FOUR HURON RESIDENTS RECEIVE BLACK BELTS

The Nordby Center for Recreation (NCR) and Vaillancourts Korean Martial Arts (VKMA) are proud to announce the promotion of one Huron resident to 4^th degree black belt in the Korean art of Taekwondo and three to 1^st degree black belt in the Korean martial arts of Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo.  Phil Ostrander recently tested for his 4^th degree black belt in Taekwondo and Kay Daugherty, Jonna Reid and Kyle Hofer tested for their 1st degree black belts at the NCR in front of a testing panel of two senior instructors.  The testing panel included Dana Vaillancourt (7^th degree black belt) and Mary Ellen Vaillancourt (5^th degree black belt) of Huron.  [Korean martial arts do not recognize black belts as instructors capable of formally promoting other to black belts until 4^th degree.] Mr. Ostrander has trained in Taekwondo for over sixteen years and Kay, Jonna, and Kyle have trained with the Vaillancourts at the NRC for over four years.  Ms. Daugherty and Ms. Reid are the programs first female black belt students promoted by VKMA in Huron.

The physical portion of the black belt test consisted of an approximately three hour review of all basic and advanced blocks, strikes and kicks, combinations of basic and advanced techniques, break falling techniques, Judo throws, six foot staff (weapon) techniques, soft and hard self-defense (versus punches, kicks, grabs, chokes, and weapon attacks), all patterns, empty-hand sparring (versus one and two opponents) and padded staff sparring.  Both students finished the physical portion of their test by each breaking six pine boards; three boards by one spinning kick and remainder by hand strikes.  The panel of judges evaluated each student on their technical proficiency in their performance of the techniques and patterns, their physical conditioning, and overall attitude.

Each student was also responsible for submitting a paper on the topic, “What being a black belt means to me?” and were subject to verbal questions from the judges on points of Korean martial arts history and philosophy.  Black belts are responsible for not only knowing the physical techniques of their respective arts, but to also be able to competently discourse on the history and philosophy of their arts.

After successfully passing the entire test, the three new 1^st dans black belt students received a new black-trimmed uniform top, an embroidered black belt, VKMA Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do certificates, and an International Association of Korean Martial Arts (IAKMA) Tang Soo Do certificate.  The IAKMA is the association headed by Grandmaster Chung Il Kim (10^th degree).   The three 1^st dans are also eligible to receive Taekwondo black belt certificates from the Kukkiwon (World Taekwondo Federation) in Seoul, Korea and Mr. Ostrander will receive a 4^th dan from the Amateur Athletic Union’s (AAU) National Taekwondo program.

Dana Vaillancourt would like to thank Mary Ellen Vaillancourt, Sah Bum Nim for being on the testing board and folks that helped out with sparring and board holding:  Kelly Daugherty and Gordon Wollman.