News & Announcements

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Current News

December Adult Promotion Test

12/10/2011 Congratulations to everyone on a fantastic year and a great promotion test! I really enjoyed watching everyone test, especially our newest 2nd Dan black belts Dave and Josh. Also, it was wonderful to see the dojang transformed that night for the wonderful holiday party. Great job Joy and Desirae with among many other things, the first annual Chagi awards - they were certainly a lot of fun.

Promoted to the rank of Green Stripe, 8th Geup: Sara D, Lam N.

Promoted to the rank of Green Belt, 7th Geup: Tracie C, Catherine F, Sara G, Yakun L, Tamar S, Jay T.

Promoted to the rank of Blue Stripe, 6th Geup: Dorothy P, Scarlet S.

Promoted to the rank of Blue Belt, 5th Geup: Aaron H, Dexter L, Desirae M, Dan S.

Promoted to the rank of Red Stripe, 4th Geup: Gabe C, Joy S, Sharon T.

Promoted to the rank of Red Belt, 3rd Geup: Alice K.

Promoted to the rank of Black Stripe, 2nd Geup: Chris L, Janine L.

Promoted to the rank of Double Black Stripe, 1st Geup, black belt candidate: Samia M.

Promoted to the rank of 2nd Dan Black Belt: David C, Joshua D.

Northeast Technical Championship

11/19/11 Congratulations to everyone who competed at the Northeast Technical Championship! We had an impressive showing and everyone was very impressed with our group, both in terms of quality and number. Whenever someone from our group was going, people generally stopped to watch!

The tournament turned out to be quite competitive and was a lot of fun for all involved! It was great to get qualified referees judging the forms to give everyone good feedback, and the impromptu pairs and teams were a lot of fun for everyone and a great way to feel like you were in it together with your teammate(s). Those divisions were very well populated especially.

Everyone learned a lot, and came out feeling even more motivated to compete again the next time around.

Pairs - Black Belt Adults:

Dan Chuang & Rene Chen - 1st
Chris W and Becca H - 3rd
Lisa D & Dave C - 8th

Teams:

Rene C / Erika L / Lisa Z - 1st
Chris W / Aaron S / Dave C - 2nd

Pairs - Colored Belt Adults:

Janine L & Samia M - 1st

Male Black Belts Senior 1 (21-30):

Brian L - 3rd
Dave C - 4th
Aaron S - 5th
Richard-Duane C - 6th
Chris W - 7th

Female Black Belts Senior 1 (21-30):

Rene C - 1st
Lisa Z - 2nd
Erika L - 3rd
Becca H - 4th
Ana K - 6th

Black Belts Senior 2 (31-40):

Dan Chuang - 1st

Black Belt Master 1 (41-50):

Lisa D - 4th

Black Belts Cadet 2 (11-13):

Paulie A - 6th

Color Belts (various age and belt divisions):

Janine L - 1st
Sharon T - 2nd
Joy S - 3rd
Hilary M - 1st
Kristina L - 2nd
Samia M - 3rd
Chris L - 1st
Dan S - 1st

Red Belt Cadet 1 Division (<10):

Andrew C - 1st
Nikki A - 3rd

New England Taekwondo Championships

10/25/11 Special thanks to our volunteers who helped make this tournament run smoothly: Richard-Duane C, David C, Josh D, Mike H, Anastasia K, Lori L, Kristina L, Aaron S, Fabio T, Kyria T and Chris W

Green Belts

Desirae M - Sparring GOLD, Forms GOLD
Gabe C - Sparring BRONZE

Blue Belts

Sultan O - Sparring GOLD

Red Belts

Sean L - Sparring SILVER, Forms BRONZE
Chris L - Sparring SILVER, Forms GOLD
Janine L - Sparring BRONZE, Forms GOLD

Black Belts

Fernanda G (Xcel) - Sparring GOLD
Andie-Jane P - Sparring SILVER
Jennifer K - Sparring BRONZE, Forms BRONZE
Julie N - Sparring SILVER, Forms GOLD

2^nd Sport Poomsae Seminar

9/26/11 Thanks to everyone who supported our second poomsae seminar! An amazing 59 total athletes participated, more than the first time, and everyone left feeling energized and excited about poomsae with a new set of knowledge and tools to support their training. Thanks especially to those who drove many hours to be there! Your support means a lot, and the seminar fees went to support our athletes.

AAU Trials Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

9/16/11 — 9/18/11 The AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) holds a team trials once per year to determine who will be named to the AAU National Taekwondo Team. Players qualify for the exclusive trials by placing in the top 4 at the AAU National Taekwondo Championships, or by being a current member of the team. The players compete in a round-robin format to determine the winner. Congratulations to club senior instructor Anastasia Kazimirova, who placed third after five hard-fought matches in women's lightweight, and to club youth instructor Jayson Grant, who also placed 3rd in men's middleweight.

September Adult Promotion Test

9/10/11 Congratulations to everyone who tested. The test was bittersweet with the absence of senior instructor Mel Minear who went on to new adventures, but it was also a pleasure to have club co-founder and Olympian Chinedum Osuji there to visit and judge the test. The technical level on the test was once again very high, and it was great to have everyone giving their best!

Promoted to the rank of 8th guep, GREEN STRIPE: Catherine F., Richard C., Mini Ann P.

Promoted to the rank of 7th guep, GREEN BELT: Sean B.

Promoted to the rank of 6th guep, BLUE STRIPE: Dexter L., Aaron H., Caleb W., Dan S., Desirae M.

Promoted to the rank of 5th guep, BLUE BELT: Jennifer L., Gabe C., Joy S., Soraya B.

Promoted to the rank of 3rd guep, RED BELT: Janine L., Elaine Wu G.

Promoted to the rank of 2nd guep, BLACK STRIPE, ASSISTANT INSTRUCTOR: Sean L.

Costa Rica Open

8/28/11 Jayson Grant won a spot last year on the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) National Team. As part of this team, Jayson travels to different world events. This year the AAU team took their athletes to the Costa Rica Open, a WTF world-ranking tournament. Jayson had an amazing day, beating Mexican fighter Gabriel Segura 17-5 in the semifinals, and beating friend veteran US player Daniel Cosmillo 3-0 in the finals in a bracket that included some very talented international players to win the GOLD medal in the middleweight division! Jayson's world ranking improved to 86th in the world in his weight category. Jayson is very appreciative to everyone for their support!

Also a great result was friend of the club, Lenn Hypolite of West Side Taekwondo and the Trinidad national team. He took SILVER behind world-renowned fighter Aaron Cook. Lenn won 1-0 over Javier Quesada of Costar Rica, 6-1 over Olympian Angel Roman of Puerto Rico, and sparred a close 6-8 against top world-ranked Aaron Cook!

You can see the brackets from the open at the TKDnews website.

World University Games Shenzen, China

8/21/11 The World University Games are held every two years and are a multi-sport event where the best collegiate athletes in the world compete together. They are also known as the "Universiade", a combination of the words "University" and "Olympiad". Much like the Olympic Games, they are a big deal for the host country, with an opening ceremonies, significant infrastructure and venues built for the event, and an athlete village where the thousands of coaches and athletes stay. This year's games, held in Shenzhen, China, were a big deal for the host country, and the games were broadcast on the Chinese national television networks each night. The Chinese did an amazing job as a host country, with thousands of collegiate volunteers, working, Olympic-caliber venues that were built specifically for this event, and a first-class athlete village where over 20,000 were housed. You can view photos and press releases at NCTA website.

Poomsae Coach Master Chuang led the USA collegiate Taekwondo poomsae team at the event. Representing our club in poomsae at this event were Rene Chen (at her second World Event this past month), Erika Lee (at her second world collegiate event), and Brandon DeSouza (of Tiger An's Taekwondo), who partnered with Rene in the pairs poomsae event.

In the women's individual event, Rene did very well. The field was very competitive, with many former world medalists in the draw. Rene took 11th overall in the prelims with Taeguek 5 and 6, then hit her stride to jump to 6th overall in the semis with Taeguek 8 and Koryo! She finished an impressive 8th place, the best ever result for a USA female individual at the collegiate level and her first time into the finals at a world event!

You can catch video of Rene performing Taebaek at the World University Games posted on dartfish.

In the pairs event, Rene and Brandon performed Keumgang and Taebaek in the semifinals, placing 13th overall, but falling shy of the finals.

The women's team division was represented by Rene, Erika Lee and their teammate from Princeton, Carissa Fu. The women's team performed Taeguek 8 and Koryo, giving a strong performance in the semifinals. They finished 9th, just 1 place shy of the finals by a margin of 0.08 points.

Overall, it was a good result for us and we are continuing to learn so much each time we come into contact with world-champion caliber athletes. We hope to improve on our results next year, but overall our results were an exceptional success.

WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships

7/29/11 — 7/31/11 The level of athleticism was high and the quality of the poomsae was very impressive. Seeing the level of commitment to poomsae from so many different countries (60+) was very inspiring. From what some of the returning US team members perceived, the level was higher this year than it has ever been in the past.

Rene was the first among the Boston/NYC group to compete on the second day. Rene had 33 in her division, she took 5th of 16 in her preliminary half/group with Taeguek 6-7, advancing to the semifinals (Keumgang/Taebaek), where she missed the finals (top 8) by just 0.02! Congrats to Rene on being 9th in the world and having the 2nd highest result for team USA in senior 1 (19-30) since the beginning of the world championships.

On the third and final day of competition, Master Chuang competed as well as the women's team of Rene, Christina and Lisa. He competed with Taeguek 7 and Koryo. Master Chuang missed the preliminary cut (top 50%) by 0.05, which given that his division was weighted by several world medalists, was a fair first-time result.

The women's team had to perform Taebaek and Pyongwon in the semifinals, two difficult forms to synchronize because of the many side kicks. They had a couple of kinks in Taebaek but worked it out for Pyongwon to finish with a solid performance. The level for the 1st senior team was just very high, with every team having excellent high side kicks and strong techniques, but the triple did well and beat out some very solid international teams in their World Championships debut.

The team came home with no medals, which was a disappointment, but we had some very close calls. The men's 2nd team of David Turgeon, Garth Cooley and Ron Southwick came in 5th, just one place out of the medals, as did Master 2 Reggie Ubiadas. Junior Stephany Kim, 2nd team Garth Cooley and Kristi George, 2nd Senior Claire Yong-A Kim, our women's 2nd team (Kristi George, Sarah Lavan and Marybeth) and our men's third Master Tom Vo all reached the finals (top 8). Barbara Brand, our former medalist, was a likely medalist this year until she uncharacteristically missed a move in Hansu and missed the finals. All in all, some of the returning team members felt that despite our lack of medals, it could be argued that this was one of the stronger performances by team USA.

Thanks again everyone for your support and we look forward to bringing back lots of ideas and new training thoughts to our group!

Poomsae Seminar

7/16/11 Thank you to everyone who came our poomsae seminar to support athletes going to the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, and the World University Games! Over 39 people attended across 3 sessions. Feedback was good, we will try to hold another one in September or October!

The seminar was led by US national team member Master Dan Chuang, and assisting were current and former US national/collegiate team members: Rene Chen, Bobby Ren, Alicia Zhou, Brandon DeSouza, Erika Lee and Richard-Duane Chambers.

2^nd Annual Kicks For Kids KICK-A-THON

6/18/2011 Great turnout for the Kick-a-thon on Saturday. Updates and pictures soon.

June Adult Promotion Test

6/16/2011Congratulations to everyone who tested last Thursday, or at the makeup test! It was a great way to kick off the summer and it was one of the largest June tests I can remember in a long time! The level of all of the tests was very high and a testament to the very hard work you have all put into getting ready.

Promoted to the rank of Green Stripe (8th Guep): Tara B, Sean B

Promoted to the rank of Green Belt (7th Guep): Aaron H, Prashanth K, Patrick K, Lina K, Adam K, Dexter L, Sean M, Desirae M, Dan S, Scarlett S, Caleb W

Promoted to the rank of Blue Stripe (6th Guep): Soraya B, Gabe C, Jennifer L, Joy S

Promoted to the rank of Red Stripe (4th Guep): Alice K, Maureen S, Thierno T

Promoted to the rank of Red Belt (3rd Guep): Sean L

Promoted to the rank of Black Stripe (2nd Guep): Samia M, Lori T

Boston International Competition

6/11/11

Yellow Belts

Dexter L. - Forms GOLD, Sparring GOLD
Prashanth K. - Forms SILVER, Sparring SILVER
Sean M. - Forms SILVER, Sparring SILVER
Desirae M. - Forms BRONZE, Sparring GOLD

Green Belts

Joy S. - Forms GOLD, Sparring SILVER
Charlie Y - Forms BRONZE, Sparring SILVER
Jhil S - Forms SILVER, Sparring BRONZE

Blue Belts

Tanya M. - Sparring SILVER
Sean L. - Forms SILVER, Sparring GOLD
Janine L. - Forms GOLD

Red Belts

Samia M. - Forms SILVER, Sparring SILVER
Lori T. - Forms GOLD, sparring BRONZE

Black Belts

Ana K. - Sparring (welter) GOLD
Dave C. - Forms GOLD
Jason G. - Forms SILVER
Augie P. - Sparring (welter) SILVER
Aziz A. - Sparring (welter) BRONZE
Chris W. - Sparring (heavy) GOLD

West Side Taekwondo Friends

Abishar M. - Sparring (feather) SILVER
Lenn H. - Sparring (welter) GOLD
Darlin G. - Sparring (heavy) SILVER

Notable Moments:

Dexter got the only double gold medal of the day, showing really nice front kicks on Tae Guk 2. Beating an aggressive red belt in his match, scoring a number of hard side kicks to keep his opponent at bay.
Prashanth was clean and sharp on Tae Guk 2 and went head to head with Dexter. Paired together they looked like a strong team rather than competitors.
Desirae had a great match, figuring out head kicks and scoring three times to the head to earn the gold over a more advanced green belt and finishing her match despite the injury to her hand. Also earned an MVP award.
Joy took gold in a competitive forms division and two close matches - a nailbiter on which she edged on Lori on penalties 3-2, and a 6-7 last-minute loss to Jane who she had beaten before. Her performance was strong enough to be awarded an "MVP award" for the day.
Sean L. won two matches, including a close match against an athletic blue belt who he had lost to before.
Sean M. sparred a very experienced orange belt but held his own, landing some solid punches.
Jhil and Samia, who had their first sparring outings with the club! They both showed considerable spirit and toughness against very high-level opponents.
Ana once again showed her students what clutch sparring looked like. She scored 2 head kicks to win convincingly over the Brazilian competitor without getting scored on, and sparred Nailah from Jae H. Kim's, winning in sudden death over time with a nice change-up short turning kick.
Chris beat friend and tough competitor Darlin from West Side in a competitive heavyweight final to win the gold! Scored some nice inside kicks.
Augie had a nice dominant win 9-2 over a Peak Performance guy and a really close 6-8 match against Trinidad national team member Lenn from West Side. A really nice return to the ring from a great ECTC champion.
Aziz had a nice win over talented Sean B. from Jae H Kim's Taekwondo, showing great versatility, scoring with a punch, cut kick, back kick and turning kick to pull away for a convincing win. He had a tough match against Lenn in the semis but made him work all the way through.

Jayson Grant T-Shirt Fundraiser

US National Poomsae Team Trials

05/22/11 Congratulations to those who competed at the US National Poomsae Team Trials in Buffalo on May 21-22, 2011! Our group placed an exceptional 5 athletes on the US National Poomsae Team - they will represent the USA in Vladivostok, Russia on July 29-31, 2011! The team was coached by C.W. Taekwondo at Boston's head instructor, Dan Chuang, who also made the team.

Here are the results:

Dan Chuang - GOLD, 2nd Senior - US National Poomsae Team!
Rene Chen - GOLD, 1st Senior - US National Poomsae Team!
Rene Chen, Christina Park (West Side), Lisa Zhou (West Side) - 1st Triple - US National Poomsae Team!

Also, congratulations to:

Bobby Ren - SILVER, 1st Senior - 1st Alternate to US National Poomsae Team!
Rene Chen and Brandon Desouza (Tiger An's) - BRONZE, 1st Pair
Christina Park (West Side) - BRONZE, 2nd Senior
Scott Etkin (West Side) - 6th, 1st senior
Lisa Zhou (West Side) - 8th, 1st senior

2011 Earth Day Charles River Cleanup

04/16/11 For the third consecutive year, a group of CW Taekwondoists represented the club at the Earth Day Cleanup of the Charles River, collecting trash along Memorial Drive and beautifying the banks of the Charles at our site in Cambridge. Braving the cold, windy conditions that day were Alice, Brad, Wes, Janine, James, Dorothee, Anthony, Scarlett L., Marianne, Dan S, Jean, Regina, Edgar, Joy, Brian Mc, Teresa, Jason G. and Jason B.

NCTA Championships, Davis CA

04/09/11

Poomsae Team Trials results:

Rene C — GOLD, Women's Individual! - US Collegiate National Team!
Rene C and Brandon D — GOLD, Pairs! US Collegiate National Team!
Rene C, Erika L and Carissa F — GOLD, Women's Triple! US Collegiate National Team!

Congratulations to Rene, Erika and Brandon for making US Nationals Collegiate Poomsae team! They will be heading to Shenzen, China to compete in the World University Games!

Erika L also had an outstanding performance in sparring, earning SILVER medal, as well as taking BRONZE, 2nd Dan light-heavy forms
Jason U — GOLD, black belt 1st Dan fin-feather forms
Dan S — GOLD, 2nd Dan light-heavy
Becca H — GOLD, black belt 1st Dan fin-feather forms
Mary H — GOLD, 1st Dan light-heavy forms
Nicole K — GOLD, 3rd Dan light-heavy forms

Finally, MIT Sport Taekwondo team placed 2nd in the overall standings and Championship division!