Garden State Championship

Garden State Championships

Champions Do what’s Needed regardless of how they Feel.

Their Discipline Overrides their Feelings.

• Allistair McCaw

Experience is a Great Teacher…the Best!

Competition with others is still competition with Yourself!

Enriching your Martial Arts Training with Tournament Participation is an important Experience in your development as a Tang Soo Do practitioner!

I Stand Behind Every One of these Statements…no matter how cliche!

As our Choong Jae Nim (Master CS Kim) always attends this tournament (he and Master Yi trained together in Korea under Supreme Grandmaster Hwang Kee), it is a Great excuse to get to see him and spend time with him.

If there were No Other Reason to go…this would be enough.

However, life is never that simple, and experiences are complex and multifaceted to say the least.

It’s hard to know where to begin to tell you about a Day like yesterday…

I competed alongside my own daughter for the first time ever! Not something that I ever expected to happen, nor would I ever willingly choose to do so, but circumstances made it happen, we accepted it, and she bested me. Any disappointment that I might potentially feel at not even placing in one of my strongest skills was Completely washed away by my Excitement at her taking 3^rd place in a mixed gender division of Adult Masters of varying age, rank, and experience. As her Father, I am beside myself and share in her Joy. As her Master, I am beyond proud to have a Student out-perform me in weapons. The Excitement and Pride she must feel is beyond measure and the Memory will last a Lifetime! But this is my perspective…you should ask her yourself!

There are many stories that I could tell you about this weekend, and I feel that this would become a very long e-mail if I did. Everything I tell you will also be from my perspective, but I wasn’t the only one there. So, why did I tell what I have so far? Because Memories and Experiences like these are Powerful. They show that what we learn in martial arts is about more than kicking and punching, about more than discipline, about more than just training…it is about Living Life and gaining Knowledge, Experience and Passion from everything we do. I want you to talk to me, SBN KT, KSN Marvel, KSN Campbell, KSN Johnson. Ask SBN KT how it felt, from her perspective, to not only compete alongside her dad but also her long-time idol SBN Lindsay. Ask KSN Marvel how it felt to have Choong Jae Nim standing ringside intently watching him perform the double nunchuk form for the first time in an open tournament. Ask KSN Campbell how it felt to introduce his students to Choong Jae Nim and about their reaction to meeting the man whose picture hangs with our flags. Ask me how it felt to have one of my long-time mentors, and fierce forms competitor, tell me how much he enjoyed watching me compete again, and how my form looked to him as he was judging my performance (by the way, it was an honor to watch him be inducted into the Hall of Fame by Master Yi yesterday).

Reading these accounts can only provide you the tale…listening to us relate them and watching our faces as we tell them…that’s when you understand.

As a Sa Bom Nim, I want all of my students to feel these immensely positive and empowering experiences first-hand. I want you all to know the satisfaction of putting your training and hard work to the test.

Is it disappointing when you don’t place? Sure. It is. I didn’t place at all, personally…but I still Won! Go ahead…ask me what I Won! I will gladly tell you and then encourage you to join me in Winning More!

See You In Class!

TANG SOO!!!