Korean Academy of Taekwondo Online

Please find the contents of our Fall 2015 Newsletter Below. You can also view the PDF
version if you prefer

KAT Starts All Black Belts Class

The Korean Academy of Taekwondo  is starting our ‘all black belt class’  with the first class on September 26th and the next class on November 7th. KAT is an extremely diverse school, not only in respect to people’s backgrounds, but our locations, skill levels, favorite part of training (sparring, demo, grappling, etc). It’s our greatest strength, but also our greatest weakness. The all KAT black belt class is a way to let the instructors from all our different programs train together.  The first class was very popular, and we can’t wait for the next one!

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2nd Annual Ninja Mile Rocks

The 2nd Annual Ninja Mile was held on September 12th, 2015. Everyone had a great time. The winners of the divisions were Rylan (Boys), Camilla (Girls), Mahayla (Teen Girls), Max (Teen Boys) Shayna (Women) and Curtis (Men). This year’s course featured a longer race for teens and adults.  The Ninja Mile Course will also feature in the black belt test.

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Video Games and Movies from Camp Available

 

The KAT Summer Camp Page has been updated to have all of the movies, video games, and comic books that we have produced http://kattaekwondo.com/summer-camp/

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Other Notes

• You can now order our tshirts online at: https://squareup.com/market/korean-academy-of-tkd
• Anyone who is with COMPASS BANK can select us in the Compass for the Cause. It’s FREE for you, but they will donate some of the processing fees to our foundation. The AFFINITY CODE is 109577
• We will soon be starting a crowdfunded plan to get Daedo Electronic scoring gear for our foundation. http://kattaekwondo.com/crowdfunding-for-electronic-scoring-gear/

Sifu Kisu Seminar Was Incredible

KAT partnered with the Rocky Mountain Kung Fu Alliance to bring Sifu Kisu Star, the martial artist who created the ’bending’ arts on Avatar to a seminar. It was a great experience for everyone involved. See photos and more at:

http://www.coloradomanews.com/sifu-kisu-star-visits-colorado/

Twin Dragons Tournament—April 16-17

Set your calendars now ! The next tournament will be on April 16-17th, 2016 at Metro State University of Denver. Students can earn a piece of their tri-medal Stay tuned for more information as the date gets close r—and this year will also feature the once in every 3 years Double Dragon Punch drink.

Congratulations to Medalists from Nationals

Congrats to everyone who won medals in the USA National Championships. In AAU Nationals, Grace won 3rd. In USAT Nationals, Grace  had a crazy day to win 2nd. Master Laron Younger won silver in sparring in the black belt division. Adam Mohmand won silver in red belt sparring, while Salma won silver, Cip bronze, and Axel Gold from Storm WSHS. Jared Younger also won silver. Isaac Smith won bronze from Littleton, while Melody Goldanloo win silver, Kia won bronze and Xavier Nail won bronze. See the full results at:

http://kattaekwondo.com/2015-national-championships-results/

Josh K also won a spot on the AAU national team for the 4th consecutive year!

Daisy’s Cancer is back

Unfortunately we have some heartbreaking news to report. KAT student Daisy Walsh’s brain cancer has returned after a brief remission. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time.  To follow along and see how you can help, visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/HopeForDaisy

 

 

 

(Seoul, KR) – Grandmaster Ghassan Timani recently took a trip to Korea where he met the founder and 1st Head Master of KAT, Grandmaster J.K. Chung. While there Grandmaster Chung promoted him to 8th degree black belt in Hapkido. He will return early next year to test for his 8th Dan at the Kukkiwon. Master Kenny Yoo also traveled to Korea from Colorado.

While there the first two Head Masters reminisced about the first decades of our dojang’s life and talked about the possibility of Grandmaster Chung returning to teach a week’s worth of classes at KAT sometime during 2016. We will work on putting together the funding to see if this can happen. It would be a great experience for our students since Grandmaster Chung hasn’t visited KAT in several years.

 

(Austin, TX) – Our sponsored team and various athletes from the different KAT programs descended on Austin, TX for the 2015 USA Taekwondo National Championships. Besides the sponsored team, it was the first national competition for many of the competitors.

     Grace Kosloski (12-14 Black Belt) has an amazing performance. She was called to the holding area in the morning but didn’t spar her first match until 10 pm. At that time she faced a tough opponent from Olympic Gold Medalist Master Jimmy Kim’s school. The girl threw a ton of fast spin hook kicks to Grace’s head, but she avoided them all the pull out a 5-1 victory. Next she faced the current US Open Champion and #1 seed in her division at midnight, who came at her with everything she had, but Grace picked up that victory. Next she had to spar 4 matches between 1 and 3 am! She was ultimately unable to defeat Faith Dillon, the same girl who had defeated her in AAU nationals the week before where Grace picked up a Bronze medal. She earned a well deserved Silver Medal, which also leaves her as the alternate for the 2nd World Cadet Championships in Korea.

Josh Kosloski (15-17 Flyweight) won his first match and then fell in the quarterfinals. It was his first loss in 18 months. The division was packed with 5 national champions and 5 US Open champions. It certainly seems to be a great division with many epic battles in years to come. Much thanks to Master Henry Cruz from Manila Taekwondo for once again coaching Josh and Grace at an away tournament.

Sir Salonis (Sr. Sparring) had a tough draw, facing the eventual silver medalist in the first match. He was still recovering from an injury he suffered the previous week in the AAU nationals and had multiple uncounted head shots.

Master Laron Younger (Ultra Sparring) had his first opponent forfeit, sending him straight to the finals. He lost a very close match to end up with a Silver Medal.

From Master Kamil’s CVA program Adam Mohmand (15-17 Red Belts) has been showing tremendous improvement lately. He won his first two matches each by one point, sending him to the finals where he barely lost, earning him a Silver medal. Jibreal Jones (10-11 Black Belt) and Reda Essebar (6-7 Yellow Belt) both had huge divisions, and were unable to medal.

From Sir’s Storm TKD and William Smith High School, Salma Fakri won Silver, Cip Loya won Bronze and Axel Contreras won Gold, all in the 15-17 color belt sparring divisions. These were the first medals of what is sure to be many nationals for WSHS Taekwondo. Sir said “If you believe, All things are possible to those who believe.” (Mark 9:23.)

From LaKai TKD in Littleton Master Laron Younger did a back flip and 10 spin hook kicks in breaking, but it somehow wasn’t enough for him to defend his board breaking medals. Jared Younger followed in his father’s footsteps in sparring, also earning a Silver medal in the green belt heavyweight division. Isaac Smith made it to the finals in forms, but was unable to medal. In sparring, he fought hard and came home with a Bronze.

 

 

 

From Master Kenny Yoo’s students at Yoo Taekwondo, Melody Goldanloo won her first match and then lost in the finals, earning Silver. Kia Goldanloo similarly won Bronze. Ali Tahmourasi lost a heartbreaker 9-10 to miss out on the medal rounds. Zeke Nail won his first two matches but lost the third, and was unable to medal. Xav Nail had a huge division and won his first three matches, even while injured. He lost the semifinals in overtime and had to settle for a well-deserved Bronze.

 

 

Gold Sparring (1)

Axl Contreras

Silver Sparring (6)

Master Laron Younger

Grace Kosloski

Adam Mohmand

Salma Fakri

Melody Goldanloo

Jared Younger

Bronze Sparring (4)

Xav Nall

Cip Loya

Isaac Smith

Kia Goldanloo