World Martial Arts Newsletter: January 2005

From Sabumnim

Great teachers and great students both have many great qualities, but the greatest quality any teacher or student will possess, will always be LOVE; the ability to give it, accept it and generate it.

Do your best to harness and develop your greatest quality. Let your goodness and greatness shine through the new year!

With love and respect, Sabumnim

Upcoming News

Lockers are coming to the school. There will be some for sale, most for free daily use. For the small lockers (coming first), $40 for 6 months, $75 for the year. For the big lockers, $60 for 6 months, $100 for the year. Get them before they’re gone.

Look out for the revised Beginner’s DVD/video coming soon. There will also be a new Intermediate DVD/video with green and blue belt material.

For the first time at WMAC, there will be a music CD for sale. It will be a compilation of many beautiful and inspirational songs put together by Sabumnim for your listening and home training pleasure.

Sabumnim's Christmas Gift

Thank you to all the students who contributed to Sabumnim’s Christmas present. The two flags with the school logo are now hanging proudly in both schools.

2005

2005 begins with January’s White Belt Month, a return to basic techniques and to the humility and open mindedness of the beginner.

WMAC also starts in January to hum with excitement and energy as students ready themselves for School Wide Testing.The 3 tests (Jan 28th, Feb 11th and Feb 25th) will be the catalyst for growth in your martial arts training and in yourself. Enjoy the time and practice hard!

Friday Fight Nights

WMAC welcomed in December Friday night Fight Nights. Special seminars on sparring techniques as well as incredible conditioning got the students supercharged. Look for them to continue in 2005.

Student News

Angela Sanchez (1st dan), in addition to her pending child finished her graduate studies and is now a Registered Nurse and midwife. What a year for Angela!

Ilyana Kadushin (high blue) finished her first CD, “From the Beginning” and her blend of soulful, strong voice, great lyrics and beautiful music is a joy to hear. Purchase the CD from her website, www.lythionmusic.com.

Mary Duggan (high green) and Lynn Johnson (1st dan) completed their professional masseuse training. Mary and Lynn, you can practice on us anytime! :)

WMAC wishes luck and our best to our courageous men in the military, Jeff Maguire (1st dan) who is in Iraq and Jonathan Cupina (red), who is finishing up flight school.

WMAC also congratulates Shira Beery (1st dan) for her early admission acceptance to Stanford University. Starting in the children’s program at the tender age of 11, her maturity and fierceness at 17 is a paradigm of WMAC black belt spirit.

Brooklyn Kids Program

The ever growing Brooklyn Kid’s program expanded into 2 classes on Saturdays. The Little Tigers (ages 5-7) are at 2pm and the Young Dragons (ages 8-11) are at 3pm. During the week, Brooklyn has also added a young adult class (ages 11-17) happening M-F at 5:00pm.

More Events

Other events during the last few months of 2004:

Soke John Davis (one of Sabumnim’s and Kyosanim’s teachers) and a living martial arts legend came up to NYC to conduct one of his renowned seminars at the Brooklyn dojang.

Thanksgiving weekend’s field trip to the American Museum of Moving Image, organized by Kyosanim, had the students watch a little known yet excellent Korean film called Sword in the Moon.

WMAC also hosted a “Speakeasy”, which was a great opportunity for students to mix and meet other students as well as enjoying a night of dancing and entertainment.

Kyosanim's Birthday

December also saw the celebration of Kyosanim’s birthday. The students gave her the gift of a rare and beautiful plate. Kyosanim’s martial arts skill and dedication is a true inspiration to us all!

Hapkido Weekend

September’s Hapkido Weekend was a bit closer to home this time. That Friday night sparring session, Saturday morning meditation followed by an intensive weapons training session in the park was truly a fun and informative time. Keep your eye out for 2005’s Hapkido Weekends happening in the spring and fall!

Sensei's Birthday

Sensei’s surprise birthday party in October, thrown by the students saw him QUITE surprised by the exotic dancer (PG rating). He enjoyed it and the American Express gift cheque that the students got for him very much.

El Sartén

September’s El Sartén was a thrilling show filled with martial arts and comedy created by David Rodriguez (high blue). Along with David, Jonathan Waks (2nd dan), Betty Sze (2nd dan), Kat Chan (1st dan), Robert Davis (red), Abe Heisler (blue) and Robert Josh Young (orange) turned the production into a WMAC event! The participating students thank their fellow WMAC classmates for coming to the show and supporting them.

Silent Auction

August’s Silent Auction and fundraiser for the school was a huge success thanks to the students. The silent auction, with prizes like private training sessions with Sabumnim to cooking lessons to beautiful swords, was a huge hit especially as the auction neared the deadline and the bidding heated up. Look for the next exciting auction coming up in March where other great goods and services from the students will be offered.

Joshu's Birthday

Gabriela Van Battenberg (Joshu) also celebrated her 76th birthday in July. While we weren’t able to be there with her, we hope she had a wonderful one. 76 years young, Gabriela continues to inspire us everyday!

Sabumnim's Birthday

In July, we celebrated Sabumnim’s birthday with a lovely chair and an IPod which he’ll be using to mix even more exciting music for the classes. Thank you to the students who contributed to the gifts. During this time Sabumnim also traveled to LA to receive his 6th Dan ranking in Hapkido from the president of our federation, World Pro Hapkido, Grandmaster Yuen Bai Kim.

Black Belt Test 2004

Other notable events in the past year was 2004’s Black Black test. On May 22nd, Jennifer Cassetta, Jade Chen, Isabel Kirsch, Eric Meier, Jean Mui, Rachel Pagani, Eva Salden and Jonathan Thalasinos all attained the rank of 1st degree black belt (1st dan). In addition, Holly Kozak, Betty Sze, Steve Vaccarro, Jean Francois Vallee and Jonathan Waks received their 2nd degrees (2nd dan). Congratulations to the black belt class of 2004!

Year of the Monkey

Though 2004 was the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese calendar, at WMAC it turned out to be the Year of the Baby. Many students were blessed with their 1st or 2nd child. Jonathan Thalasinos (1st dan),Chris Perez (1st dan), Susan Ferrugio (high blue), Lucy Bekheet (high green) and Ron Haynes (high blue) all celebrated the births of their 1st child. Annie and James Bai (1st dans) welcomed Luke Bai in December. Back in October, James’ brother, Steve and his wife Jennifer (both former students of WMAC, now living out in California) also celebrated the birth of their baby boy. Angela Sanchez (1st dan) is expecting her first child in April as well as Joachim Marx (1st dan), Josh Blaker (1st dan) and Philip Martinez (high blue) who are both looking forward to their 2nd child in the upcoming months. At the rate we are going, there just might be a demand for a toddler class in a couple of years!

WORLD MARTIAL ARTS CENTER