Kuk Sool Won of St Paul | Twin Cities Martial Arts with Classes for Kids, Adults, Families, and Workouts

I took the opportunity this year of tagging along with Steffen PSBN on his annual trip to Houston for Instructor Training at the World Kuk Sool Headquarters.  Although I wasn’t able to participate in the official Training, there was still plenty to do and learn “from the sidelines” as Mel JKN has put it. 

The first thing I learned was that, despite our grumbling as his students, Steffen PSBN is NOT actually a testing maniac compared to other school owners.  In fact, the word from on high was this:  testing is good practice and we all need more practice.  At dinner with Master Jeff Green and Sa Bum Nim Ben Mitchell, we got the wonderful idea of giving practice tests to black stripe students who aren’t quite ready to test for Dahn Bo Nim.  I got to see our first two students take practice tests on Saturday, and, as an instructor, I’m convinced that they will significantly help.  As a mom, it was a little heartbreaking — one of the practice testers was my son, and his emotional unreadiness was obvious.  But by practicing, I know his readiness to test will improve.  Besides, we came home with testing plans that will be affecting all our black belt testers, and my turn will be coming.  It’s always only a matter of time before testing begins to affect you personally. 

I also had the pleasure of seeing Pu Sa Bum Nims and Sa Bum Nims testing.  It was awe-inspiring, as usual.  It also reinforced the practicing of odd-side forms at black belt.  Master Daniel Jolly emphasized this point during Houston testing in October — as black belts we must practice forms on both sides equally.  And Su Suhk Kwan Jahng Nim Harmon certainly reinforced it during this test. 

I got to meet a delightful group of women from the San Francisco Bay area who have trained under Sun Im Kwan Jahng Nim Suh for years.  These “California girls” are the students who took up the mantle of school owners when their head instructor moved.  None of them went into Kuk Sool with the plan of school ownership, but when the need arose, they jumped into the role.  We swapped ideas and stories, compared notes on training pre-schoolers, and had a great time.  I look forward to next year and the chance to reconnect with them. 

The one thing that I missed that I wish I had been able to witness was Master Daniel Jolly’s speech about loyalty.  There are some organizational changes going on in the big wide Kuk Sool family, and, as with any change, there are some grumbles, worries, and doubts.  Master Jolly spoke about his loyalty to Kuk Sa Nim and the loyalty that is returned to him in kind.  It occurred to me that, ultimately, we are all Kuk Sa Nim’s students.  I know how I feel about my students and the lengths I would go to for each one of them, and I trust the same is true of Kuk Sa Nim. 

It is the Holiday season and with the season comes gifts. So I thought I would give away some of my knowledge.

As you could probably figure out I am a Web Developer/Designer as well as a Kuk Sool Instructor. Since I give away my Kuk Sool knowledge why not give away some of my web knowledge?

So here is the gift:

Any Kuk Sool School Owner who emails me will receive:

• Free Website Critique and Advice
• Internet Marketing Advice
• Search Engine Optimization Tips
• and How to Better use the Dojang website for current students

All of these things will help your school grow and give you things you want as a student.

So if you are a school owner drop me an email at stpaulksw@gmail.com or if you are a student send your instructor the link for this post by emailing it to them or clicking on the “Email this Post to a Friend” link at the top of this post.

Happy Holidays!

* I will only accept email from Head Instructors. For security reasons. Sorry Assistant Instructors.

Where can you go Online to find other Kuk Soolers talking Kuk Sool? Well, obviously this blog is a good choice but there are numerous others around. Here is a list of some popular places we Kuk Soolers tend to Congregate:

There are are a couple different ways to join the Kuk Sool Facebook community. One is to join a group and one is to become a Fan. You will either have to login to Facebook or create an account to join.

To Join a group click this link to join Kuk Sool University (192 Members)

Yesterday Facebook also opened up the ability to make Fan pages. So I made one for the World Kuk Sool Association as well as for this school here in Minnesota. After you click on the links below, on the upper right of the group profile will be a tiny little text link that reads something like “add to my stores” or “add to my services” which are just fancy ways of saying “Make me a Fan.”

So if you are a Fan of the World Kuk Sool Association Click Here

If you are a Fan of Kuk Sool Won of St Paul Click Here

* You will have to log in or register to join these groups too. To create a Fan page for your school, click on the “Advertisers” Link on the bottom of Facebook, and the link to create one will be on the right side of the page

Flickr is also a great place to find some Kuk Sool Members posting photos. So if you take a lot of Kuk Sool photography, join up and share your photos.

Click here to visit the Flickr Kuk Sool Won Group

MySpace doesn’t seem to have a single group for Kuk Sool but if you search for “Kuk Sool” on MySpace a lot of videos and user stuff does come up. You can click here to visit MySpace

One of the most active Kuk Sool communities is the forum on Martial Arts Planet. A lot of Kuk Sool people meet here and discuss. You will have to register to put in your 2-cents but you can read all the posts and discussions without registering

Click Here to Visit the Kuk Sool Online Forum at Martial Arts Planet