to fit regular workouts in with his out-of-town work. Johnson opened her own taekwondo school on Isadore Street in December 1996 and has instructed in taekwondo for UW-Stevens Point since January 2002. She has trained more than 70 black belts during that time.

Johnson says the partnership and friendship between the three over the years has been what kept them active and advancing in the sport.

Kicking Together: Mark Henkel, Karen Johnson, Jim Henkel

“There’s something very special about this sport,” says Johnson. “The camaraderie is really important, so you want to keep doing this together.”

A continuing commitment to fitness has been a major component in the year-round training, according to Mark Henkel.

“Exercise is something we need to take care of our bodies,” says Henkel. “It’s tough to keep doing it sometimes, but it’s easier when we encourage each other to continue.”

Wearing the senior master belt doesn’t mean this three will now sit back or slow down. All were at workouts this week, continuing the journey. Jim Henkel was thinking of the future when he mused, “I’d like to be a grandmaster and have my own school, someday.”

Black Belt News

Master John Henkel, having graduated with his MS in electrical engineering from UW-Madison, has moved to Palatine IL and begun his work in research & development at Motorola.

Master Kevin Klapoetke enjoyed a bachelor paintball party in Rudolph the day before the June testing. Kevin marries Brianna Gillogly on July 7.

Second Dan Adam Berryman, who had been in charge of the UW-Platteville TKD Club, will marry Allison Dobbe June 23. The newlyweds willl move to Vermont, where Adam hopes to continue teaching and training in taekwondo.

Black Belt couple Justin and Kimberly Buehler rejoiced in the birth of their daughter, Katherine Marie on March 29. When child care works out, Kimberly has already returned to work-outs