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Mrs. Jennifer Powell Earns 4th Degree Black Belt

Left to Right: Mr. Church and Mrs. Powell

Mr. Church is very excited to announce that Mrs. Powell has earned her 4th degree Black Belt.  This is a major honor to receive your 4th degree Black Belt from the American Tae Kwon Do Association, which is the largest martial art orginization in America.

Mrs. Powell tested for her 4th degree black belt on October 21st in Orlando, Florida.  Mrs. Powell has worked very hard with over 10 years of experience.  Her dedication to martial arts excellence has been an inspiration to all three academies.

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Black Belt Bootcamp

We will be having our Black Belt Bootcamp on December 3rd. 

This bootcamp is a three hour workout which includes :

-Conditioning

-Self-Defense

-Martial Art knowledge

-Weapons Test

In order to complete your black belt testing, you will have to complete both parts of this test :

1. Boot Camp

2. Forms, weapons, sparring and self-defense.

 

Later that evening we encourage all Black Belts to walk in the Christmas Parade with us at 6 pm.

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Bio: Grand Master Soon Ho Lee

Grand Master Soon Ho Lee sits at the head of the United States largest single system martial arts organization, the American Taekwondo Association (ATA). His historic inauguration to the esteemed position of Grand Master of Songahm Taekwondo brought people from around the world to the ATA’s World Championships in June, 2002.

Since that day he has traveled the world to honor his pledge to dedicate his life to the more than 300,000 Songahm Taekwondo members worldwide; the same Songahm family that signed a petition in his honor.

During his first year as Grand Master he has not only trained literally thousands of students and instructors in over 16 countries around the world, he has also come to a higher level of understanding for the sacrifice his brother, the late Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee made each day to care for the worldwide Songahm Taekwondo family.

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Songahm Taekwondo and the American Taekwondo Association
Songahm Taekwondo is the foundation of the American Taekwondo Association’s rank curriculum and teaching system. In addition, the ATA has developed a 300-hour intensive internship for martial art instructor development and certification. The American Taekwondo Association or ATA, as it is recognized around the world, was originally founded in 1969 in Omaha, Nebraska. Since the first ATA school was opened by the ATA’s founder and Grand Master Soon Ho Lee’s older brother, the late Grand Master Haeng Ung Lee (July 20, 1936 – October 5, 2000), over 300,000 men, women and children from ages 3 to over 70 have made ATA training a part of their lives.

Today Grand Master Soon Ho Lee oversees an organization with over 1,500 schools and clubs in more than 16 countries worldwide. Headquartered out of the International Songahm Taekwondo office located in Little Rock, Arkansas, he directs and mentors over 100 Songahm Masters.

Coming to America
In 1969, Grand Master Soon Ho Lee joined Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee in the United States. Grand Master Soon Ho Lee’s original goal was simply to expand his academic opportunities. He actually had no intentions to make martial arts a career, but felt duty bound to help his brother and became just as passionate to build this new organization of professional martial arts instructors. Though he was extremely talented, his older brother would push him each day to improve both physically and mentally. Looking back he now knows even at the early stage of training his brother was preparing him for what would become his life, his love and his destiny as Grand Master of Songahm Taekwondo. After only a short month and a half, his brother pushed him to open his first club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In fact as Grand Master Soon Ho Lee recalls, his brother just told him one day “let’s go” and it was only after they arrived in Milwaukee his brother told him of the goal to open his first club. This one club became a school and soon thereafter grew into three schools.

In 1978, he would move his family to Panama City, Florida and build what was at the time an 8,000 square foot state of the art training facility, which would include a complete fitness center and Taekwondo training center.

That training center was the center point of growth for the southeastern part of the United States. It would also become an international training center for instructors from Korea, South America, and many other international instructor development programs.

The success of his Panama City, Florida location allowed him to travel both nationally and internationally as needed for the initial push needed for the future growth of the ATA.

Looking back at each new obstacle and challenge from those early days helped him to develop the patience and mindset that would be required of him in his position as Grand Master.

Accepting His Destiny and the Nine Steps to Becoming the Grand Master
Though he realized it was his destiny to accept the position of Grand Master of Songahm Taekwondo, the news of his older brother’s illness hurt him deeply. Grand Master Soon Ho Lee explains, ‘My brother was my hero, my mentor, and my best friend. He was the Grand Master! He could not be ill, he surely could not die! My brother was like Superman to me and I knew he always trained hard, ate right and took great care of himself. We had traveled so many miles together and still had so many miles to go.”

As with the opening of his first school in Milwaukee, he soon found himself promising his brother that the vision would continue. He would leave his home in Panama City, Florida and dedicate his life even further to keeping the ATA and the worldwide Songahm family moving forward.

He would now have to complete the same Nine Steps his brother had some 10 years earlier when he became the first Grand Master of Songahm Taekwondo.

The following includes the Nine Steps Grand Master Soon Ho Lee completed and a short explanation of each step:

• Step 1: The Grand Master notifies the Master’s Council in writing that he will be stepping down from the duties and responsibilities of Grand Master. In his letter, the Grand Master would make a recommendation for his successor. If the Grand Master cannot decide on a nomination, the nomination would come from the Master’s Council.**In instances of death, illness, or in the cases of expulsion, the three highest-ranking members of the Master’s Council would perform all duties, providing that they are not the nominees for Grand Master.
• Step 2: The Master’s Council must approve the candidate 100%. Once approved, the Grand Master candidate would be asked to have a complete physical. Not only must he or she pass, but also their fitness level should place them in the top ten percent of their age group. Once a candidate is approved and has passed the physical, step two would be complete.
• Step 3: As Grand Master H.U. Lee did, the new nominee must circulate a petition signed by 300,000 students, or sixty percent of the current Songahm membership. Every Songahm Master, Instructor, School Owner, Club Owner, and Member would participate in the process of gathering signatures. A complete list of all signatures would become a part of the permanent record, and would be displayed with the first letters so that all will know that step three has been completed.
• Step 4: As Grand Master H.U. Lee did, the candidate will fast for twenty-one days during the preparation. Preparation will be broken down into four training quarters: fasting three days the first quarter, six days the second quarter, nine days the third quarter, and three days the fourth quarter just before the Grand Master ceremony. Each quarter, fasting will be documented and confirmed by a member of the Master’s Council. These documents will be placed in the museum as each quarter is completed.
• Step 5: The Grand Master candidate must spend three days at the same Korean temple as Grand Master H.U. Lee did prior to his Grand Mastership. The candidate must participate in the same rituals and meditations, with silence as the goal for the nominee during these three days. A Master’s Council member will be there to document the first words spoken by the future Grand Master. These first words will be spoken from the same special rock used by Grand Master H.U. Lee at the Palace of the Warriors. It was on this rock, selected by Grand Master H.U. Lee, that he and most Senior Masters made a personal pledge of dedication, sacrifice, and focus on Songahm’s future.
• Step 6: To ensure a “Strong Body and Clear Mind” the candidate will train daily, both physically and mentally. In addition, the candidate will train one day as a student with each member of the Master’s Council. The candidate must be able to fully appreciate the role of both student and instructor. Not only will the candidate gain new knowledge, but he or she will help create a tremendous force of synergy to help ensure a clear path for the leaders of the organization. The Council will train all future Masters in the name of Grand Master H.U. Lee.Daily training will include the following: The candidate must master a Pro-Tech weapon of his/her choice. The selection will be announced and documented by the Master’s Council with a letter to be displayed at the museum. This weapon must become a part of his/her daily routine.The candidate must learn and practice the ninth degree form that Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee performed for his own testing and promotion to Grand Master. The form is to be practiced in its entirety ninety-nine times throughout the year.
• Step 7: The candidate must perform the ninth degree Grand Master form at Songahm World Championships. He/she must also perform a personal demonstration with the weapon of choice and breaking. The demonstration must be performed with great ceremony and humility.
• Step 8: The previous Grand Master or the complete Master’s Council shall preside over the coronation and testing of the new Grand Master. Part of the ceremony will include the reading of all previous Grand Master names, and years holding the position, even if in the future there are hundreds of names in a thousand years. This list should start with Grand Master H.U. Lee. We cannot truly see the future without complete and accurate knowledge of the past.
• Step 9: The presentation of the new Grand Master in his new black uniform by the current Grand Master, or by the complete Master’s Council to the family and students of Songahm shall take place at the beginning of the Master’s ceremony.

All steps having been completed, Grand Master Soon Ho Lee was elevated to the esteemed position of Grand Master during a special ceremony and inauguration attended by VIP’s and special guest from around the world.

The Vision Tour: “There is always more to Learn”
Grand Master Soon Ho Lee has set out on a Vision Tour across the country and eventually around the world. His goal is to touch as many members of the Songahm family as possible. This tour includes special training for students, instructors and masters focused on traditional values and building better leaders for the future. Grand Master Soon Ho Lee believes there has never been a time in history when the need for positive people and strong leaders has been greater as it is now.

His brother changed the lives of all those he touched by making them believe “Today not Possible, Tomorrow Possible.” Grand Master Soon Ho Lee is working to continue that philosophy by adding “That as long as we know there is always more to learn tomorrow, anything is possible.”

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What is Songahm Taekwondo?

“Martial Art” is a broad term encompassing the many styles of physical discipline (fighting) arts that have been developed over the centuries.

To say that the style of Songahm Taekwondo is just another “martial art” would be an oversimplified explanation of the world’s largest centrally administered martial art. This system of teaching and training is unequaled in the martial arts community.

During its early years, the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) used the Chahng-hun style of forms (also used by the International Taekwondo Federation). But although this style was widely accepted in the Taekwondo community, Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee felt that its forms did not accurately reflect Taekwondo — particularly the strength and beauty of Taekwondo kicking techniques. As a result, he believed the forms contributed little to the Taekwondo curriculum. For example, white belts were expected to know front kicks and side kicks, but no front kick appeared until the third (yellow belt) form, and there was no side kick until the form after that! From 1983 to 1990, Eternal Grand Master introduced the eighteen Songahm forms. These forms are part of a fully-integrated curriculum, in which everything a student learns reinforces everything else. The forms contain all or nearly all of the techniques that students are expected to know at each rank, the one-step sparring segments complement the forms, and all of these patterns lead logically to the movements required for each succeeding rank. The Songahm curriculum facilitates a smooth progression from one rank to the next, so that students who begin Taekwondo feeling they’ll never be able to do a simple block (for example) suddenly find themselves a few years later doing 360-degree jumping kicks with ease. Songahm Taekwondo also focuses on personal development of the mind and body. To say it is just self-defense would be to lose most of the valuable ideas and philosophy behind this ancient art. The heightened capacity for self-defense resulting from our Taekwondo is really a fringe benefit that is gained by dedicating one’s self to the values, philosophy and training of Songahm Taekwondo. When learning, a student is in a true, traditional Taekwondo class, focusing not just on the physical but also on discipline, honor, self-control, respect, courtesy, perseverance and loyalty. A beginner does not focus on being a skilled martial artist within a month or two, as a strong foundation in Taekwondo must be built first. Trying to advance beyond your level without proper guidance is like building a house on concrete that has not dried. Though the house may still stand, the foundation would not be as strong and the appearance of the house may not be as presentable.

The ATA and its affiliated organizations (World Traditional Taekwondo Union (WTTU) & Songahm Taekwondo Federation (STF)) help build a strong foundation of Songahm Taekwondo in each of its members, a foundation from which advancement in both the martial art (mind and body) and in self defense can be built and added on to in perpetuity.

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The Scrolls of Songahm

The Scrolls of Songahm
Master Haeng Ung Lee:
Saturday, August 13, 1983

Children of Songahm: Listen as I tell about the old times and the new dawn.

In those unwritten years, thousands of lives ago, the first Ssu Suhng also came to the mountain. His disciples and most loyal students followed his journey. He was a Master of martial art.

Ssu Suhng’s vision was that mortal life is short, yet he had much to do and teach. Would his technique and tradition be lost as the morning mists? There were thousands of techniques and postures for the body in movement. There was a steel-tempering of the heart that could change a man’s way of life. He studied how these lessons could live beyond written words or twice-told tales of olden ways.

As a Master Weaver looms fine-spun thread, he wove thoughts across techniques in patterns of art with life. As his students learned the fabric of his art, they could see techniques crossed with spirit… the art would remain in spirit and force long after the weaver was dust. Disciples of Ssu Suhng practiced these patterns woven for them by their Master. And they, in turn, passed them to their juniors, generation after generation.

Did that first Master martial weaver realize he had wrought so well his art would live millions of days? Did his spirit touch us as he wove those first patterns for hearts of future generations? For he is with us even today. The techniques are the same in spirit as when he taught them. The tree has grown, but holds the same roots.

Other Masters grafted their hearts into the great design. The added new life as parents, and in new generations added to the life of their family; and by adding, making it greater, not less.

With dawn drawing light across the sky, I, Haeng Ung Lee, invite you, my disciples, students and family, to join me in a journey through our new day. Families need new generations to live: the spirit of Ssu Suhng needs new enthusiasm and growth to be nourished in us.

I am duty-bound by the mantle of mastership to refresh tradition of spirit with knowledge and skills of our new age.

A sage said ages past, nothing new lies under the sun. Even in my bound duty to keep Songahm at the peak of this age, it is the technique and tradition of the ages… only the patterns of their weaving are new.

As given by that first Master to your seniors, his disciples, I offer this new weave for your futures. Your seniors, too, soon will be with you only in the weave and form created of their spirit for you.

I dream that you learn to enjoy each day without thought to merely relieve yesterday for its comforts. To climb the ladder of life or art, the security and warmth of the first step must give way to find a higher level.

Come, witness with me this affirmation of our art, heritage and renewal.

In the spirit of Ssu Suhng, I bring you “Songahm” to join the east and the west, north and south… a new wellspring to mix and join in a voyage to the stars.

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ATA SONGAHM TAEKWONDO BELTS (RANKS)

Belts

The concept of belts and rank is probably one that most people associate with Taekwondo and martial arts in general, even if they only have a passing interest in the subject. In Songahm Taekwondo, our belts reflect a member’s proven level of competence and (just as importantly) the progression of colors reflects an inner journey that never truly ends. Each belt achieved is truly an accomplishment worthy of respect. It is also worth noting that achieving a belt isn’t just a matter of “spending enough time” in a previous belt. In order to achieve their next rank, a student must demonstrate their proficiency in their current belt’s techniques, to include Basic Moves, Sparring and Forms.

					White Belt “Pure and without the knowledge of Songahm Taekwondo. As with the Pine Tree, the seed must now be planted and nourished to develop strong roots.” The student has no knowledge of Songahm Taekwondo and begins with a clean (pure) slate. Purity is often signified by the color white.
					Orange Belt “The sun is beginning to rise. As with the morning’s dawn, only the beauty of the sunrise is seen rather than the immense power.” The beginner student sees the beauty of the art of Taekwondo but has not yet experienced the power of the technique. Orange is found among the many colors of the sunrise.
					Yellow Belt “The seed is beginning to see the sunlight.” The student begins to understand the basics of Taekwondo. The sun appears to be yellow.
					Camouflage (Camo) Belt “The sapling is hidden amongst the taller pines and must now fight its way upward.” The student begins to realize his/her place in the world’s largest martial art. The student must now begin to spar in order to promote in rank. Camouflage (greens) is used to hide among the trees in the forest.
					Green Belt “The pine tree is beginning to develop and grow in strength.” The student’s technique is developing power. The components of the basic techniques are beginning to work in unison. As the pine tree develops, it sprouts green pine needles.
					Purple Belt “Coming to the mountain. The tree is in the mid-growth and now the path becomes steep.” The student has crossed over over into a higher level of SOngahm Taekwondo. The techniques, poom-sae (forms), and level of gyeo-roo-gi (sparring) becomes more difficult, creating a “mountain” that must be overcome. Mountains are often depicted as being purple.
					Blue Belt “The tree reaches for the sky toward new heights.” Having passed the mid-way point, the student focuses his/her energy upward toward black belt. The sky appears as blue.
					Brown Belt The tree is firmly rooted in the earth.” At this point the student has mastered the basics and developed deep roots in Taekwondo. Brown is known as an earthy color, such as dirt.
					Red Belt “The sun is setting. The first phase of growth has been accomplished.” The first day (the period of time from white belt to red belt) of growth is coming to an end. The physical skill has been developed but lacks control; therefore, physical and mental discipline must now be achieved. Variations of red are found among the many colors of the sunset.
					Red/Black Belt “The dawn of a new day. The sun breaks through the darkness.” The previous day has ended, giving way to a new dawn. The student must begin a new phase of training; that of being a black belt. The red is the sun (in a sunrise) as it breaks through the black of night.
					Black Belt “The tree has reached maturity and has overcome the darkness… it must now ‘plant seeds for the future.'” The color black is created when all the colors of the light spectrum have been absorbed into an object. That object has “taken control” of the colors and retained them. If one color was to “escape”, the object would no longer be black but would appear as that color. The student has mastered the nine geup (grades) of Taekwondo. He/she has “absorbed” all the knowledge of the color ranks and overcome or “mastered” that level or training. The colors of the spectrum are bound together and are not reflected off an object, resulting in the absence of color which we call black.

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