5th Annual Axe TKD Bike Ride:

On Saturday, August 8th, starting at 10:00 a.m. we will have our 5th Annual Bike Ride.  We will start and end at the trail head near Haworth Park off of 370 near the Bellevue Toll Bridge.  We will ride south along the trail about 5 miles to the turnaround point (near Harlan Lewis Road).  There will be drinks, fruit, and some food at the half way/turn around point.  Everyone, to include your family members, is invited to ride along as long as you have a bike that will make the trip (about 5 miles each way).   It was a great time last year and should be again this year.  We will talk about moving it to a different day if the weather is too bad (rain, temperature, etc.). 

2016 World Camp:

The contract has been signed with the YMCA of the Rockies for the 2016 Sereff World Camp! Mark your calendar for July10th thru 15th.  Arrival at 3:00pm, first meal dinner, and leaving on July15th after breakfast. There are only 105 slots so let Senior Master Todd know if you are interested in attending.  We expect registration paperwork to be made available by the end of summer! Plan to spend a week in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with your USTF brothers and sisters!

Sparring Gear:

You will need sparring gear to spar in class or at any of the tournaments we will be attending. Everyone is required to wear head gear, hand gear, foot gear, and a mouth piece; additionally all male competitors must wear a protective cup.  Shin pads and arm pads are allowed and are encouraged but are not mandatory.  If you would like to order a set of sparring gear (head gear, gloves, and boots) for your very own, please let Mr. Bushor know as soon as possible.  The cost is $69 for the entire set of sparring gear.  There is an assortment of colors and sizes.  You can purchase a mouth guard and protective cup at any major sporting goods store or at Walmart.

Newsletters:

We encourage any student or parent to submit articles for inclusion in the newsletter. Especially with all of the upcoming events, it would be nice to see what all of you liked. We will review all and if appropriate publish them. There are many new students that may want to hear what they can look forward to in class and at tournaments! Students of any age/ rank can type up their story and submit it, or parents that would like to send one or more in. They will be reviewed by Senior Master Todd before it is/is not put into the AXE TKD Newsletter. 

Sparring for Beginners (by Mr. Kevin Bushor):

One of the most scary parts of Taekwon-Do is sparring.  This is true for the brand-new White Belts, many Color Belts, and some Black Belts.  While it is a necessary part of the Cycle of Taekwon-Do, it takes some time and conditioning to allow someone else to punch and kick at your head and body.  According to the Rules and Regulations of USTF Tournaments:  "Continuous sparring demonstrates the beauty and control of Taekwon-Do, and allows fighters the training necessary for self-defense and personal development.  Sparring also promotes tenacity and courage in the student."  I believe that the most common fear of Sparring is getting hurt.  No one can guarantee that you will never get hurt in Taekwon-Do, but the more you practice something the better you will become.  This is true with Sparring. 

Sparring should be thought of as just a game of tag.  Like the game of tag, no one is trying to hurt you, but that doesn't mean you can't get hurt.  You want to kick or strike your opponent with a legal technique to a legal target area more often than your opponent strikes you.  You can hit your opponent with your hands which are covered with gloves.  You can use your forefist, backfist, knife-hand, and reverse knife-hand to score points; and you can use your forearms and palms to block your opponent's attacks.  While these block don't score points for you, they will prevent your opponent from scoring points against you.  You can also kick your opponent with your feet which are also covered with boots.  You can use your footsword, reverse footsword, ball of the foot, and heel.  You can also use your feet to block your opponent's attacks.  You cannot use your head, elbows, knees, shins, butt, or anything that is not listed above.

Now for the hard part, you can only hit your opponent in certain areas.  You can kick or strike to the front of the body, above the belt.  You can attack the front, sides, top, and back of the head and the face, but the neck is off limits.  You cannot strike below the belt or to the back.  You can hit the arms (but they won't count as points), and you can hit the legs provided they are above the belt (and again they won't count as points).  You only score points if your technique is executed with proper control and balance to a legal target area with a legal technique.

This is not a contest to see who can hit the hardest, it is a contest to see who can hit their opponent with a legal technique to a legal target area with control (light touch) and balance.  You get more points if you attack the head or if you execute your techniques in a jumping or flying motion.  You will lose points and possibly be disqualified if you break the rules.  Safety of the competitors is the Center Referee's primary duty, so you don't need to worry about someone trying to hurt you.  The Bottom Line is: if you score more points than your opponent you will win.  There are 4 Corner Judges that actually watch the fight and award points that they see.  They can't see everything, and you may think that you won a fight, but if the Corner Judges don't see the technique or don't score the technique then you may still lose a fight you think you have dominated. 

Remember that sparring is a demonstration of the beauty and control of Taekwon-Do.  If you win, don't gloat or boast, congratulate your opponent; if you lose, congratulate your opponent on their victory, and don't whine or pout.  Learn from each match, watch every match to see if they are doing something that might work for you, or are they doing something that you want to avoid doing!  Sparring is easy, but you must train very hard to be good at sparring.  While each match will only last 2 minutes, those 2 minutes will seem like 2 hours if you are tired.  You should always be ready to defend yourself, whether on the street, in school, or in the ring.  If you don't take sparring serious, you could be injured; but if you train and try hard, you should be successful in the ring.