ST. PETERS—Twenty-six students from the King Yen Taekwondo School passed their Second Quarter 2022 Belt exams in the Gymnasium of the Helmich Snijiders Hillside Christian School in St. Peters on Saturday.
In accordance with the examination rules and regulations of the World Taekwondo (WT) and the Kukkiwon in Seoul South Korea and under the auspices of the St. Maarten Taekwondo Federation Kukkiwon recommender Grandmaster Theo Liu conducted the exams with the help of St. Maarten trained black belt holders Master Lee-Ann Liu (2nd Dan) and First Dan black belts Shekinah Carbon and Julian Fleming.
White Belt - One Yellow Stripe
Six students earned their first promotion to a White Belt with one yellow stripe. Moving up were Alyssa Blomont,
Karam Quasem, Kareem Quasem, Jaylon Shillinford, Alicxson van Heyningen and Gabrien van Heyningen.
White Belt - Two Yellow Stripes
Two students moved up to a White Belt with Two Yellow Stripes. Earning the promotion were Lemesha Fleming and Selenamy Nguyen Le.
Yellow Belt
Four students earned the right to wear a Yellow Belt. Passing tests that include forms, break tests and sparring were Rehanna Dasrat, Lemesha Fleming, Shemaiah Lake and Gunesh Natran.
Yellow Belt - Green Stripe
Philip Chang Sing Pang, Jordan Frederick, Raj Sooknarine and Dwayne Wilson moved up to a Yellow Belt with a Green Stripe.
Green Belt
Two students advanced to Green Belt. Passing all the requirements for promotion were Kimar Persaud and
Roeniel Sarabdjitsingh.
Green Belt - Blue Stripe
Shon Sooknarine earned a Green Belt with a Blue Stripe.
Blue Belt
Kendrys Fuentes and Jhavid Ramcharan – Persaud both qualified to wear a Blue Belt.
Blue Belt - Red stripe
Earning a Blue Belt with a Red Stripe were Shailen James and Thashan Khemraj.
Red Belt
Rique Lee Rosalia earned his Red Belt.
Red Belt - Black Stripe
Two students, Ethan Itwar, and Jacquelle Johnston advanced to earn a Red Belt with a Black Stripe.
Belt rank testing is how students move up through the ranks to earning their Black Belt.
“Testing helps students see the importance of setting and working towards goals, learn self-confidence, which is an important life skill we want them to learn,” said Grand Master Liu. He continued, “Testing helps students build self-confidence: Students maybe nervous about testing. That is natural because the next rank is something they really want. But we want them to learn to overcome their fears rather than to avoid everything in life that present them with a challenge. We don’t want them to quit every time things get a little tough.”
The students underwent a battery of physical tests that involved the demonstration of martial arts Forms (Taeguks), several defensive and offensive techniques and sparring. The testing concluded with the students having to break boards and do free sparring.
Scoring is based on proper order, beauty, grace, rhythm, accuracy, confidence, power, technique and attitude. The total points together with regular class attendance and good behaviour determines if the student may advance to a higher rank.
Grandmaster Liu added that he was happy to see so many parents and family members during the examinations.
“A parent’s support is very essential in order for the student to move along with his or her Taekwondo development,” stressed the Grandmaster. “In general, it is very important for parents to support their kids in whatever activity or hobby they are involved in,"
"Each time the students graduate from one level to the next, it is a positive development for the Taekwondo sport for our country St. Maarten. It contributes tremendously to our island's participation in regional and international Taekwondo tournaments. The seeds sown have been reaping great results," Grandmaster Liu concluded
