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

Master Choon-Ok Harmon is the highest-ranking female martial artist in the World Kuk Sool Association and author of the memoir, The Iron Butterfly:  The True Story of a Mermaid’s Daughter.  Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul is thrilled to announce a special evening event with Master Harmon on Wednesday, September 28 at 7pm.  Master Harmon will be presenting stories and lessons from her life at St. Catherine University’s Jeanne d’Arc Auditorium.  The event will also include Korean dance and drumming demonstrations by Mu Gung Hwa Dance Academy and the demonstration team of Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul.  Tickets are $5 each — please call 612-578-5797 for more information.

Everyone is invited and welcome to join us for our annual Open House on Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 12:00pm to 3:00pm.  We will have games, mini-classes, and demonstrations by our Demo Team.  If you’re a student, bring a friend and come and enjoy the show.  Curious about martial arts in the Twin Cities?  Feel free to come by and see what we do.

Know your Super Seminar schedule!

• Tuesday, June 15 is testing for all Black Belt candidates.  No regular classes.  Testers must be at the school and warming up by 4:30pm for a 5-8pm test.
• Wednesday, June 16 is our Super Seminar (no regular classes).  We’ll be at the Groveland Recreation Center and all participants should arrive at 4:30pm.  The Seminar and promotion ceremony will end promptly at 8pm.  Parents are welcome to watch from the sidelines!

Congratulations to our students who competed at the 2010 Midwest Tournament in St. Louis, MO!  Everyone did extraordinarily well, and we are very, very proud of you all:  Brian Berg (white belt, 40+), one gold medal, one bronze medal; Andrew Wyman (brown belt adult), one gold medal, two silver medals, and one bronze medal; Will Schuerger (Dahn Bo Nim adult), three silver medals and one bronze medal; Nicki Jones (First Dahn adult women) three gold medals, two silver medals, one bronze medal, and the Grand Champion winner in her division.   Also, we congratulate Mel Martin Jo Kyo Nim and Will Schuerger Dahn Bo Nim on excellent black belt testing!

Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul is thrilled to be hosting Kuk Sa Nim and the high-ranking Masters who will accompany him to teach our fourth Super Seminar.  Eligible Black Belts and Dahn Bo Nims will be testing on Tuesday, June 15, and the Super Seminar will be held on Wednesday, June 16.  Specific times will be announced soon, but these events will be replacing normally scheduled evening classes.  Every student is invited to attend the Super Seminar, regardless of rank; in fact, attendance is considered mandatory with only death or dismemberment counting as acceptable excuses!  Clear your calendars now.

Thanks to all competitors, judges, and families who came on Saturday for our annual Kuk Sool Olympics.  This school-wide competition is always a lot of fun for everyone, and we’ll begin posting class scores today — how well did your class do in competition?  (Hint:  the more students from a class who attended, the higher the scores!)Calendar note:  We will be closed this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 4-6.

Our third annual Kuk Sool Olympics (the event formally known as “In-School Tournament”) is coming up.  Students, please turn in your registration forms and fees as soon as possible.  Parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors — you’re all invited to come and see our students, youngest to oldest, beginners to experienced, enjoy a day of friendly competition, great community, and outstanding martial arts.  Please join us Saturday, February 27 from 11 AM to about 5 PM.

Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul is hosting its annual Open House this Saturday, September 26 from 11am to 3pm.  We’ll be offering free mini-classes, playing games, and showing off some of the best martial arts in the Twin Cities.  Come meet our instructors and current students, try out some new moves, and get your questions answered about our school and the martial arts system of Kuk Sool Won.

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. 

Have you noticed a young woman in classes taking pictures recently?  Julia has been visiting Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul taking pictures for the University Avenue Project.  Photographer Wing Young Huie, in collaboration with Public Art St. Paul and with funding from the Joyce Foundation, is creating a six-mile gallery of 360 photographs in 2010 along University Ave.  The photographs, including those taken at our dojang of our students and facility, will be projected on store windows and building surfaces along University Ave. at night, and large photographs will be displayed on building and windows that can be seen by day. 

If you’re curious about the project, check out Wing Young Huie’s website at http://www.wingyounghuie.com/.  Or check out a Minnesota Public Radio article on the project here.