Be Fearless, Travel Solo

This is a video of the Wooden Board breaking for my Blue Belt Promotion test. I break 4 boards: First punch, then right roundhouse, then left roundhouse, and finish with a spin kick. On my spin kick, I hit the board so hard that the middle portion of the board went flying towards Master Kim's neck. Luckily Master Kim's mad reflexes saved him and he caught the piece in time and kept it for the rest of the class. The video doesnt show this part, but you can see the reaction of my fellow fighters watching. Here's one way to earn extra points in a Belt Test, try to take out the TKD Master judging you!

Arirang Taekwondo- While teaching in Seoul, my Korean immersion has extended to studing Marital Arts- Korean Taekwondo, with Round house kicks, wooden board breaking and the 'giant leap frog' excercise. I have hung up the track spikes and pole vault poles and traded them in for Taekwondo belts. The track skills have carried over well in martial arts! About 3 times a week I take an hour long subway ride to the north side of Seoul in a neighborhood called Samgakji.  The Dojang, (no, Dojo is Japanese) is apart of the Korean War Memorial Museum, and the Marital Arts center itself is one large, round room, with a sparring ring in the middle, a platform in the front of the room for demostrations and two huge wooden statues in the front that boarder a Korean flag. The class is made up of eqully Koreans and forigners, and given mostly in English. Every class begins with a low bow on the hands and knees towards the front of the room, which represents respec...