Sun, October 25, 2015 - Black Belt Excellence Martial Arts Academy, 62 Stonehaven Drive

	Sun, October 25, 2015 - Black Belt Excellence Martial Arts Academy, 62 Stonehaven Drive

I met Master Phil Nguyen, 7th Degree Black Belt International Master Instructor in ITF Taekwon-Do, back in August at one my works’ lunch hour programs/seminars. It was call the BlackBelt Leadership Seminar, which of course intrigued me, so I signed up. His first “get to know the crowd” questions was, what is the first thing you do in the morning when you wake up?. When my turn came up, I told him, “feed the dogs, as they eat I practice my patterns, then put them out, then take a shower”. It got his attention of course, and then a small conversation of “~ what school do I study from, what belt rank, etc etc, and he knew Mr. Ron Sparks. Towards the end of his seminar, I held a board for him (1/4”) so that one of the people (a woman) could break it.. part of his seminar – confidence.

Soon after that, a facebook request came through, and et voila! Master Phil Nguyen~ I then saw a post about his Intra-school tournament. I have already missed out on 4 in the past 2 years, as Master Fu and Sabhumnim Sparks had not had their tournaments for very good reason, but I need to get some tournaments in for my black belt… the worse he could say was no… but he welcomed me to the school to compete.

His lovely wife, Amelia Nguyen, 4th Degree Black Belt, greeted me at the door, showed me around the place, and was happy to see “older woman” participating in the sport. They only have 3 women at their school.

I have to say, for the past month I have been on the fence about going, as this is not GTF, it’s ITF. Different movements, same patterns, but I’m the ONLY outside person attending all ALL SCHOOL Tournament..so expectations of placement were far from my mind, but I worked my ass off trying to perfect every move of the pattern TOI Gaye for this tournament. I will at least leave with pride, knowing I worked hard and tried with all my might…. It paid off though, to my surprise.

As Master Phil was lining up the challengers, he called out people's names, and ring #'s. When he got to me, he ran up, grabbed my hand, and shook it... turned me around and said, "Everyone, please welcome Pennylynn. She is a student at Sparks TKD, and is joining us today. Where do you live Penny? "... I told him, "Near Fitzroy sir"... he then quickly said "We are no longer having an intra-school tournament, this is an International Tournament!". Quite the sense of humor!

The 4 adults competed - last group. First one up got 8’s and 8 ½ for her Saji-chirugi…I’m like … whattt???? Omg…. this is going to be tough. 5 judges… after each performance, a small pep talk…. Next a man, 8 ½’s a 9… I’m next…you couldn't hear a pin drop at this point. Who's the stranger in the room, let's see what she's made out of.... I ended with 2 9’s, a 9 ½, and 2 8 ½’s Then a woman 8’s and 7 1/2. ….. I took the gold.

The flooring by the way, is all padded. We have concrete or wood floors. When I was stretching to get ready, I noticed how my foot sank in the floor… so I went ahead to see if I could do my pattern, and I lost balance… so I had to practice certain moves over and over and over again till I had my foot planted well enough to stand and execute… 20 minutes of practice.

Next was sparring… I won 3-1. Master Phil came over quickly and said to both of us, how proud he was of us to spar, and inspire the children who were looking on - especially the young girls. There are not many woman our age who persue TaeKwon Do, and yet, there are other's here who have gone the distance and are 4th degree black belts (pointing to the woman judges)...

Painted toes - ritual - Thanks Eddie

I now have 5 tournaments under my belt. Each placing gold in both disciplines. I have a hard time believing my accomplishments…

The following day, I received a FB message from Master Phil.

“Congratulations on your double-gold, tell Master Sparks that I think he is an excellent instructor who has produced a great student and future Black Belt. We hope you enjoyed your experience and welcome any feedback you may have. Taekwon!”

The message has been delivered to sir.

Hoping to get some pics soon from the photographer.

Waiting Games: Patterns