True North: Strong and Free: General Update

These past few months have been busy work wise, so Tang Soo Do has taken the back burner as of late. All that is about to change. This Thursday, I will be instructing the self-defense clinic at the K-W YMCA (with Teresa assisting). Also, I recently started crunching the numbers and putting together the general business plan for a YMCA based Tang Soo Do program. I spoke with both Master Vaughn and Mr. Boriello (from Region 8) who gave lots of good advice. Teresa and I also had a really illuminating chat with Manny from Champion's Way, a company that provides assistance to folk who run martial arts studio's. Prospects are looking really good and we continue to work towards getting an official WTSDA studio here in Ontario.

Julie Christie, a black belt from Vaughn's Dojang, was nice enough to forward me some pictures from the recent WTSDA World Tournament:

Here's Vaughn's Dojang Demo Team celebrating their 3rd place prize for their James Bond/Austin Powers competition demo. It's really good to see these kids carrying on the demo leadership. Mike and Lauren can attest to how hard it is to compete against all the other teams from across the world, and how good it feels to celebrate your victories with your Tang Soo Do brother's and sister's. Carry on, guys!

Here's Karen (in the white sparring gear) setting up her opponent for a "cherry" roundhouse kick to the midsection. I've been fortunate to watch Karen grow up the past eight years, developing into quite a martial artist. Also, she's got one of the greatest smiles in Tang Soo Do, (as well as one hell of a roundhouse kick). Cheers, Karen!