ST. PETERS—Twelve students from the King Yen Taekwondo school passed their quarterly exam and earned the right to move up to the next higher level belt.
The examinations were held in the in the Helmich Snijiders Hillside Christian School Gymnasium Saturday.
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 in accordance with the examination rules and regulations of the World Taekwondo (WT) in Seoul South Korea, the Global Traditional Taekwondo Federation (GTTF) and under the auspicien of the St. Maarten Taekwondo Federation.
The exams were authorized and administered by 9th Dan Black Belt Grandmaster Theo Liu.
Grand Master Liu was assisted by his SXM growth 3rd Dan Black Belt Master Lee-Ann Liu and 2nd Dan Master Paul Djasmin.
“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.
“Testing helps students build self-confidence. The 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.”
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 behavior determines if the student may advance to a higher rank.
For the Global Traditional Taekwondo Federation (GTTF) it is more important to preserve the forgotten values of traditional Taekwondo than style or system.
The spirit of Taekwondo is to train the body and mind to cultivate people who are indispensable in our society. The GTTF want to focus on fulfilling the fundamental purpose of Taekwondo training for the majority Taekwondo population, rather than for talented individuals of a small percentage to go to the Olympics.
Grandmaster Liu added that he was happy to see so many parents and family members again during the examinations.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their undivided support that they continue to give their children who participate in Taekwondo. A parent’s support is very essential in order for the student to move along with his or her Taekwondo development.
Moving up a belt were:
5th kuye
Earning a Green belt with a Blue stripe were Gunesh Natram and Kallis Roomes.
6th kuye
Earning a Green belt was Sherine Lalwani,
7th kuye
A Yellow belt with a Green stripe went to Yerachmiel Schaak and Methusael Schaak.
8th kuye
Dylan and Derryck Collado Montero and Jessie Ramcharan earned their Yellow belt.
9th kuye
Shania Shamdeo will now wear a White belt with two Yellow stripe.
10th kuye
Adding one Yellow stripe to their White belt were IsaiahJones Morris, Je’leel Samuel and Shania
Shamdeo.
