Black Belt News

Master Karrie Lane and husband Jeff Lane announce the addition of another black belt of the future: Jacob AlexanderLane, born Saturday, April 26 and weighing in at 8 pounds 8 ounces. Congratulations--two boys are twice the fun!

A few mishaps this spring for some of the black belts:

Jill Reed, in the last snow boarding effort of winter, broke her right wrist. She still managed to assist in class and at the self-defense workshop.

Dr. George Davidson tore his right bicep while zip-lining. One-handed dentistry will be challenging him for a few months.

Note to the rest of you: take care. Remember Dr. Stevens always says taekwondo is much safer than other sports/activities andtry to stay out of emergency rooms.

For those out of the central Wisconsin area: this winter won't go away, Point has gotten 3 1/2 inches of snow so far today, hiding the cheery daffodils and tulips and disheartening the residents.

Tournament and Community Outreach

April Activities of Stevens Taekwondo Academy students included competition and community outreach:

Two Stevens Taekwondo Academy students medaled at the 31st Pan American Tae Kwon Do Championships, April 12.

Hannah Lovejoy, third degree black belt, earned both a silver medal in sparring and a bronze in breaking, using a spinning sidekick through two boards and a 360 roundhouse to shatter a third board.

Ryan Franckowiak, high red belt, grabbed the silver medal in forms and took the bronze medal for smashing two boards with a spinning sidekick plus a 360 roundhouse kick through another board.

The championships drew 175 competitors to Rochester Minnesota.




Black Belts in the Community

Senior Master Karen Johnson, assisted by several of her high ranking belts, gave middle school students attending the UW-Stevens Point College Days for Kids an introduction to taekwondo. More than 25 in each group were led by Kyle Mealy, second degree black belt, through warm ups, stretches and kick combos before enjoying both bag work and tap tap sparring. Johnson’s students also demonstrated ring sparring and board breaking for the kids. Helping with the classes were Kim Sherwin, Michelle Ormond, Kim Verbrugt, Jaclyn Schmitz and Emily Urban


Master Hilde Henkel introduced 25 women to simple self-defense techniques at a seminar sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center. The seminar included information on awareness and body language and practice in yelling. Elbow strikes, kicks and simple escapes. Henkel was assisted by her husband, senior master Mark Henkel, and black belts Teri Jenkins, Jill Reed, and Haley Sankey.

April Testing and schedule

Shattering boards and crisp form performances highlighted the belt promotion testing for Stevens Taekwondo Academy at the Stevens Point YMCA Sunday.

Six martial arts students earned new or higher black belts as they demonstrated advanced skills in kick combinations and sparring. Both Mark Stenerson and twelve-year-old Elizabeth Lovejoy smashed spinning side kicks through two-inch boards on their first kick and performed both the koryo and keumgang forms, earning their second degree black belts.

Successfully achieving full first degree black belt status, Ross Wieloch and Lee Vaughter warmed up with fifty kick combinations, answered more than twenty questions in oral examination and performed koryo and four taegeuk forms. Wieloch’s board break was an inside crescent, back spinning side kick, while Vaughter snapped his board with a low-high roundhouse into a back spinning sidekick.

Ryan Franckowiak and twelve-year-old Chris Clark made impressive entries into the rank of deputy black belt as they performed five taegeuk forms and impressive board breaks. Clark shattered his board with a 360 spinning axe kick, while “Flying Franckowiak” wowed the crowd with a flying sidekick high over a table so smash that board.

Three of the more than 40 color belts testing form promotion earned trophies for excellence. New green belt Michael Emmenegger won first place, with high green belt Annaleigh Polman earning second place and red belt Kimberly Verburgt taking third place.

The testing was judged by Grandmaster Dwight Stevens, Masters Mark Henkel and Bill Dragolovich, assisted by Masters Peter Chan and Jerry Hajewski and Abner Fernandez of the Southwest Milwaukee YMCA Taekwondo Club.

Class Schedule for YMCA:

*** No classes April 15 & 17 ***

April 22 First class of new session with makeup testing at 7:45

May 29 Last class of session

*** No classes June 3 & 5***

June 8 Belt promotion testing 1 p.m. gym

June 10 First class of new session

June 12 Makeup testing at 7:45 gym

July 17 Last clss of session

*** No classes July 22 & 24 ***