Korean Academy of Taekwondo 2018 Year in Review
Our 38th year, 2018, was another great one! In addition to these there were many demos, kicking pictures taken around the world, new students, setback and victories. See some of the highlights of the last 12 months, in no particular order.
RMMAF Banquet and Tenant Awards – The 1st annual Rocky Mountain Martial Arts Foundation banquet was a huge success! We had a ton of fun and raised nearly $6,000 for our foundation’s endowment. Thanks to everyone who donated, especially to GM Ghassan for ‘generously’ donating back kicks. See all the winners and pictures at https://kattaekwondo.com/2018-rmmaf-banquet-and-tenant-awards/
Black Belts – KAT Awarded 30 new black belt ranks, including 14 1st dans, 9 2nd dans, 3 3rd dans, and 4 4th dans in the fall and spring tests.
KAT Head Master Sword – After many years we finally finished the KAT Head Master sword. It is likely the only sword in the world made from bulletproof glass, meteorite shards, a GPS tracker, rayskin, etc. https://kattaekwondo.com/kat-head-master-sword/
Sport Poomsae Team – Instructor Cat Tong and Master Katie’s forms class is doing great, with many black belts coming back to train. Look for this team to have special results in the future!
KAT Starts BJJ Class – Although the grappling techniques we have been teaching since 2004 have helped many students defend themselves in real life, we wanted to kick things up another level with the addition of a full BJJ curriculum. We are thrilled to be working with Tom Lynn and Academy Martial Arts under Ghost Squad BJJ. This will have a big impact on the kind of training we can offer in the future.
White Tiger Championships – The 2018 White Tiger Championships was our biggest tournament ever, with 375+ competitors (except 2010 Collegiate Nationals). We even had a team from Iraq come to train with us and attend the event.
Tournament Results – KAT had another great year in the ring. We took 3rd overall in state, making 7 of the last 8 years where we finished with a top 3 ranking. In the US Nationals, we earned the most sparring medals (11) that our school ever has. https://kattaekwondo.com/2018-us-nationals-results/
New Handbooks – 2018 saw the publication of the 4th edition of the KAT Handbook, which split the content into versions for color belts and black belts.
Scholarship – Josh K won the Michael Pottle memorial scholarship to attend college in Hawaii. Josh was the first person to go from little tigers to black belt at KAT, and the first American to win a gold medal in the 12-14 year old world championships.
License Plate – Former students Daisy and Gabriel stood next to Gov Hickenlooper as he officially created a childhood cancer license plate for CO.
Mike Duran – Mike passed away suddenly this year and was honored with KAT’s 2nd ever posthumous black belt which was presented at his funeral.
SwordQuest Movie in Theater – Our summer camp completed a 5 yearproject to get the Lands of Daranortrilogy made into a feature length movie. The movie premiered in the MovieTavern in Aurora. It’s been amazing to literally watch these kids grow up during the production. See the Movie