USAT Florida Qualifier kicks off this Saturday

By Bill Kellick of the USAT

The first of five National Qualifiers will be held this weekend, April 4-5, at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Fla. Over 350 athletes, ranging in age from 6-60, are expected to compete in both forms (poomsae) and sparring disciplines. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. with competition starting at 9:00 a.m. on both days. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Adult (10-59) tickets are $10 for a single-day pass or $15 for a two-day pass. Children (6-9) and seniors (60+) are $7 for a single-day pass and $10 for a two-day pass. Kids 5 & under are admitted free of charge.

Other USAT National Qualifiers to be held in 2009 are in Buffalo, N.Y. (April 18-19), Austin, Texas (April 25-26), San Jose, Calif. (May 9-10) and Colorado Springs, Colo. (May 16-17).

The National Qualifiers are qualification events for those athletes interested in competing in the World Class division at the 2009 USA Junior Olympic Taekwondo Championships and the 2009 USAT National Taekwondo Championships. Each of the top four black belt athletes per sparring weight class in the male divisions and the top four black belt athletes in the female sparring divisions at each qualifier will qualify for the World Class sparring division at the USA Junior Olympic Taekwondo Championships and the USAT Senior National Championships (June 30-July 5 in Austin, Texas).

The gold medalists from the World Class division at the 2009 USA Junior Olympic Taekwondo Championships in Austin will qualify for the 2009 Junior National Team Trial/Fight-Off later this year.

For the poomsae (forms) competitors, the top four athletes/pairs/teams, per gender, in the 16 Competition Poomsae divisions at each National Qualifier advance to the 2009 U.S. National Poomsae Team Trials in Austin, Texas, June 30.

Top competitors in the Kissimmee National Qualifier include 2007 National Team member Dalia Avivi (Miami, Fla.); 2008 Junior National Team members Nicole Palma (Lake Worth, Fla.) and Evan Rodgers (Stone Mountain, Ga.); 2008 Junior World Team member Jacquelyn Lauricella (Port Orange, Fla.); 2008 Pan Am Championships Team members Alexis Martinez (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Paige McPherson (Miami, Fla.), Lauren Cahoon (Miami, Fla.) and Rudford Hamon (Miami, Fla.); 2008 national champion Jermaine James (Cape Coral, Fla.); 2008 U.S. Open gold medalists Manuel Suarez (Miami, Fla.) and Danielle Holmquist (Coral Springs, Fla.), silver medalist Hans Lapica (Miami, Fla.), and bronze medalists Seth Wolfe (Miami, Fla.) and Lyles Moore (Miami, Fla.); 2007 national champions Stephanie Beckel (Miami, Fla.) and Amie Szymanski (Miami, Fla.); 2006 Junior National Team member Daniel Cosmillo (Palm Bay, Fla.); and 2008 National Poomsae Team members Garth Cooley (Carmel, Ind.) and Aline Salzberg (Chatsworth, Calif.).

Gabriel Mitchell Promoted to High Blue Belt

Gabriel Mitchell was promoted to High Blue Belt on March 26th. He tested on Saturday March 21st, 2009 for the belt. Congratulations to everyone that tested.

Four More Color Belts Promoted at MuSool Academy

Four more students joined Tippy Pack-Brown, Daniel Bon-Fleur, Ashlyn Belcher, and Isabelle Kiester in receiving their next belts today. The testing was Saturday March, 21st promotions are done in class.

Aiden Charnock was promoted to Red Belt
Rachel Stearns received her High Blue Belt
A High Orange Belt was awarded to Austin Ferrier
Brian Bujaski received his High Yellow Belt

Congratulations to all the students that have been promoted.

Four Color Belts are Promoted at MuSool Academy

Several MuSool Color belts were promoted on March 23, 2009 after testing on March 21st. Not all students are promoted on the same day since the promotions are done in class and not all students show up to the same classes. Also, some of the higher belts still have essays to hand in. The students that were promoted were:

Tippy Pack-Brown – High Orange Belt
Daniel Bon-Fleur – High Orange Belt
Ashlyn Belcher – High Blue Belt
Isabelle Kiester – Red Belt

Please check back tomorrow to see more promotions.

Ten MuSool TaeKwonDo Students Test for Next Belt.

MuSool Academy held a color belt testing on Saturday March 21, 2009. Ten color belts tested for High Yellow to Red Belt. All students testing for Blue Belt and above were required to write a three page report.

Brian Bujaski and Dayton Plumb tested for High Yellow Belt.

Testing for their High Orange Belts were Tippy Pack-Brown, Daniel Bon-Fleur, and Austin Ferrier.

Rachel Stearns, Gabriel Mitchell and Ashlynn Belcher all went for their High Blue Belts.

Aiden Charonock and Isabelle Kiester both were tested for their Red Belts.

The students that tested will be promoted after all the papers were graded and the MuSool Black Belts meet to discuss how they are doing in class. Stay tuned for promotions.

Testing Permission Slips have Been Handed Out.

Students that have been recommended for belt promotions have received permission to test forms that must be signed by parents and teachers and tuned in with testing fees prior to Friday March 20th. Students that have essays due must also turn them in along with their notebooks.

Belt Testing is Saturday March, 21st 2009 at 10am. Students will be promoted the following week. Good luck to all students that are testing.

MuSool TaeKwonDo Competes at the FastKick Friendship Games.

Five members from the MuSool TaeKwonDo Team Traveled to Seffner, Florida to compete in the FastKicks Friendship Open. The event had 212 players from around Florida and was very well organized.

Isabelle Keister placed first in both sparring and forms in the blue belt girls division.

Jackie Lauricella also placed first in forms and sparring in the Woman’s 18 to 32 year old black belt division.

Jesse Midyette placed 3rd in forms and 1st in sparring in the Black Belt 12 to 13 year old division.

Bo Godawa placed 3rd in forms and 2nd in sparring.

Jason Midyette won 3rd in forms. Jason had 12 in his sparring division and it was a tough double elimination division. He lost his first match but came back and won his second match. He ended up losing his third match in overtime.

Congratulations to everyone to took part in the event.

Testing Moved from March 14th to March 21st.

Due to the FastKicks TaeKwonDo Tournament, Belt Testing has been moved from March 14th to March 21st, 2009. The weeks of March 9th – 13th and March 16th – 20th, MuSool Black Belt Instructors will be evaluation students and handing out permission forms to be signed by parents and teachers. All students must have Instructor’s, Parent and Teacher Permission to test.

Good luck to all the students.

Spring Cleaning set for Weekend of March 13th/14th. Please clear your Cubbies!

MuSool Academy of Martial Arts will be having SPRING CLEANING the weekend of March 13th and 14th, 2009. We ask that as of March 13th, 2009 that all GEAR BAGS, GEAR, and ARTICALS OF PERSONAL ITEMS are taken home leaving the cubbies empty. Since we will be Spring Cleaning all items left at the school will be disposed of, and no items will be kept over the weekend. Thank you for all your help.

Team MuSool to compete at USAT and AAU Qualifer's

The MuSool TaeKwonDo Team will be competing at both the USAT Qualifier and the AAU State Championships in April.

The USAT event will be April 4th and 5th in Kissimmee, FL and the top 4 finishers in each sparring division will be invited to the US National and US Jr. Olympics in Austin TX June 30th – July 5th. The web link to this event is: http://www.usa-taekwondo.us/event/event/942

The AAU will hold its event on April 24th and 25th also in Kissimmee, FL. The top 8 place finishers in any division will be invited to the AAU National and Jr. Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale, FL June 30 to July 1st. The web link to this event is: http://www.floridataekwondofederation.com/.

Any team member that wishes to play at either of these tournaments needs to contact Monty Midyette with their information by March 14th so the team can get registered by the March 20th deadline. Any team member that misses the March 14th deadline will be responsible in registering themselves and paying any late fees.

MuSool TaeKwonDo Competition Team to Compete in FastKicks Friendship Open.

Several members from the MuSool TaeKwonDo Competition Team will be competing at the FastKick Friendship Open in Sefferner, FL on March 14th.

As of right now there are well over 200 sparring competitors registered for this event. The fight times and brackets will be posted at http://www.fastkicks.net/competition_times2.htm.

If you wish to go see cheer on the team you can get directions at http://www.fastkicks.net/.

MuSool Academy is Signing up Spring Break Campers

MuSool Academy of Martial Arts is putting together its Spring TaeKwonDo Camp. MuSool Students that pay month to month can take part in the camp for only $99.00 for the week. This includes all trips and events. MuSool After School and new campers will be charged $125.00 for the week.

The camp will include two to three TaeKwonDo Classes per day (ranging from basic techniques to board breaking to sparring techniques), field trips, and fun and games in the school. Camper must bring their own lunch and snacks.

Space is limited to the first 10 campers that sign up and the event will be advertised with the local schools on March 9th. Sign up today to make sure there is room for your camper.

MuSool Academy Launches New and Improved Website.

MuSool Academy of Martial Arts launched its new and improved website this morning. MuSool Master Brian Stanton redid the site to be more “user” friendly. Portions of the site such as the photo’s section, news section and calendars can be updated in real time.

Before the updates would be done at MuSool Academy and sent to Master Stanton to be uploaded on the site, so students would have to be notified when there was new news or photo’s put up on the site. Starting today it should be expected that there will be updates atleast weekly.

To make it more fun, in the news section, students and parents can comment on different stories that are posted.

Master Stanton is currently working on a password protected student’s only section that will have testing requirements, form videos and different “MuSool” martial arts secrets. There also be a password protected MuSool Instructor and MuSool Black Belt Board Section.

Please check the "current student" and "news/media" tag frequently to stay in the loop on all the MuSool Academy happenings.