Pictures from David Curtis Memorial Rockies Kick Seminar
As always the seminar with Grandmaster Kim was fantastic. We had three days of fun
and learning with Tae Kwon Do in a great outdoor environment. We also had two students
test to green and high green belt level as well as two students test to 2nd degree black
Belt!
Some of the best pictures I love are of 1st Degree Black Belt Ms. Berner with her
son on her back as a papoose! We were a bit worried at first (as was she) -- but she
was very careful and would've sat down if it didn't work. It turns out the little one
loved it when she did things like a spin-kick with a turn in it. He would just out
and out giggle each time she did that! Ahhhh!
Another thing that we did each day was to remember 3rd Degree Black Belt Mr. David Curtis
for whom the seminar was held in honor. We had a moment of silence for him, on Saturday
morning I read my experience of advancing him to 3rd Dan shortly before he passed away.
We also had a poster with pictures of David and space for people to put comments and
memories of him. And on Sunday morning we had a slide show before we started training
with pictures of David doing one of the things he loved best -- the martial arts. The
link to David's memory page is below.
I've organized these photo's by theme and similar events rather than a strict time-line.
We missed getting photo's on Sunday, so these photo's are from both Friday night
and Saturday events.
These pictures are courtesy of Sandy Priest.
Note: These are all thumbnails of the pictures. If you click on a picture you can
pull up a full size image of the picture (other than the random picture at the top).
Line-up, Bow, Stretching and ready stance -- Joon Bee!
Class bows to Grandmaster Kim, we work together on stretching. Look at Ms. Berner with
her son on her back! This is great -- talk about family togetherness! Then everyone gets into ready stance -- Joon Bee!
Basics
We of course worked on basics each day, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Here we see
everyone working together on doing similar drills. We had white belts learning about
sang-soo (twin fist attack) and reverse punching. Notice, Grandmaster Kim leading white
belts in some of these drills. We also have a nice shot of a young yellow belt showing
excellent focus and determination!
Foot in the face!
I love this picture! Side kick in your face! :-)
Listening to Grandmaster Kim and the instructors
Students do a good job of listening to Grandmaster Kim and the other instructors. I see
good focus and concentration here -- this is great. This shows patience, courtesy and
teachability -- all good attributes of a martial artist!
On break
Here's some folks just messing around, some stretching and talking. I love the one with
junior black belt Mr. Ian helping a white-yellow belt tie his belt! Good job to both with
working together, showing courtesy and respect as well as being kind to each other.
Highlighting some of the Women that came
Quite often men and boys natuarlly gravitate to martial arts study -- but in a real sense
women and girls -- need it more. Women are unfortunately way too often attacked by men
and can use knowledge of self-defense to help them get out. To encourage the women and
girls to network and support each other we decided to have a time when we had groups
separated by gender.
So a new thing we did this year for lunch was in effort to encourage all of the women
martial artists by getting them together to talk at lunchtime. So we had a "Girl-Power"
lunch where the women and girls got together and got to discuss the martial arts and
anything else they wanted to -- without men or boys around. From all the smiles, talking
and laughter I heard from their table -- I think it was a success!
Here we see various pictures highlighting some of the women and girls that came to the
event. You see several of 1st Degree Black Belt Ms. Martinez as well as a couple of
purple belt girls. As you can see there are many other pictures that feature women
and girls elsewhere.
Forms
Everyone working on their forms. Check out the shot of Ms. Berner working on her forms
with a "cheat-sheet" with her son on her back! We did some forms work on each day but
especially concentrated on forms on Saturday morning.
Family
Some nice shots of Tae Kwon Do families! Love those smiles!
Sparring
Here we see the sparring lines bow to each other and a white belt and Ms. Berner work
on three-step sparring. And purple and black belts sparring.
Testing
We had two students test to green belt -- one to low green and one to high green.
Here we see the yellow belt doing Tae Guk Sam Dan and we see them doing 1-step
and free sparring. Finally we see Mr. Kevin executing a flying side kick during
sparring for his 2nd Degree Black Belt test -- this picture is a link to the page
for the 2nd Degree black belt testing.
Pictures of 2nd Degree Testing for Mr. Bradford and Mr. Kevin
Breaking
On Saturday afternoon after testing we let everyone spread out and take a turn at
whacking at their own stack of boards! Check out Mr. Voight's stack of five boards
with an elbow!
Listen to martial arts story
On Saturday afternoon we listened to Master Kluzek read a story about a martial artist
named Yim WingChung. The story is a great one about overcoming bullies with skill and
cunning, as well as the meaning of love and family devotion.
Another thing we did was to give out prizes for each session, for the kid that did
an excellent job during that session. Mr. Kevin is shown here getting one of those --
a martial arts poster. We also have a yellow belt that got a T-shirt, and a purple
belt who (like everyone else) got a Certificate for participating in the seminar.
On Saturday night we also had a session on stretching and meditation where we read a
few stories from the martial arts as well.
Sandy receives Mr. David Curtis's Official 3rd Degree Black Belt Certificate
Here Sandy (Mr. David Curtis's wife) receives his official 3rd Degree black belt
certificate. This was emotional for her and everyone as we advanced Mr. Curtis to 3rd Dan
just before he passed away in January 2008, and this was the first time the official
certificate for David came out. See below where Grandmaster Kim very gently and tenderly
passes the certificate to Sandy. At the bottom we have a picture of Mr. Curtis and a link
to the memories of him -- including a full accounting of his advancement to 3rd Dan.
 Memories of 3rd Degree Black Belt Mr. David Curtis
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