SAYING GOODBYE...The best thing about martial arts training is that you can train your body to do all sorts of incredible things. The worst thing is that the body eventually wears out. Or parts of it do, anyway.
    Many years of basketball and then martial arts training have left my knees in, well, not very good shape. After experiencing increasing problems with them this spring, I consulted with my orthopedist, who recommended that I give up taekwondo training. I had planned on advancing toward my 2nd-dan black belt this summer, but as that will be impossible, I must also reluctantly give up teaching taekwondo. I believe students must have an instructor who not only can properly demonstrate the techniques he is teaching them, but who is also advancing in his own training. Therefore, I will be turning the dojang over to Master Eric Swan as of the end of May. My final classes will be taught the evening of May 25.
   I have truly enjoyed working with each and every one of my students at Blue Hills TKD/S over the past two years, and I wish you continued success on your martial arts journey. I will not be giving up my own journey; in addition to my continuing study of Systema, I will be training at Brown's Karate Academy in Barron WI in the Okinawan weapons art of kobujutsu, which I began studying this past winter, and will also train in isshin-ryu karate. These arts do not put nearly as much strain on the knees as taekwondo. We'll see how it goes.
   On the calendar page I have posted the dates and times for Master Eric's first month of instruction at Blue Hills Taekwondo. If you have any further questions, please contact him at 715-497-2910, or email him at bluehillstkd@hotmail.com.
   Remember, students, no matter who your instructor is, always live your life, inside and outside the dojang, by the five Tenets of Taekwondo: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit. Follow those precepts and you'll do just fine.

Mr Dave Tindell

  

   At the end of this month of May, most Americans will have the day off in commemoration of Memorial Day. Originally called Decoration Day, the day was first observed informally following the Civil War. It wasn't until 1967 that the day officially was given the name it holds today. 
   From the Revolutionary War, which begain in 1775, through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in which our military is engaged against Islamist extremists, over 1.3 million Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice. In the Civil War, counting deaths for both Union and Confederate troops, over 600,000 died. That was nearly 2% of the total population of our country at the time, North and South. To put that in perspective, an equivalent number of war deaths today would be a staggering 6 million. 
   Whether it is a small number or large, each and every time an American in uniform falls, it is a tragedy for that soldier's family, his community and our entire nation. We all wish it would never have to happen; each time we bring the troops home, we fervently pray we will never have to send them out again. Yet, inevitably, another foreign threat arises, and more Americans answer the call, knowing full well that some of them will not come home.
   We owe a debt to these fallen men and women that in many ways we cannot repay. Yet we must try, first by honoring their sacrifice, and by caring for their loved ones. Then we must always remember this:
    Freedom is not free.
    
  

  CONGRATULATIONS TO NEWLY-PROMOTED STUDENTS! Successfully completing their test requirements for orange belt: Miss Abby Weegman, Miss Sara Chucka, and Mr Joe Chucka. For yellow belt: Mr Dennis Bungartz, Miss Sydney Bungartz, Mr Alex Seboe. For green belt: Miss Katherine Morse, Miss Tressa Hobein, Miss Angel Grimm, Mr Matt VanDerLijn. For blue belt: Mr Matt Dezotell. For purple belt: Mr Matthew Lindquist. For purple/stripe belt: Mr Isaac Schuler. Several other students are in the process of completing their test requirements and will get their new belts within the next few weeks. Well done, students!

    UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS---
6/27  Badger State Games, Appleton WI
7/31  Unify the Martial Arts, Rice Lake WI