The first week of Moin Pan Competition has took off with a lot of fun.  The Red Pan put together a great demonstration but were defeated beating out The Blue Pan 4-3.  The Blue Pan returned by refining their efforts and defeated The Brown Pan by 5-2.  The last game of the day pitted The Green Pan against The Black Pan.  The Black Pan has chosen “The Black Mambos” as their pan name.  Green won 4-2.

This puts the standings as follows:
Blue  Pan                     1   

Red Pan                      1

Green Pan                   1

Brown Pan                  0

Black  Mambos Pan      0

Blue Team: Micaela, Rene, Juan, Aaron

Red Team: JKN Jeff, Stephen K, Richard K, Julian

Brown Team: Maria, German, Justin, Tucker

Green Team: Brenna, Nick, Evan, Alex

Black Team: Rohan, Thomas Josef, Noah.

I am inviting all students and parents of students to a special event
coming up at the end of April.  This is called Parents as Coaches nigh
and I hope to see you there.

As a parent, you may know a bit about baseball, football or even soccer
and, naturally, you want to help your child excel in these sports.  You
might find it difficult, however, to help them with their Kuk Sool
homework because you don’t know how.  This one night class is entirely
FREE and meant to help you help your child practice, improve and attain
his or her Black Belt.

You will meet other parents who have children who are black belts and
even whole families who have achieved their Black Belts together.  You
can ask them of the challenges and rewards of Kuk Sool Won.

Please let me know that you are coming as space is limited.  I look
forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,

Sa Bum Nim Paul Carmody

The Elementary Schools get out at the following times.

Hatch: 12:40

El Granada: 12:50

Farallone View: 1:10
We will be stopping at each school every day of the week and picking up those students who have signed up for bus service. Please call 726-4132 and tell Sherre which days you would like your child picked up.

The following people have been promoted to their next rank:

White w/Stripe: Douglas East, Rachael East, Evan Impink, Michaela Kowalczyk, Sullivan Norris and Dana Norris..

Yellow Belt with Blue Stripe: Danielle Gagnon

Blue Belt: Mika Weisenberger, Derek Fernelius, Veronica Gallegos

Blue Belt with Red Stripe: Colton Palmer

Red Belt: Charlotte Vingos, Jessica Ormonde, and Connor Witt

Brown Belt: Andrew Morrell, Nadiyah Dowling

Riding on a motorcycle gives you a lot of time to think and driving from 8 to 10 hours a day gives you little time for anything else. So, I am sorry that I didn’t get a chance to write about our stay in Victory, Canada with KJN Don McCondach and his family.

The drive through the Canadian Rockies is almost indescribable. Although Lake Louise and Lake Moraine take your breath away in their altitude, majesty and clarity, the hundreds of miles of driving through Yosemite-like valleys with steep sides dropping nearly 1,000 feet can only be experienced and is quite beyond words. I took pictures, as did Sam, but I doubt that they will do them justice.

Victoria is a very temperate place for Canada. Actually, the weather was the most surprise of all. This was Canada, right? So, why did we experience 90 degree heat everywhere we went and almost no rain? Indeed, the only night of rain was when the bikes were safely stored in Master Don’s garage.

Master Don, his wife, Janice, and son, Ryan (both of whom are JKNs) were wonderful hosts. We finally got a chance to workout on Sunday when Master Don put together a quick special training. Spear form was of particular interest. In fact, later on we were practicing in their backyard and one of the neighborhood kids said proudly, “I do karate, too.” “Really?” I said, “that’s great! Did you know that your neighbor here has been studying martial arts for over 30 years?” “Study!? I REALLY DO IT.” We stopped the conversation right there yielding to the child’s greater wisdom.

Truly, the McCondach’s were wonderful people to stay with. The weather being just right, we ate outside on their deck every evening. They showed us the sites of Victoria, namely Hatley Castle which is the Xavier School for Gifted Children in the X-Men movies and other sites. Incidentally, JKN Ryan has a walk on in one of those movies. He played an extra on the set and proudly mentioned meeting Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman and bumping into, literally knocking right into, Halley Barry. The highlight of the trip was seeing The Moody Blues perform live in concert. The McCondach’s are long time fans. Now, if you think that Kuk Sool masters are hardworking, stoic people with no sense of humor you will not be describing Master McCondach. He and his family were nearly jumping out of their seats with excitement at the concert, enjoying themselves in the utmost. Sam and I left in good spirits and with that none-to-family feeling of leaving just a little bit too soon.

Thank you very much KJN Don, JKN Janice and JKN Ryan. We had a wonderful time and look forward to seeing you all at the next tournament.

Paul Sa Bum

It is the end of the first week of our road-trip-ala-motor-bike and we have seen spectacular scenery, incredible terrain and fabulous vistas.  Truly, though, the most remarkable and memorable of all of these is our stay in KJN David Williams’ house in Calgary, Alberta.  The pair of bald eagles stopped traffic in Yellowstone (pictures will be forth coming) and the drive down Hwy 191 through Montana was a dream-come-true on a motorcycle (sorry no pictures of that) but the hospitality and congeniality of our hosts on our first night in Canada was unrivaled by far.

First, our own mistakes plus an unexpected hour at the US-Canadian border put us a full 5 and a half hours over schedule and had us arriving in Calgary at 11:00 at night!  “We’ll eat before we get there.” JKN Sam says to me with a hint of “it’s the proper thing to do as we will be arriving so late” in his manner.  “We’ll be waiting for you and there is plenty of food, so bring your appetites.” says KJN David, “We’ll have it all ready for you.”  Indeed, they did have quite a welcoming spread for us.  Dinner and conversation ’til 1:00 AM!!  They were truly happy to see us and insisted that we weren’t keeping them up and made every effort to make us comfortable.

The next day was very pleasant with a little sight-seeing around Calgary punctuated with KJN David’s usual and spontaneous wit and our own banter.  Dinner was a BBQ in our own honor where we met the denizens of Calgary Kuk Sool Won.  Another welcoming spread of food was displayed out for us and the other guests seasoned with a generous supply of laughing and good cheer was shared by all.  I would love to list all of our new found Kuk Sool friend’s names but I doubt that I would do them justice.  I will say the two names that were most prominently mentioned to us; Sebastian and Sophia.  These are the two children of KJN and his wife Racheal (a JKN in her own right), of which they are both very proud.

We left feeling a bit of a loss for such a quick visit.  Arriving so late meant that we missed the only chance to see the dojang and workout and a workout would have felt very good after five days sitting on a motorcycle.  More than that, the hospitality and truly warm reception that we received made the next few days riding seem somewhat less.  Yes, we must return there and make a much longer and better stay.

Thank you so much Master David and Jyo Kyo Nim Racheal for such a truly wonderful experince and, of course, to all of you Students of Calgary Kuk Sool Won.  We truly felt accept, welcome and at-home.  Practice hard and make KJN proud of all of you.

Friends in Kuk Sool.

Paul and Sam.

The following people have been promoted to their next rank:

White w/Stripe: Dino Ambrosi, Matthew Williams, Liam Williams, Raven Chalif, Don Witt, Zachary Troutman, Zander Dragony, Shannon Harger.

Yellow Belt: Derek Fernelius, Danielle Gagnon, Ashley Kerman. 

Yellow Belt with Blue Stripe: Lisa Stone, Mika Weissenberger, Trevor Ormonde, Jose Contreras,  Charlotte Vingo

Blue Belt: Audrey West, Connor Witt, Kennedy Cutter, Heidi Davis.

Blue Belt with Red Stripe: Goron and Chris Carfi, Nick Noland, Andrew Morrell, and Jake Norman.

Red Belt: Brent Clark, Sandi Gessin-Douglas,

We are now offering a new program in Korean Archery.  Basic membership will allow for two classes each month (extended membership is available).  We will be meeting at noon on Saturdays.  You may bring your own equipment or borrow ours.  As a bonus, anyone signing up in this program in the first month will receive a 10% discount on new bows and arrows.

This is a new program which will grow and improve.  We plan on visiting large indoor and outdoor archery ranges in the area.  When we are ready, our team will enter into regional competitions.

Call Paul SBN for more information.

Welcome to the new Kuk Sool Won web site, a place where we can meet and keep everyone updated with our latest news and scheduling… things seem to be proving out that this internet thing may be more than a fad… it’s just a wonderful thing.

Please feel free to comment on this site about anything you want… cause we just love the attention.