Axe TKD Tournament
The fourth annual Axe TKD tournament was held in the Youth Center on Saturday, May 14th.  There were people from Colorado, Kansas, as well as Missouri that attended. Everyone did a great job! Thank you to all that competed and that refereed. We can not forget to thank the parents for bringing and supporting their children!

USTF Internationals
We will be going to the USTF International Championship tournament in Broomfield, Colorado June 25th and 26th.  This will be the largest tournament our class will have the opportunity to attend.  There will be students from all over the world, and it's a two day event.  We have been to a couple of these large events, and they are very exciting and fun.  Whether you compete or watch it’s an experience you won’t forget!  The USTF will ensure it is a safe and coordinated event for all. 
            There will be patterns and sparring for all, and breaking for black belts, 16 years old or older.  The tournament will start with color belts at 9am on Saturday June 25th.  They are expecting over 400 competitors and currently Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland and Puerto Rico are attending. 
            Black Belts MUST pre-register.  All adults must weigh-in on Friday, June 24th between 3pm-7pm (Denver time).  Color belts need to pre-register, but if there are last minute signups, we can add them on the 24th.   All Axe students will pre-register.  The pre-registration form and payment must be in by June 13, 2011. 
            For your planning and decision making, we will hit the road early (not later than 6 am) that Friday morning in order to be there for the weigh in.  We will return sometime late Monday, June 27th.  We have made reservations for those who are committed to going; those who are non-committed but decide they would like to go will now need to make their own arrangements.  Of course, we will help and try to accommodate individual students and their families.  We want to give total expense figures as soon as possible and confirm room arrangements. If you would like a t-shirt to remember this awesome tournament the order forms are on the website, www.axetkd.com.

Axe Taekwon-Do Jackets and Bags
The jackets are here! They will be handed out Tuesday, June 14 in class. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to e-mail Ms. Bowing at:  arbowing11@hotmail.com
In addition to the Axe TKD Jackets, we have some sport bags available.  These are ideal for lugging around all of your Taekwon-Do gear.  The bags are $30, and are available on a first-come-first-served basis. 
We will be able to order more bags and jackets, but cannot guarantee the current prices.  If you are interested see Mr. Bushor for details.

Weekend Classes
Saturday classes are still being held for Internationals! The classes are from 12:30-2:30 every Saturday unless otherwise stated beforehand. The classes have been covering sparring at the Youth Center.  Mr. Bushor has been holding a patterns class on Sunday also.

Attendance (By Master Todd)
     I hate to bring up the requirement again, but many students are not following this.  It is an Axe TKD requirement that when you will be missing class for any reason you contact us.  You can email, call or text.  This requirement applies to all ranks but I am especially concerned when it is a red belt or above not notifying us.  I really don’t care about the reason you are missing but more concerned about the etiquette in not informing us or worse if you know the requirement and chose not to follow.  From now on I will take this strongly into my consideration of allowing students to test for any rank.  It's simple etiquette.  Think of this differently, how would you like to show up for class to find it was cancelled and we didn’t tell you?  Again many rules that we have are to teach etiquette and discipline.  This is no different.

Newsletters (By Master Todd)
     We encourage any student or parent to submit articles for inclusion in the newsletter.  We will review all and if appropriate publish them.  Over the years I have read articles from white belts that were as informative as the black belt articles.  It's your class, speak up!  I hope you all took the opportunity to review the USTF Flash that Mr. Bushor forwarded.  We had several articles and pictures in there.  The USTF Flash is the official newsletter of the USTF and is sent to all schools within the USTF.  It's good for you to see what is going on in other schools and states.  I will also post all our newsletters and the Flash on the website for easy reference. 

Calendar
June 24th (5:30 am) meet at Youth Center to drive to CO for Internationals (leaving at 6:00 am)
June 25th & 26th – USTF Internationals – Broomfield, CO
July – Promotion Testing, Axe TKD
July 29th, 30th, and 31st – Camp Taekwon-Do, Mexico, MO, Missouri Military Academy
August 13 - Advanced Ground Tactics Course 9:30, Broomfield, CO (replaces advanced HSS)
Sept – Battle of the Belts, Kirksville, MO
Oct 16th – Grand Master Sereff Championship – Broomfield, CO
Oct – Promotion Testing, Axe TKD
Nov 6th – Testing in Missouri (Mr. Bushor for 6th degree)
Dec – Holiday Party – Axe TKD
 
Community Service (by Mr. Bushor)

Public Service (Sahwe Bongsa) is one of the Five Disciplines of Taekwon-Do Moral Culture Training.  General Choi says in the Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do that “by contributing labor to the community, especially to the poor or disabled, the student learns charity, humility, comradeship, tolerance, and a sense of generosity.”  The USTF has laid out Community Service requirements for each Black Belt rank, but you should not only be doing Community Service because it is a requirement for promotion.  I know that we have a number of students who are continuously volunteering through their church, scouts, or on their own.  Everyone should be looking to help out those who need help, whether it is shoveling snow from the driveway of an elderly neighbor, helping paint the house of a needy member of the community, or collecting food for the poor.  These are all worthy endeavors and will make you feel better about yourself.
We live in a community near a large river, the Missouri River.  In the 20 years that I have lived in the greater Omaha area, the river has stayed within its banks for the most part.  However, this year it appears that the river will be near it’s all time height of over 40 feet.  There have been levies built over the years to help contain the river, but this year they will be tested like never before.  They have been well constructed, but there have already been failures on the Iowa side of the river.  There are ongoing efforts to re-enforce the levies with sand bags and volunteers are always welcome.  But there may come a time when some of them may fail and this could cause a great deal of damage to our community.  Some of our students and families may lose everything, the air base could be affected and some people’s jobs may be affected.  There may be plenty of opportunities to help out our community over the next few weeks and perhaps over the next few months.  Help out where you can, help as often as you can, and more importantly, ask for help if you need it.  Axe Taekwon-Do is a family, and our family is part of a larger community.  Our family and our community may need your help, so please help if you can.