Peter Chan earned sixth degree, senior master level, black belt with his performance of the difficult ji-tae form. Chan broke a concrete slab with a skipping side kick, before relating how teaching a special taekwondo class designed to help keep kids out of trouble brought him into a church and changed his life.
Lauren Shimul
unas achieved second degree black belt with her demonstration of sparring, the keum-gand form and advanced kick and block combinations. Shimulunas cleanly snapped a two-inch board with a back spinning side kick.Seth Zorn advanced to full black belt status following his performance of koryo and four taegeuk forms. He answered an array of oral questions from other black belts, sparred and broke his board with an autobahn leading into a back spinning side kick.
Peter Clark, Benjamin Strojny, Benjamin Goodberlet and the father-son duo of Daryl and Caleb Woods joined the ranks of deputy black belts following strenuous testing including demonstration of advance kicks and sparring, five taegeuk forms board breaking. Clark, Strojny, Caleb Woods and Daryl Woods all broke boards using a back spinning side kick, while Goodberlet used a jumping back spinning side kick.
Two trophies were awarded for excellence from more than 80 testing for color belt levels. High green belt Tom Oakland won first place with high green belt Tammi Weiss taking second place. The testing was judged by grandmaster instructor Dwight Stevens, assisted by senior masters Mark Henkel and Bill Dragolovich and master Jerry Hajewski.
Tournament News
Taekwondo students of all ranks brought back trophies from the 2nd Southside Invitational Taekwondo Tournament in Greenfield Wisconsin recently.
Black belt Ryan Zorn took first place in his division and wowed the judges with a working step back spinning sidekick through three boards and won both sparring marches. Brother Seth Zorn, black belt, took second place in his division, winning both his sparring matches.
High red belt Ben Strojny performed taegeuk pal jahn and broke boards with an inside crescent to back spinning sidekick and a roundhouse to back spinning hook kick, placing third overall. Riley Dreschler, red belt, was the youngest competitor in her group, but placed third overall with two board breaks, including a jumping switching front speed break, the taegeuk chil jahn form and sparring.
High blue belt Denise Dreschler took second place, competing in a men’s division while performing taegeuk yuk jahn and sparring. She used a back spinning side kick and a jumping switching axe kick to snap two boards. Reuben Yamochi, green belt took first place in the same division with the taegeuk sah jahn and using both a back spinning hook and a back spinning hook speed kick for his board breaking.
At high first tournament, nine-year-old Taylor Sankey, high white belt, brought home first place trophy for his skills, which included a sharp sidekick board break.
Grandmaster Dwight Stevens was recognized at the event, making a brief address to the competitors and spectators.
The tournament was hosted by Master James Lowe, USA TaeKwonDo Club, and Master Jerry Hajewski and Peter Chan, Dragons Club of Southwest YMCA. The tournament drew a hundred competitors from across the state and featured a unique scoring system combining results from sparring , board breaking and forms to rate competitors on overall skills.
Black Belt News
Master Lisa (Landrath) Gajewski gave birth to a healthy baby girl April 15, delighting sisters Allison and Claire and grandmother Master Carol Landrath.
