Introduction

The first session of the Workshop for World Taekwondo Families was held June 13 through June 23, 1998 and included several individuals associated with U.C. Martial Arts: Dr. Ken Min (Head of Organization; Technical Director of the UC Martial Arts Program), Mark Abbott (Group Leader; Head Instructor of the Brown University Hapkido Club), Cecilia Becerra, Mike Bonkowski, Chuck Buhs (Team Coordinator; Head Instructor at Washington Sports Taekwondo), Roland Dong, Adam Getchell, Sally Ho (Team Captain), Alvin Lee, Marc McQuade, Stephen Min, Larry Slayton (all the way from Cody, Wyoming), Ting Vogel, and Nancy Vuong.

This event was organized by the Workshop for World Taekwondo Families in Korea. The U.S. organizing committee included Master William Kim of Vallejo, CA (Head of Team), Master Merrill Jung of San Francisco (Team Director), Master Jun Yoon of San Francisco (Assistant Team Director), Mr. Thomas Kim (Team Manager), Mr. Hoon Huh (Assistant Team Manager), Master Rick Powell (Team Coach), and Mr. Rich Camacho (Team Trainer).

The program was a very comprehensive session that offered a variety of lessons both within the dojang and in the classroom covering different facets of Taekwondo training. The emphasis was on providing a broad curriculum to develop and refine skills and knowledge. Topics covered in this program were stretching, gyoroogi, poomse, sports massage, psychology, and breathing.

In addition, the training schedule was devised to maximize as much of our available time as possible. This meant that we were up before six a.m. for our early morning training, sometimes had as many as 4 workouts per day, and often were required for some form of evening activity. In this way, we were exposed to an encompassing program that provided us with a great deal of information on how to fully develop our skills and ourselves.

The instructors all consisted of accomplished specialists in their area led by Master Myongsam Chang, a former world champion and featherweight gold medalist in the 1988 Olympic Games. The combination of their physical and instructional skills enabled us to learn valuable and useful tips that will assist in our training back home.

Besides the attention to our Taekwondo training, we also received an excellent education in many aspects of Korean culture and history. Our agenda included several sightseeing trips: Icheon (the pottery village), Seoul (Kukkiwon, Kyungbokung, Namdaemun), and Kyungju, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla. Each one of these visits provided us with a greater appreciation of Korea, her people, and her customs.