Newsletter Publisher - J. Slinn Volume No.5 Issue No. 114 Date: May 2016 V5.114 1 May 2016 Congratulations Congratulations to our newest Black Belts. It was a tough three days out at the East Windsor TaeKwon Do & Kickboxing Academy, but this is the very first time everyone has made it through the test. Great job. Also, a big congratulations to everyone else who tested and earned their new belts at the West Windsor TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy. One thing that was obvious from this testing though, was that we need to be working much harder on our forms. So that will be our focus over the summer so that everyone’s ready for the next Belt Test in late August. Master Steven Tournament Season We had a wonderful time at the May 7 th Battle of Champions at the West Windsor TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy! With almost 100 participants, there were great displays of board breaking and weapons, and lots of fun had by all. Grandmaster Choi – Master Steven’s teacher and mentor – spent much of the day with us, celebrating the winners. Special thanks again to Mr. William Roth who runs the event for us, Master Russ Johnson who serves as a senior judge, and to Tatyana Petrovicheva – one of my 1 st Black Belts – who helped out with judging at this tournament. There were a lot of very exciting performances – especially in the men’s division. Pictured below with Michael Ravikovitch, Master Steven and Grandmaster Choi, with their medals are Frank Lin, Manish Sharma and Damitha De Silva. I hope we will have a bigger turnout at our next Battle of Champions, to be held here at the West Windsor TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy September 9 th and 10 th . Grand Champions Akitha De Silva - Sparring and Akanksha Tripathy - Forms, with Master Steven, Mr. Bill Roth and Antonia Phillips Receiving Probationary Black Belts were (from left) Krish Usgoankar, Aryaman Tomar, Julian Huynh, Arjan Singh, Dhruv Tomar, Krish Deshpande, Abinav Mundayat, Aadesh Anand and Roshan Aiyer. Aishwarya Chapalara at the back, was promoted to 1st Dan. Receiving their 1st Dan, were (from left) Anika Kapoor, Aryan Aggarwal, Ved Karamsetty, Anjali Bhatia, Srijan Velury, Amolika Bharti, Vishvam Rawal, Advaith Hari and Satvik Dasariraju Not pictured – Benjamin Kanter Like Us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WWTKD Visit us at. www.WWTaeKwonDo.com
Transcript
Newsletter Publisher - J. Slinn Volume No.5 Issue No. 114 Date: May 2016
V5.114 1 May 2016
Congratulations
Congratulations to our newest Black Belts.
It was a tough three days out at the East Windsor TaeKwon Do & Kickboxing Academy, but this is the very first time everyone has made it through the test. Great job.
Also, a big congratulations to everyone else who tested and earned their new belts at the West Windsor TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy. One thing that was obvious from this testing though, was that we need to be working much harder on our forms. So that will be our focus over the summer so that everyone’s ready for the next Belt Test in late August.
Master Steven
Tournament Season
We had a wonderful time at the May 7th Battle of Champions at the West Windsor TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy! With almost 100 participants, there were great displays of board breaking and weapons, and lots of fun had by all. Grandmaster Choi – Master Steven’s teacher and mentor – spent much of the day with us, celebrating the winners.
Special thanks again to Mr. William Roth who runs the event for us, Master Russ Johnson who serves as a senior judge, and to Tatyana Petrovicheva – one of my 1st Black Belts – who helped out with judging at this tournament.
There were a lot of very exciting performances – especially in the men’s division. Pictured below with Michael Ravikovitch, Master Steven and Grandmaster Choi, with their medals are Frank Lin, Manish Sharma and Damitha De Silva.
I hope we will have a bigger turnout at our next Battle of Champions, to be held here at the West Windsor TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy September 9th and 10th.
Grand Champions Akitha De Silva - Sparring and
Akanksha Tripathy - Forms, with Master Steven,
Mr. Bill Roth and Antonia Phillips
Receiving Probationary Black Belts were (from left)
Aishwarya Chapalara at the back, was promoted to 1st Dan.
Receiving their 1st Dan, were (from left)
Anika Kapoor, Aryan Aggarwal, Ved Karamsetty, Anjali Bhatia,
Srijan Velury, Amolika Bharti, Vishvam Rawal, Advaith Hari and
Satvik Dasariraju
Not pictured – Benjamin Kanter
Like Us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WWTKD
Visit us at. www.WWTaeKwonDo.com
Newsletter Publisher - J. Slinn Volume No.5 Issue No. 114 Date: May 2016
V5.114 2 May 2016
New Students
In April, the West Windsor TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy welcomed the following new students:
Little Dragon - Madhav Nair We also welcomed back Ria Gurram who had been away for some time.
Black Belt Club
In May, the Black Belt Club will be working with the Shinai –a bamboo sword used in Kendo. If you do not have one, please order one as soon as possible.
Kendo, which is the modern martial art of Japanese fencing, developed from traditional techniques of Japanese swordsmanship known as kenjutsu. Since 1975 the goal of Kendo has been stated by the All Japan Kendo Federation as "to discipline the human character through the application of the principles of the katana (the Japanese standard two handed sword)". However, Kendo combines martial arts values with sport elements, with some practitioners stressing the former and others the latter.
The shinai was developed when a group of swordsmen, in an effort to reduce the number of practitioners being seriously injured during practice, undertook to create a practice weapon that was less dangerous than the hard wooden swords they were previously using.
Construction: The shinai is made of four slats (take), which are held together by three leather fittings; a tsuka-gawa (handle); a saki-gawa (tip) and a nakayui (a leather strip). All are secured with a tsuru (string). The slats of a shinai are made from dried bamboo. The nakayui is tied about one-third of the length of the exposed bamboo from the tip (kensen); this holds the slats together and also marks the proper kendo striking portion of the shinai (datotso-bu).
Care of the Shinai: A shinai must be properly taken care of or it can pose a danger to both the user, and the people around it. Shinai should be inspected for splinters and breaks before and after use. To properly inspect a shinai, first examine the area around the datotso-bu, looking on all sides for splinters. Bamboo splinters infect easily, so care should be taken. The saki-gawa should be intact and the tsuru should be tight so that the saki-gawa cannot slip off the end while in use. In addition, the nakayui should be tight enough as to not rotate easily. When not in use, shinai may be properly placed against a wall with the handle pointing downward. When a shinai is placed on the ground it is not polite to step over it.
May Birthdays
Dhruv Soni - 1st Adi Tomar - 1st Claire Bhalla - 3rd Tejaswi Penmasta - 3rd
May 1st – Plainsboro Founders Day – Free event. Festivities begin at 12:30PM with a parade from Edgemere Ave to the Municipal Grounds.
May 5th – Cinco de Mayo May 7th & 8th – Battle of Champions at West Windsor
TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy. No Regular Classes. May 8th – Mother’s Day May 27th thru 30th – Memorial Day Holiday – West
Windsor TaeKwonDo & Kickboxing Academy will be CLOSED.
June 7th – Ramadan Begins. June 11th – Tang Soo Do GUP Championships –
Presented by Grandmaster Giacobbbe in Cherry Hill, NJ. June 14th – Flag Day. June 19th – Father’s Day
Respect, Self-Defense, Confidence, Self-
Control, Fun, Coordination
Those words on the glass in front of the school aren't just words meant to lure business, they truly are qualities that TaeKwonDo can instill in an individual. Over the last few months it has been a pleasure watching my daughter Sneha shed her initial fear of martial arts, and build her confidence, to a point where she actually looks forward to the classes. Success in the tournament and doing well in the belt test have certainly boosted her interest. Of course, as is the case always, Master Steven has mixed rigor and entertainment to ensure that his student enjoys the drill and learns the true meaning of the tenets of TaeKwonDo in the process. Thanks Master Steven and keep up the momentum Sneha.
