Getting Smaller

 

Getting Smaller

No, I wish I could say this blog is about my waistline or the number my bathroom scale reads. Although with my marathon training - even as sporadic as it is - those two numbers are coming down.

Seriously, though, this post is about the world. Last summer, I wrote about my family’s trip to Montauk and how we met a mother, her friend and their kids and how the mother and her son live in New Jersey. They live in a town not too far away from where we are. It struck me, then, as funny and odd in a “what a coincidence!” sort of way. Even before then, however, I’d already started to believe that there aren’t any true coincidences. Every event and meeting however seemingly insignificant at the time will have some sort of meaning and merit later on. Experience has led me to believe this.

Well, today, another one of those faux coincidences happened again. I don’t know the significance of it - yet - but it also reinforced how small the world really is - or has become - and how much smaller it is still becoming. With the internet and all sorts of social media, especially Twitter, the world has shrunk. We connect with people instantly and through avenues like Twitter it’s even easier to meet ‘strangers.’ I put strangers in quotes because sometimes people aren’t really complete strangers anymore.

I’m on Twitter - I think the proper phrase is ‘I have a Twitter’ -  and I’m there to promote myself as a writer and to hopefully generate some buzz about my work and writing endeavours. If you’re not familiar with Twitter, a person sets up an account, has some kind of username, follows other Tweeters (aka Twitterers) and is followed by other members of the Twitterverse as well. In my case, many are other writers and readers and we read, attend and follow many of the same books, blogs and conferences. Often, as an event draws near, we tweet about our excitement, what workshops we’re going to attend and things like that. Sometimes, people arrange to meet and those virtual friends become in-person friends. And they address each other by their Twitter handles, which makes it all one big game. So, in this regard, the world has truly gotten smaller.

With social media and the internet, we can see easily how things have gotten closer. At 43, I feel that I’m in that in-between generation; the one that manages to exist on both sides of the internet age and the smart phone revolution. I wouldn’t think, then, that meeting someone for the first time in-person would make things so small. But, then again, what do I know? I met my neighbour’s ex-wife today to find out that she grew up in the town where I teach and knows many of the people I know from where I did my senior year of high school (Seton Hall Prep) and where I work. I know a couple of the teachers she’d had and some of her classmates who ended up teaching in the district they attended. To make things more intimate, more meaningful, one of those classmates who is now a teacher is one of my best friends.

This kind of thing is probably something that’s happened to you many times. I’ve met people before who’ve known people I know but I was introduced to them by a mutual friend or at an event or occupation that we all have in common. With my neighbour’s ex, however, there wasn’t any kind of obvious connection potential.

Perhaps, only now, I’ve started to open my eyes and observe the world more clearly; observe the world at all. Maybe it’s always been this way. Then again, maybe it hasn’t. Either way, it makes for good writing material and it seems to be bringing people together. What do you think?

Beating Writer's Block Through Adaptation

Just like many other writers, I suffer from the occasional bout with writer's block and low motivation to sit in front of my laptop screen and crunch out words. In my years of writing, I know that I just need to put words down, that they'll be more junk than literature as a first draft, and that I'll be editing and making revisions until the prose is right. I've no problem with that. Some days, though, it's just harder than others to get it done.

When I started taking writing seriously, I focused on screenplays. Just like with my novel writing, I attended workshops and classes, got feedback and rewrote. One of my screenplays, Aliens Among Us, Part I: Discovery, even garnered agent interest (I think from CAA. I've moved thrice since then and the correspondence between us is something I've not looked at in years and it's all in a box in my basement) and reached the quarterfinal round of the 1996 Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. During those years of screenwriting in the 1990s, I'd written three other scripts - Hong Kong Boy, Jenny and Holy Communion and during the sessions of tapping on keys (Jenny was written on a typewriter) I'd spent many collective hours staring at the brown wall behind the IBM Selectric and at the lonely white screen of my Mac. And, this is even with a plot outline! Some days the muse just isn't there.

Today, as I focus on writing my second novel, the muse has taken another vacation. I could be suffering from 'second book blues,' trying to sort out if I really have another story in me. I think I do. I've managed to complete four screenplays, after all, and I've managed to plot out the first in a YA fantasy series for my next book. I'm also trying to adapt my novel, Back Kicks And Broken Promises, into a screenplay. I am, however, also ridiculously busy (teaching, coaching, being a parent and husband and training for a marathon, among other things) and life, as many of my fellow writers who wear other hats will attest, does challenge one's writing goals. When I do get to sit down, the juices just aren't flowing right now. About fifteen years ago, when I'd get blocked, I'd give myself anywhere from 15-30 minutes to see if any words came out. If they did, I'd run with it; even if that meant hitting the backspace key as soon as I'd finish typing. If no words came out after the given time, I'd call it a day and go for a run or watch a movie. One time, when I happened to be working on more than one project, after the time was up, I closed the file in front of me and opened the other one. And the words flowed. Since then, I try to make sure I have more than one project at hand.

Unfortunately - and back then I was working on two screenplays (the same form of media) - switching projects isn't even working for me right now. I'm having a hard time with creating the draft. My novel, Sage Of Heaven, is plotted and loosely outlined (I'm not a big outliner and when I do I keep them very loose so I have room to adapt it as my characters lead me) but I'm stuck three chapters in; not in what I want to happen in the story but in how to express it, describe it, illustrate it. Heck, I'm more than stuck. I'm blank. I've started another novel - well, it's probably going to be a collection of related short stories - set in a Filipino-American community in New Jersey. Switching mindsets has helped the juices flow a little but I need a more aggressive jump start. Like I said, my difficulty right now is with creation, not with ideas.

So, what I've decided to do is adapt a work. Like I said earlier, I am working on an adaptation of Back Kicks And Broken Promises into a screenplay but I think and feel that I need to step back from it for a bit. I spent ten years working on it and it's a very pesonal story that, perhaps, someone else should write the screenplay. (Any takers? Haha!) Instead, what I'm doing is taking my screenplay Aliens Among Us, Part I: Discovery and turning it into a novel. Really, I'd love to turn it into a graphic novel but I'm not an artisit. I'm doing this, ultimately, as an exercise to get my mind back to a writer's mindset - a novelist's mindset - but if I like what it turns into I may pitch it. Who knows, right? Or, I may self-publish it directly as an ebook through something like Createspace. At least I have a fleshed out story that's more than an outline so it's not creation. It's...adaptation.

Either way, I hope the exercise can get me back to writing; writing with a purpose. If it works, I'll have found my muse and she'll be from another planet at that! (I do believe in aliens but that's a story for another post).

Happy - and successful - writing to all!


 

A Word of Advice for the Next Generation

A Word of Advice for the Next Generation 

I don’t know. Is it just me or did the summer whiz by? Really, normally, I’m okay with that. If you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ll know that the autumn is my favourite season. The ease, for lack of a better word, of the summer though makes it special. By ‘ease’ I mean that I don’t have to plan lessons, there aren’t any meetings to attend or assignments to grade, and I don’t have to worry about always bringing my A-game when performing for my students. Teaching is performing, after all.

Well, it seems that this summer wasn’t that easy.

I worked, as I’ve done since 2002, for my school district’s maintenance department with male teachers from schools in my district.  Our dynamic is pretty mellow. As long as we get the jobs done, all is good. We joke a lot, usually taking jabs at each other, like we were a frat house or good old boys club. Don’t get me wrong. There is thinking to be done - planning how to tackle the jobs we’re assigned – but it’s not the same kind of thinking needed for creating assignments, getting the most out of students, analysing test scores, overcoming the achievement gap, etc. On some days, the most harrowing decision we make is where to have to lunch.

What made this summer less summer-like was how busy it was. Even before last school year ended, I began night practices for returning and incoming volleyball players. I continued this, switching to late afternoon sessions, in July for a total of seven and a half weeks. Every year, tryouts begin mid-August but in an attempt to make us more competitive and to continue on the improvements we made last year and to pick up the slack that’s been left from the seven girls who graduate I ran the free camp. It’s proven to have been worthwhile. The level of play that came into tryouts was much stronger than in past years. Now that tryouts are concluded and the teams (JV and varsity) are made and we’ve had some scrimmages, the summer is truly over and the school year has begun.

Since the start of last school year, I’ve also been on our Health and Physical Education curriculum writing team. Granted, I chose to be on it and I get paid for every hour I work, up to what the school board approves, but it’s still another thing I put on my plate. And, I spent time meeting with my department supervisor and my fellow team member as well as working on writing the curriculum at home and school during July and August.

I’m not looking for sympathy or anything like that. I chose to do all these things but there are prices to pay. I’m scheduled to run in this year’s New York City Marathon. I was following my schedule to the kilometre but suffered an injury setback and then the summer hit with its mad timetable. I had to be at work by 7am, end at 3pm. Then there was volleyball followed by picking my son up from day care and then the home things. Running? What’s that? I’d get and continue to get runs in when I can. I just hope that I can get back on some kind of schedule once the school year starts and that my experience having run three previous marathons (NYCM 1995 and 2005, Disney World 1999) will help me get through this year’s edition.

My writing has dramatically suffered too, which is the worst part of it all. The most consistent writing I’ve been able to do is this blog; a post once a week if I’m lucky but, really, less than that. I wanted to have a first draft of my novel, Sage of Heaven, completed by summer’s end but, alas, that’s not going to happen. My reading, too, is two put offs away from flat-lining.

And, then, there’s my Taekwondo training. That, like everything else, requires time and there is only so much of that to go around. I also don’t have a place to train. My classes have folded due to no new sign ups and no renewals so, while I’m keeping the school name alive, really, my attempts at running a Taekwondo endeavor and passing on my soon-to-be twenty-seven years of knowledge has failed again. I don’t even have a place to train my son so I’ll probably end up bringing him to one of the schools one of my friends owns. I’m going to be the only Taekwondo master I know of whose own son didn’t carry on the Taekwondo tradition directly from his father. At least my son will be able to train, however, and become a master in his own right.

So, what’s the point to all of this? There are two and I address this to teenagers who are starting out on new paths in their lives and to the not so young, twenty and even thirtysomethings, who have recently left the safety net of education or the security of an established but unfulfilling job, and are trying to make their own marks on this world. Here they are:

1.       Try everything when you’re young and be fearless about doing it. I’m talking about opportunities in arts, sports, industry, and academia and not in drugs, alcohol, other substances and promiscuity. Make yourself well rounded but also don’t be afraid to pick one or two things to make them your own; things that will shape who you are into who you want to become and things that you can, in turn, shape and help evolve into something better than it was when you started doing it. Don’t take “No” for an answer and be willing to prove people wrong when they say, “You can’t do that” or, worse still, “Why?”

2.       For the not so young, as you endeavour to make you mark, your fame and your fortune, don’t forget to be fearless and don’t forget that thing or two that shaped you and you helped shape. Anyone above, I would say thirty or thirty-five, will tell you that life isn’t always rosy and the plans you make don’t always fall into place. You’ll have to be flexible and maybe even change your plans for a bit. When those harder times come - and they will – you’ll need to turn to that thing you did when you were younger. It’ll ground you and, even for a little while, make you feel like the world is once again at your fingertips.

There’s an adage that says, “Youth is wasted on the young.” Looking back on my life and recalling conversations I’ve had with friends around my age, I have to admit there is some truth to that. I hope this post can help young people take a minute and think about who they are, who they want to be, what they want to do, where they want to be, what they need to do to get there, and why they want it. Young people don't often have enough knowledge or experience to know the Whats and Whys but today's young people are smarter and experience more at younger ages than my friends and I did at the same age. Most people will say they just want to be happy. Happiness is easy to achieve. It’s fleeting, after all. Contentment and satisfaction are really what one should pursue. At forty-three, I’ve not (yet) found them. I hope to, someday. I hope you do, too.

 

When Seasons Are Characters

 

-->

When Seasons Are Characters

A week or so ago, here in New Jersey, after a stretch of hot and humid days and warm rain, we had a couple of cooler days with no humidity, high temperatures in just the mid 70s Fahrenheit (about 20 Celsius) and nighttime lows at around 58F (9C). Really, it felt like fall, my favourite season, and it put me in such a good mood. I almost felt like it, the fall, was talking to me; telling me that the stress of the summer (I thought summers were supposed to be easy street for teachers) with its smaller pay cheques, chaotic (but enjoyable) trips to the beach, the crushing days of oppressive heat and humidity, etc were coming to a close and a new season, with its own set of challenges, is coming. I felt like an old friend, one I’d started to realise I was missing, had just rung me up and said she was coming for a visit and asked if I could put her up in the spare room or on the pullout sofa bed.

As people do nowadays with all sorts of social media - writers, especially - I posted on Facebook and Twitter how cool the weather was and how it offered a taste of autumn. One friend ‘liked’ my Facebook post. Two others commented. Both posted statements in an “Oh no!” sort of way stating that they didn’t want summer to go just yet. To one comment, I replied saying that I love the fall because out go the weeks of heat and humidity, in comes the cooler weather and the exciting feel of putting on that first sweatshirt, taking my son for pumpkin picking and pony rides, watching the leaves change colour and, of course, the lead up to the upcoming holiday season that begins in late autumn (Halloween) and runs into mid-winter (Valentine’s Day) with all of their sights, sounds and smells. I wouldn’t even mind a little snowfall either.

As I thought about this - and like I said, I felt like the hint of autumn was an old friend saying hello - I tried to create a list of books and movies in which the season the story is set plays a major role like it’s a character interacting with the protagonist and integral to the plot. Of course, in good stories the season or seasons have to be more than ornamental but, in many cases, once it’s established whether it’s spring or summer, winter or fall, there isn’t much to them. In a story, say, about a family going on Christmas holiday, there might be snow and a fireplace but they might just be there to establish that, yes, it is winter with the characters doing things that would be typically done in a winter holiday environment. Could that story - and I’m not thinking of any story in particular - be rewritten and be just as good if the family went on a summer beach resort instead?

Examples that popped into my head were The Body by Stephen King, Picnic by William Inge and Spike Lee’s film Do The Right Thing. For me, all of those stories couldn’t have been told in any other time of the year. Coincidentally, all of them are set in the summer but that, of course, doesn’t mean the summer is the best setting for novels and movies. That’s something to look at in another post. That all my examples are set in the summer is more likely an example of my laziness or my lack of exposure that I couldn’t immediately think of a book or movie I liked, that isn’t set in summer, whose seasonal setting made a major impact.

In The Body, which was adapted into the very successful and much loved movie Stand By Me in the mid-1980s, a group of four boys set out to find a missing body - presumed dead - of another boy. They tell their parents they’re going to camp out and, naturally, go through various adventures that betray inner fears, reveal new heroism and so on. It’s not just perfectly set for the summer because that is when they could camp out and go on an outdoor adventure. It’s perfectly set for the summer because that’s when kids are out of school and have all the time in the world to do whatever they want and that often comes with having the time for self-discovery whether brought about by looking for a missing boy, having a go at your best friend or something else.

In Picnic, it’s Labour Day and the town is gearing up for its annual town event - the picnic. There’s a stranger in town. Well, the stranger is Hal, an old college friend of Alan Seymour. Then, there are the Owens sisters - Madge and Millie. For those of you who haven’t read it or seen the film, I won’t give anything away. However, I’m sure you can imagine that there’s drama surrounding the ‘stranger’ and the two girls. Again, the season, which also happens to be summer - plays a major role. I don’t think the play would’ve worked if it were set around, say, a New Year’s Eve party; at least not in today’s world. Today, Christmas and New Year are such passing holidays. As much as people enjoy and love them, there’s almost a sense of relief when they’re done and over with. The summer, however, is something that people want to linger on. This is especially true of young people and young people who are unattached and have waited all summer for something big to happen. In the United States there’s the added pressure, if you will, of Labour Day, the social end of the summer season. So, it’s a perfect blend at this end of season town picnic that everything comes to a head for Hal and Madge.

Finally, there’s Do The Right Thing, set in a balmy New York. Spike Lee’s movie is set in Brooklyn - the beautiful ethnic blend that it is - and pits characters responding to their environment, physical and socioeconomic, in the midst of a heat wave. If a summer heat wave, with no breeze, rising temperatures and overwhelming humidity is not a perfect metaphor for uncomfortable neighbourhood tensions then I must’ve been watching a different movie. Like King’s novella and Inge’s play, summer is the only season that could’ve worked with Do The Right Thing. The spring and fall are too neutral. There are cool days, there are warmer days, there are humid days but these two seasons are too varied to serve as a viable parallel storyline. The winter, too, doesn’t work because even though there are ridiculously frigid days in New York people don’t complain about cold like they do heat and humidity. The characters in Do The Right Thing could simply bundle up and feel instant warmth. There’s only so much clothing one can remove to cool down.

So, what stories do you love that have as an unnamed character the season in which it is set? Do share. I’d love to know. And, please, for my own enlightenment, let me know of those that are set in the other three seasons. The super literary agent Donald Maass said in a conference I attended that the writer has to be detailed when writing Setting. It puts the reader into the book and gives it life. Setting, though, isn’t just the description of the landscape and physical surroundings, the sounds and smells. It’s also the unseen, but definitely, felt nuances of season.

Pumped Up For Poomsae

Pumped Up For Poomsae

In 1994, I sent an article to Taekwondo Times Magazine, Black Belt and other martial arts periodicals. In the piece, which no one picked up and published, unfortunately, I wrote about Taekwondo Poomsae (Forms) competition and wondered why there weren’t major tournaments. Sure, it was, and still is, a part of state championships and the national event but it was just another division that didn’t get its due. Sparring, of course, was the marquee event. Back then, there wasn’t a WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) Poomsae World Championship. The most, at least here in the United States, that was available were poomsae divisions at Taekwondo and open martial arts competitions. In fact, that’s still pretty much how it is but, at strictly Taekwondo events, the poomsae events are better organised and formalized so there is less subjectivity in the scoring process. This is a good thing. Even at full championships, poomsae is given more respect and gets its own day(s) for competitors to showcase their skills.

In the article, I suggested that there should be some kind of World Championship and, perhaps, poomsae competition would get into The Olympic Games as well. (Remember, I wrote the article in the early 1990s. The WTF finally ran the its first Poomsae World Championship in 2006.) Taekwondo had already been added to The Olympics, in 1988, as a demonstration sport, and became a full-fledged medal sport in 2000. It’s been a mainstay of The Olympic Games since. Having recently watched an exciting and scandal-filled women’s figure skating competition from the 1994 Winter Olympics, which inspired me, I wrote that major poomsae competition could follow the same format as Olympic Figure Skating - two rounds, with the athlete having to do a rank appropriate form for the first mandatory round and a second creative round. In the second round, each athlete would be given a theme ahead of the competition and they’d have to prepare a form that presents that theme. Taekwondo is a martial art, after all, and by definition an art is a creative pursuit.

Today, if you’re a Taekwondoist looking to compete in the WTF World Championships and WTF-recognized national championships, including related Taekwondo events run by WTF-member national governing bodies (NGBs), there is a formalized way the poomsae have to be done with an approved and accepted scoring system. There are age and rank (belt colour) divisions too. The problem with the current state of the poomsae competition lies with the black belt divisions and this is what this blog post is about.

Before I go on, in case anyone thinks I’m merely a disgruntled competitor and someone crying over spilt milk, I AM a black belt. I have sixth dan certification from my NGB, USA Taekwondo (USAT), and I am awaiting my fifth dan certification from the Kukkiwon, the global headquarters of Taekwondo. (I’ll be writing a blog post about dan certification at a later date). I have been a black belt since 1989 and I’ve also studied HapKiDo, Shotokan Karate, Koeikan Karate and Judo. I began my Taekwondo training in October 1985 and my martial arts training in June of the same year when I was studying Shotokan at the South China Athletic Association in Hong Kong. I have my own, albeit small dojang in Maplewood, New Jersey, and I used to run a school in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. I’m also the 2011 and 2012 First Masters Poomsae Division state champion for New Jersey and I finished in the top ten at the 2011 national championships. I also have a Master’s Degree in Coaching and Sports Administration and I am a certified Associate Coach with USAT. I don’t list all of this to show off. There are many Taekwondo black belts with far more impressive credentials. I list all of this so you, the reader, can trust that I have been around and have enough experience to make the suggestions and claims I am going to state below.

So, back to the problems with the black belt poomsae division. First, there is the lack of competitors. In the last two years, the number of entrants in the various poomsae divisions for black belts (1^st Seniors to 3^rd Masters) isn’t as large as I thought and hoped it would be. Why? Here are my guesses. Perhaps, it’s money. Entry fees are larger than they’ve ever been and travel costs (airfare, gas, train, bus, food, hotel) add up and aren’t going cheap either. This aside, I think the lack of entries has to do with the lack of promotion poomsae gets as its own entity and, from a competitor’s viewpoint, perhaps there is also a sense of not having a shot at winning a podium place, to borrow Olympic lingo. Here’s how I think this might be happening: Even though there are codified rules for how each poomsae should be done and there is a specific list of deductions each mistake is worth, poomsae competition is a ‘judging’ event and, on some level, it is still subjective. The judges do go through training and are rotated to keep them fresh and from making errors due to fatigue and what have you. The judges, though, are human and, as a result of that, they will tend to favour returning champions and/or known competitors. This isn’t unique to Taekwondo. Look at team sports. As a sports fan, I can say that it’s pretty evident that the home team gets more favorable calls than the away team and that stars, like Michael Jordan, get more calls their way than the opposing standout rookie who became a pro right out of high school.

In the current format of black belt Taekwondo poomsae competition, the divisions are broken down by age - 1^st Seniors (19-30), 2^nd Seniors (31-40), 1^st Masters (41-50), 2^nd Masters (51-60), 3^rd Masters (60+). There are separate groups for men and women and different age breakdowns for team poomsae events but this blog will focus mostly on individual contests; although the ideas I present can apply also to the team events.

The problem lies within each division. First degree black belts are competing against ninth degree black belts. Using my division, 1^st Masters, as an example, each competitor has to know from Taegeuk 8 (pre-black belt poomsae) to Chonkwon (7^th dan poomsae) regardless of his own rank. This has negative connotations from both ends of the rank spectrum. The first dan competitor has to learn six new forms he hasn’t even been taught in his regular class. Meanwhile, the seventh dan competitor has had years of training, perfecting each one. Akin to having to cram for a test, the first dan may just choose not to compete, reducing the number of poomsae competitors entering championships. Or, he may learn all the forms without really getting them perfected and perform poorly at game time. On the other end of the rank spectrum, the slightly older competitor may have suffered more from the ravages of time and age and may have lost some of his snap and flexibility. Is it truly within the tenets of Taekwondo - courtesy, respect, integrity, discipline, indomitable spirit - for a first dan to show up a seventh dan, for example? I don’t think so.

The second problem with the current format is that it adds credence to the line offered by many martial artists of other styles - “that Taekwondo is a sport and NOT a martial art.” Simply, they’re wrong. Sorry. Many martial arts have competitions and those competitions have rules that make them a sport under the conditions set forth by those rules. The rules prohibit use from killing each other and restrict the kinds of blows we can give each other. However, on the street in a self-defense situation, there are a host of other techniques we’d use and targets we’d hit to protect ourselves. In class, we train with elbows and knees. They appear in our poomsae yet we don’t use them in the ring. So, to those naysayers that Taekwondo is NOT a martial art, I say it is both sport and martial art. There are two sides to the coin that is Taekwondo.

With the current poomsae format, as was stated earlier, there are first dans learning seventh dan poomsae so that he can compete. He may be able to do the techniques but is he truly grasping the meaning of the form? Taekwondo poomsae are assigned to each rank based on understanding the principle behind the form and its meaning, the development of the skill - which takes time - of the black belt and the character that has been forged through the years of training. By having a first dan ‘master’ high forms basically negates the rank system; at least in terms of poomsae. This being the case, why then should each dan have a specific form? Sport Taekwondo and Martial Arts Taekwondo are different but they’re from the same root; two branches of the same tree. To negate the meaning of each rank’s poomsae cuts the tree in half and a tree that is cut in half dies, neither half able to sustain itself or the other side.

So, how do we, the Taekwondo community, masters and NGBs fix these problems? Get more poomsae competitors entering championships and maintain the integrity of Martial Arts Taekwondo within Sport Taekwondo, Run dan specific black belt poomsae competition. Perhaps, run all events as dan specific, even sparring.

The format would essentially be the same as it is now with age breakdowns and a set of four ‘first compulsory poomsae’ and a set of four ‘second compulsory poomsae.’ The difference would be the poomsae in each set. First dans would have Taegeuk 3-6 in the first set and Taeguek 7 and 8 as well as Koryo and Keumgang in the second. Koryo is the first dan poomsae and Keumgang is the second dan form; the one the first dan would be learning on his road towards becoming a second dan. The sixth dan division, for instance, would have Taegeuk 8, Koryo, Keumgang and Taebaek (first set) and Pyongwon, Sipjin, Jitae and Chonkwon (second set).  Basically, it’s the new form the black belt is learning towards earning his next rank and the seven before it.

This format may make the overall event longer but to that I say, “Who cares?” Attending a Taekwondo event - an event of any kind - is celebration of that thing, whether it’s a sport, martial art, both, dance, painting, etc. Big events also don’t happen often (once a year likely the most frequent occurrence) so who cares if they’re a little longer than what we’re used to. Eventually, we’ll get used to the longer tournaments and still want more. The format I propose helps reinforce that Taekwondo is both martial art and martial sport. It would also get more people entered. There wouldn’t just be a 1^st Masters Division first to fourth places to win. There’d be first to fourth place 1^st Masters 1^st Dan Division, first to fourth place 1^st Masters 2^nd Dan Division and so on.

With regard to my finish at last year’s Nationals, I came tenth out of eleven entrants. That is in the top ten and I was there to compete. I did show up. Ha ha! Seriously, though, this illustrates how few people enter some of these major tournaments. If everyone who’d qualified had entered, maybe I’d have finished in a lower place but with more competitors Taekwondo is better represented. If everyone who qualifies enters these major events AND there are separate divisions for each specific black belt dan, Taekwondo can be better represented even more. It’ll be better represented in terms of a rise in the sheer number of Taekwondo athletes but it will also be better represented in the quality of the Taekwondo at these major events. With more state champions, for instance, competing at the national event and accepting that the state champions are the best from their states, at least for that event or that year, then the national event will truly crown the best of the best. To help accommodate all of the changes I think would be good for my martial art and sport, the NGB has to help its state affiliates with finding the resources to guarantee that the state champions can and will get to the national event.

I love Taekwondo. I love poomsae. I’ve always preferred it to the other aspects of my chosen martial art. Let’s honour both, Taekwondo and forms, and let’s honour them the right way.

Pumped Up For Poomsae (Korean version)

(Google Translator was used to convert the English language file. I apologise for any errors.)

Poomsae에 펌핑

1994 년, 나는 태권도 타임즈 매거진, 블랙 벨트 및 기타 무술 잡지에 기사를 보냈습니다. 아무도 체포하지 않고 출판 조각에서는, 불행히도 전 태권도 Poomsae (양식) 경쟁에 대해 쓴 주요 토너먼트가 나타나지 않았던 이유를 궁금해. 물론, 그것이 있었고, 여전히, 주 대회 챔피언의 일부와 국가 행사지만 그 때문에가 아니라 또 다른 분열했습니다. 스파링은 물론, 연회실 행사 였지. 그때 무슨일 (세계 태권도 연맹) Poomsae 월드 챔피언십이 아니었어요. 가능한 것은, 미국에서 적어도 여기, 대부분은 태권도와 열린 무술 대회에서 poomsae 분열했다. 사실, 그건 아직도 그것이 얼마나 거의 없지만 채점 과정에서 적게 모셔가되므로 엄격히 태권도 행사에서 poomsae 이벤트가 더 나은 조직 및 공식화된다. 이것은 좋은 일이있다. 심지어 전체 선수권에서 poomsae 더 존경을 부여하고 경쟁을위한 자체 일 (들)이 자신의 기술을 홍보하게된다.

글에서, 난 거기에 세계 선수권 일종되어야하며, 아마도, poomsae 경쟁은 물론 올림픽 게임에 들어갈 것이라고 제안했다. 태권도가 이미 같은 시범 경기, 1988 년, 올림픽에 추가했다 (기억, 나는. 무슨일이 마침내 2006 년 첫 Poomsae 세계 선수권 대회 조사 했어요. 1990 년대 초반에 기사를 썼다), 그리고 본격적인 메달되었다 2000 년 스포츠. 그것은 이후 올림픽의 의지있었습니다. 계급을 수행하는 데 선수와 함께 두 라운드 - 최근 나에게 영감을 얻어 1994 년 동계 올림픽에서 흥미롭고 추문 가득한 여성 피겨 스케이팅 대회를 지켜봤을 때, 난 그 주요 poomsae 대회가 올림픽 피겨 스케이팅과 같은 형식을 따릅니다 수 썼습니다 첫 번째 필수 돌고 두 번째 창조적인 원형에 적합한 형식입니다. 두 번째 라운드에서는 각 선수는 앞서 ​​경쟁의 테마를 받게 될 것입니다 그리고 그들은 그 주제를 제시 양식을 준비해야 할 것입니다. 태권도는 결국 무술이며, 정의에 의해 예술은 창조적인 추구이다.

당신은 무슨일 세계 선수권 대회와 무슨일 인의 국가 총독기구 (NGBs)에서 운영하는 관련 태권도 행사를 포함하여 무슨일 인정한 전국 선수권 대회에서 경쟁 찾고 Taekwondoist면 오늘날, poomsae 짓을해야 공식화 방법이 승인 및 승인 채점 시스템. 나이와 순위 (벨트 컬러) 부문도있다. poomsae 경쟁의 현재 상태와 문제는 블랙 벨트 사업부와 동침하고는이 블로그 포스트에 대해 무엇입니다.

제가 계속하기 전에, 경우에 누구 내가 단지 불만에 찬 경쟁이고 흘리며 지나간 일은 후회 사람이, 나는 검은 벨트 오전 생각 해요. 내 NGB에서 여섯째 단 인증을 가지고, 미국 (USAT) 태권도, 나는 Kukkiwon의 태권도. 글로벌 본부 (저는 나중에 댄 인증에 대한 블로그 게시물을 작성됩니다)에서 다섯 번째 단 인증을 기다리고 있어요 . 나는 1989 년부터 블랙 벨트 있었 게다가 합기도, Shotokan 가라테, Koeikan 가라데와 유도를 공부했습니다. 저는 10 월 1985 년 내 태권도 훈련을 시작했고 나는 홍콩에서 중국 남부 체육 협회에서 Shotokan을 공부했다 같은 해 6 월 제 무술 훈련입니다. 나는 Maplewood, 뉴저지의 작은 dojang이라도 나만의을 가지고, 나는 Pompton 플레인, 뉴저지의 한 학교를 실행하는 데 사용됩니다. 나는 또한 2011과 뉴저지를위한 2012 최초의 석사 Poomsae 사업부 상태 챔피언이고 나는 2011 전국 선수권 대회에서 톱 10에 마쳤다. 또 코칭과 스포츠 행정에서 석사 학위를 소지하고 나는 USAT와 공인 부교수 감독이다. 나는 잘난척이 모두 나열하지 않습니다. 훨씬 더 인상적인 자격 증명을 가진 많은 태권도 블랙 벨트가 있습니다. 너, 독자, 나는 주변에 있었 정도로 제가 아래에 명시해야하지 제안과 요구를 만들기 위해 경험했다고 믿을 수 있도록이 모두 나열합니다.

자, 뒤로 검은 벨트 poomsae 부문의 문제점합니다. 첫째, 경쟁의 부족이 있습니다. 내가 생각하고 될 기대로 지난 2 년 동안, 블랙 벨트 (3 ^{회 마스터스} 1 ^{일 선배님들)에} 대한 다양한 poomsae 부문에서 참가자의 숫자는 크게 없습니다. 이유는 무엇입니까? 여기 제 추측입니다. 아마도, 그건 돈이에요. 등록 수수료는 그들이 행복했던 적은보다 크고 여행 경비 (항공료, 가스, 철도, 버스, 식품, 호텔) 명까지 추가할 수 있으며 하나 저렴하지 않을 수 있습니다. 이것은 제쳐두고, 내가 항목의 부족 홍보 부족 poomsae은 경쟁의 관점에서 자체 실체로 기생하는 일과 할 것 같아요, 아마도 올림픽을 빌려도 연단 장소에서 우승의 기회를 가질 수 없게 감각이 있습니다 링고. 여기 내가 이런 일이 생기 수 있다고 생각하는 방법은 다음과 같습니다 각 poomsae이 완료되는 방식에 대한 규칙을 거기에 codified되며 각 실수 가치가 공제의 특정 목록이있다하더라도, poomsae 경쟁은 어떤 수준에서, '판단'이벤트이며, 여전히 주관적인 것입니다. 심사 위원들은 교육을 통해가는 거죠 그들을 최신 상태로 유지하려면 회전하고 오류를 만드는 인해 피로하고 무슨 있습니다. 판사는하지만 인간이며, 그 결과로, 그들은 반환 챔피언 및 / 또는 알려진 경쟁사를 선호하는 경향이 있습니다. 이것은 태권도 특유되지 않습니다. 팀 스포츠 봐. 스포츠 팬으로서, 나는 그것이 홈팀이 선발대 그 별을보다 더 유리한 통화를 얻을 것이 거의 분명하다는 말을 할 수, 마이클 조던처럼 최고의 프로 바로 된 상대편 뛰어난 신인보다 통화 그들의 방법을 얻을 학교.

블랙 벨트 태권도 poomsae 경쟁의 현재 형식에서 부서는 나이별로 세분화되어 - 1 ^번째 시니어 (19-30), 2 ^차 노인 (31-40), 1 ^번째 석사 (41-50), 2 ^{차 마스터를} ( 51-60), 3 ^{차 마스터} (60 +). 팀 poomsae 행사지만,이 블로그는 개인적인 콘테스트에 주로 초점을위한 남성과 여성 서로 다른 연령 공포 '증세에 대해 별도의 그룹이있다, 제가 제시하는 아이디어가 팀의 이벤트에도 적용할 수 있지만.

문제는 각 부문 내에서 자리잡고 있습니다. 먼저 학위 블랙 벨트이 9 정도의 블랙 벨트 경쟁하게됩니다. 예를 들어 내 분열, 1 ^{일 마스터를} 사용하여 각 경쟁자는 (7 ^일 Taegeuk 8 조 (사전 블랙 벨트 poomsae)에서 Chonkwon로 알고 있습니다 단 에 관계없이 자신의 계급) poomsae. 이것은 계급 스펙트럼의 양쪽에서 어느정도 부정적인 뜻이 있다고. 첫 번째 단 경쟁자에게 그가 그 자신의 정규 수업 시간에 배운되지 않은 여섯 양식을 배우고있다. 한편, 일곱째 댄 경쟁자는 각 하나를 완성, 교육 수년 있었다. 시험에 벼락 공부를 갖는 유사, 첫번째 댄 단지 선수권을 입력 poomsae 경쟁 업체의 수를 줄이고, 경쟁하지 않기로 선택할 수 있습니다. 아니면, 정말 그들을 완벽하게받지 않고 모든 형태를 배우고 게임 시간에 제대로 실행됩니다. 계급 스펙트럼의 다른 쪽 끝을에서 약간 오래된 경쟁 업체는 시간과 시대의 맹위로부터 더 고생했을 수와 그의 스냅과 유연성의 일부를 잃었을 수도 있습니다. 예의, 존중, 성실, 규율, 불굴의 정신 - - 예를 들어 칠분의 일 댄을 표시하기위한 첫 단에 대한 그것은 태권도의 신조 내에 진정인가요? 난 그렇게 생각하지 않습니다.

"그 태권도는 스포츠가 아닌 무술이다."간단히 말하자면 그들이 틀렸다 - 현재의 형식과 두 번째 문제는 그것이 다른 스타일의 많은 무술 예술가에 의해 제공되는 라인에 신빙성을 추가합니다. 미안 해요. 많은 무술은 대회가 있고 그 대회들이 그 규칙에 의해 규정된 조건 하에서 스포츠 만들 규칙이 있습니다. 규칙은 서로를 죽이는에서 사용하는 것을 금지하고 우리가 서로를 줄 수 불면의 종류를 제한할 수 있습니다. 그러나 정당 방위 상황에서 거리에, 우리가 사용하는 거라 다른 기술의 호스트이며 우리 스스로를 보호하기 위해 친 거라고 대상으로하고 있습니다. 수업에서 우리는 팔꿈치와 무릎을 함께 훈련. 그들은 우리의 poomsae에 나타 아직 우리는 반지에서 그들을 사용하지 마십시오. 그래서, 그 더 없어들에게 태권도는 무술이 아니라고, 난 그것이 스포츠와 무술을 모두 말한다. 태권도는 동전 양면이있다.

현재 poomsae 형식으로 앞에서 언급한 때, 일곱째 댄을 배우는 첫번째 dans가 없습니다 그가 경쟁할 수 있도록 poomsae. 그는 기술을 할 수 있습니다하지만 진정으로 양식의 의미를 쥐고있다? 시간이 소요되는 - - 블랙 벨트 훈련의 세월을 통해 위조되고 문자의 태권도 poomsae은 형태와 의미, 기술의 발전 뒤에 원리를 이해를 기반으로 각 계급에 할당됩니다. 함으로써 처음 단 '마스터'높은 형태는 기본적으로 계급 제도를 부정하게 되는거야, 적어도 poomsae 측면에서. 이 사건이되는 이유는 다음 각 단은 특정 양식을 가지고해야하는가? 태권도 스포츠 태권도와 무술은 다른 것이지만 그들은 같은 뿌리에서 나왔습니다, 같은 나무의 두 가지. 각 계급의 poomsae의 의미를 부정하는 것은 반으로 나무와 하프 금형에서 절단하지, 둘다 자체 또는 다른 측면을 유지할을 반 수 나무 지경.

그래, 어떻게, 태권도 커뮤니티, 석사 및 NGBs는 이러한 문제를 해결합니까? 더 poomsae 경쟁 선수권 대회를 입력 데리고 태권도 스포츠 이내 태권도 무술의 무결성을 유지 댄 특정 블랙 벨트 poomsae 경쟁을 실행합니다. 아마도, 심지어 스파링, 단 특정 등 모든 이벤트를 실행합니다.

그것이 나이 고장 넷의 첫 번째 의무 poomsae ', 4 세트의 세트로 지금처럼 형식은 본질적으로 같은 것입니다'두번째 강제 poomsae. ' 차이는 각 세트의 poomsae 것입니다. 첫째 dans 두 번째로 첫 번째 집합과 Taeguek 7 Taegeuk 3-6 8뿐만 아니라 고려와 Keumgang을 얻을 수 있습니다. 고려가 첫 번째 단입니다 poomsae과 Keumgang 두 번째 단 양식이며, 하나는 최초의 댄은 두 번째 단되는 방향으로 자신의 길을 배우는 것이다. 여섯 번째 댄 부문 예를 들어, Taegeuk 8, 고려, Keum g 중앙 및 Taebaek (첫 세트)와 Pyongwon, Sipjin, Jitae 및 Chonkwon을 (두 번째 세트) 할 것이다. 기본적으로, 그것은 새로운 블랙 벨트가 그의 다음 순위를 적립 향해 배우는 양식 및 이전 일곱살 이라구요.

" 관심 누구?"이 형식은 전체 이벤트가 더 이상 만들 수 있지만 이런 말을하고 태권도 행사 참석 - 모든 종류의 이벤트를 - 그 일을 기념, 그것은 스포츠, 무술, 둘, 춤, 그림,이든 등 빅 이벤트가 또한 조금 더 우리가하던 것보다면 누가 관심 때문에 (가장 빈발 일년 가능성이 한번에) 자주 발생하지 않습니다. 결국, 우리는 더 이상 대회에 익숙해져 야해 여전히 더 원해. 제가 제안하는 형식 태권도는 무술과 무술 스포츠 모두는 것을 보강하는 데 도움이됩니다. 그것은 또한 더 많은 사람들이 입력받을 것이다. 승리 넷째 자리 먼저 제 ^1의 마스터스 부문 단지가 없었 겠죠. 1 ^일 석사 1 ^일 4 위를 먼저가있을 거라고 댄 부문 4 위 제 ^{1 마스터} 먼저 2 ^기 댄 사업부 등등.

지난해 내셔널에서 내 마감에 관해서는, 나는 11 참가자의 밖으로 열번째 왔어요. 그것은 10에 나는 경쟁있었습니다. 나는 나타나지 않았다. 하하! 하기도하지만, 이것은 몇 사람이 메이저 대회 중 일부를 입력하는 방법을 보여줍니다. 자격 을텐데 모두 입력했다면, 어쩌면 내가 낮은 곳에 완료 싶지만 더 많은 경쟁 상대와 태권도가 잘 표현됩니다. 자격을 모두가 이러한 주요 행사를 입력하고 각 특정 블랙 벨트 단에 대해 별도의 부서가있다면, 태권도는 더 더욱 표현할 수 있습니다. 그것은 더 나은 태권도 선수의 깎아지른 수가 증가 측면에서 표시됩니다하지만, 그것은 또한 더 나은 이러한 주요 행사에서 태권도의 품질로 표현됩니다. 더 많은 국가 챔피언으로 예를 들어, 국가 행사에서 경쟁하고 주 챔피언이 최소한 다음 해당 이벤트 또는 그 해, 국가 행사를 위해, 그들의 상태에서 최상의 것을 받아들이는 최고의 진정한 왕관 최선을 것입니다. 내가 무술 및 스포츠에 대한 좋은 생각이야 모든 변경을 수용하기 위해 NGB는 주 챔피언이와 국가 행사에 얻을 것이다을 보증하기 위해 자원을 찾는와의 상태 계열사 도와야만 해.

나는 태권도 사랑 해요. 나는 poomsae 사랑 해요. 난 항상 내 선택한 무술의 다른 측면에 좋아했었어요. 하자 명예, 태권도와 양식, 그리고 한번 붙어 보자 명예 그들 올바른 방법 모두.