The West Coast Hwa Rang Do® Academy had their 11th Year Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, June 25th, 2005.  Along with the Dojang’s birthday, they also celebrate Chief Master Taejoon Lee’s birthday, which also falls in the June.  It was a great celebration with good food and good people.  The family and friends of the Dojang were entertained and amazed with the all student Tae Soo Do®/ Hwa Rang Do® demonstrations.

The Little Dragons (children from 3 to 7 years old) started off the demo with some board breaking, which is always a crowd pleaser.  They charmed the audience with their loud Tae Soo Do® chanting entrance and board breaking with punching, front kicks, and even spinning kicks.  The Tae Soo Do® Juniors demonstrated a staff form and all the adult Tae Soo Do® students got to show off their forms, which were divided up into Beginners, Intermediates, and Advanced.  Many of them performed for the very first time, but did an awesome job as it is one of our most important goals – to overcome fear and not to allow it to control the self.  The Hwa Rang Do® Juniors started off the Hwa Rang Do® demonstration with some impressive Hoshinsul (or self-defense techniques), which were followed by one of the highlights of the show, the adult group performance of Hoshinsul.  They were really on fire this year. 

Then the senior Hwa Rang Do students amazed and wowed the crowd with some of the most dynamic, explosive, yet beautiful martial art performances ever to be seen.  It included demonstrations of Kyuktoogi (full-contact fight) by Mr. William Wright and Mr. Barzin Pakandam; beautiful fan techniques by no other than Jokyonim Olivia Vaatete and William Wright; always exciting aerial kick fighting (Teuksoo Joksul) by Mr. Matthew Kim and the newly Jokyonim Nicholas day; and the dynamic weapon fighting of spear v. staff performed by Jokyonim Vaatete, Matthew Kim, and Jokyonim Day.  This year a special knife defense performance by the newly initiated Black Sash Mr. Nicholas Day was one of the highlights of the night.

After the demonstrations, the Gotoogi Challenge winners – Matthew Kim and Jessica Baio were presented with their new Champion GTG Doboks.  Also, Chief Master Lee was presented his birthday gift from Dojoonim, which was a live bladed sword – you can’t ever have too many swords.  The students of the West Coast Academy all participated in presenting a new laptop computer as a birthday gift for Chief Master Lee.  May it help him to save some time from his work so that he can have some time to create his new family.

Afterwards, everyone enjoyed the wonderful potluck dinner and shared some wonderful times together as a family. 

Chief Master Taejoon Lee, Jokyo Olivia Vaatete, and the entire staff of the West Coast Hwa Rang Do® Academy would like to extend their gratitude and appreciation for the entire student body and their families’ dedication to the well-being of the Dojang.  Chief Master Lee would especially like to thank everyone who has participated in the purchase of his wonderful birthday gift.  He promises the laptop will be put to rigorous use, helping to create new and better works for Hwa Rang Do®.

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