S.F. (415)333-1050, San Leandro (510)667-9423, Union City (510)441-8661, San Mateo (510)574-4771 A year to be thankful for: 1997 is drawing to a close and the holidays are rapidly approaching. This seems like the perfect time to remember some of the many events we participated in and express gratitude for our good fortune and many blessings. A look at some events in 1997:
February 1 -2: North/South Tournament KMAC competitors succeed in taking first place in several divisions including back-to-back first place wins by Leijani Tirona and Sonny-Ryan Jung.
February: KMAC Opens New School Joining Master Instructor M.W. Jung at KMAC-Headquarters in San Francisco, SBN Henry Cruz of KMAC-Manila in Union City and SBN Jin Ko of Allstar Martial Arts in San Mateo is Master Ramon Tirona and our new school: KMAC-Tirona in San Leandro.
March 15: U.C. Berkeley Open Taekwondo Tournament KMAC regains its title of Best Team this year, as well as receiving trophies for: Most Competitors, Best Jr. Black Belt Fighter: Sonny-Ryan Jung, and Best Sr. Black Belt Fighter (female heavyweight division): Aurelia Edmisten. KMAC had 45 competitors who brought home 23 gold, 19 silver and II bronze medals.
March 29: California State Jr. OLympic Taekwondo Tournament At the state qualifier for National Jr. Olympics, KMAC once again wins trophies for Best Team and Most Competitors, with 56 gold, 19 silver and 23 bronze medals. Of 61 competitors, only 4 fail to quality for the National tournament.
May 31: Four Seasons Spring Kick-Off Taekwondo Tournament With the tremendous help of KMAC students, families and volunteers, the Four-Seasons League held a most successful tournament at Alameda H.S., which helps benefit the Alameda H.S. girl's basketball team.
June 30-July 5: U.S. National Jr. Olympic Taekwondo Tournament in Louisville, Ky With the help of fundraisers run by families at all the schools, KMAC sent a team of 36 Jr. athletes, their Masters, coaches, trainers and families to Louisville to test themselves against the best in the country. They brought home an impressive 16 gold, 6 silver and 22 bronze national medals. Testing skills practiced all year, meeting and making friends with martial artists from every state in the country, and growing in the art, is what Jr. Olympics is all about.
July 26: Ultimate Challenge to Defeat Diabetes Allstar Taekwondo Tournament Another tremendous effort by KMAC students, families and volunteers produced a most successful tournament in San Mateo. A highlight was the impressive demonstration during opening ceremonies by the Ho Do Ri Korean National Demonstration Team. We were all excited by this opportunity to again demonstrate that Martial Arts is not just about punching and kicking, but also about being good citizens and giving back to the community.
August 16: San Francisco Korean Day Festival and Parade KMAC students were invited to participate in the parade and demonstrate their skills for the city of San Francisco.
October 4: Black Belt Promotion A group of black belt candidates from KMAC culminated years of dedication, hard work and discipline by taking their black belt test at Taejin Taekwondo in San Francisco before a prestigious group of Masters and Grandmaster S.W. Lee. The following students brought great honor to themselves, their families, their dojang, and Master Jung by performing their test with exemplary focus, energy, and skill. We extend congratulations and welcome these new members to the honored rank of Black Belt. This event marks a level of achievement few people ever succeed in reaching. From this point forward, your martial arts journey begins again from a new level of focus. Continue to enjoy the journey! Congratulations to:
Jeff Bloom
Thomas Mar
Crystal Fletcher
Alexandra McCray
Brandon Fong
Marcus McNeil
Renato Hughes
Bernadette Reyes
Eunejune Kim
Gary Tong
There were many more events. tournaments, and winners in 1997; far too many to mention here. We congratulate all on their achievements.
KMAC Winning Tradition Continues: We are especially thankful to see the winning tradition of KMAC continue in 1997 as our Competition Team Head Coach: Master Ramon Tirona. our Jr. Competition Team Coach: SBN Henry Cruz, and our Sr. Competition Team Coach/competitor: SBN Richie Camacho. worked together producing champions, using new methods to achieve traditional results; while Master Jung worked at the State and National level to bring KMAC to the highest level of competition.
We are excited to see our newest prospects, some as young as six years old, working along side our seasoned competitors. We are thankful for the determination and focus of all our athletes, and for the commitment of our State, National and Internally ranked fighters, including former members of the Brazilian National Team and multiple National Gold Medalists.
Master Jung says he is gratefully surprised each year to see the level of success achieved by our students despite the increasing level of difficulty as Taekwondo prepares for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. To all our competitors: thank you for your dedication. To all their families and friends: thank you for your understanding. To all their parents: thank you for supporting your children in their efforts. For those students who do not compete: remember you are challenging yourself every time you step on the mat, whether you are training in Taekwondo, Hapkido, Judo, Tai Chi or Arnis.
Ultimately, even for the most intense competitor, the person you are competing against is yourself. Every time you train you grow in your martial art. We thank you for your commitment. We are grateful for our dedicated instructors and the generosity with which they share their enthusiasm, skill and love of their art. Gum sum hap ni da. SHIN MOO!
Coming up: Gift certificates for the holidays Give the gift of martial arts for Christmas!
Annual Awards Ceremony: tentatively scheduled for January.
Comments? Want to know more? Please email me at ewilson