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| Master Murphy |
The 2017 Choe's HapKiDo Summer Championship and Seminar hosted by Grandmaster JiMong Choe!
Every year Grandmaster JiMong Choe hosts a Summer Championship for all of his students to come together and spend time with a little bit of healthy competition, followed by a Seminar the next day to further expand the knowledge and ability of those honored enough to be there. Students come from all over the country to compete, hang out, and bond together as a HapKiDo Family. Every year we all look forward to having the chance to see our friends from out of state and from other schools, and this event gives us the chance to have a family reunion of sorts!
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| Instructor RJ LoPresti Testing for 4th Degree |
This year in particular was an especially significant one for this author, I was lucky enough to be allowed to test for my next degree of Black Belt! To start the weekend's events we held a belt test where students who were ready had the privilege of testing in front of Grandmaster JiMong Choe and the other HapKiDo masters. A total of 13 people tested, from kids and adults testing for first degree black belt, a young man who earned his second degree, and myself as well as a good friend of mine were awarded the rank of fourth degree. Testing is always an amazing opportunity to not only level up to the next rank, but it is a great chance to show off the hard work and dedication through demonstrating your techniques.
After the test was completed the students began their competition and got to show off their skills to earn a trophy! We had students of all skill levels, and kids as young as 3 all the way up to adults compete! Every year I continue to be amazed with how well everyone does and how hard they have been practicing. Once the competition was over we all got together for a victory dinner of Korean BBQ to celebrate our successes!
The day after the Championship a group of students, black belts, instructors and masters got together for a day of learning directly from Grandmaster JiMong Choe himself! The 2017 Private Seminar covered HapKiDo Techniques, sparring theory, a lecture on healthier living, fun stories and so much more!
To sum up this weekend in a short blog like this is nearly impossible, but if there is one thing you get from reading this I hope it is that all of us CANNOT WAIT until next year so we can do it all again!!
Choe's HapKiDo
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| Grandmaster JiMong Choe |
