2008 Nationals Teams from MTC

USA-Taekwondo is the USA's National Governing Body for the Olympics for our sport. USAT sanctioned qualifying events are the only pathway to the Olympics for Taekwondo athletes in the US. These events include the upcoming Senior Nationals and Junior Olympics Events in Detroit, MI on July 1st-6th.


Missoula Taekwondo Center has 6 athletes who are competing in Detroit. Austin James, Ryan Watson, Mark Miller, Kyle Hammond, Abbey Ardiana, Dylan Ardiana and Hunter Paulson will all be competing.  All athletes will compete with individuals from across the nation that are in their age, rank and weight brackets. Please five these athletes your support and encouragement whenever possible. The support of their TKD family is invaluable to each of these martial artists.

from the desk of Mrs. Rosbarsky

Kickin' Summer Off Right and Lil' Kickers Day Camps

MTC students and some new friends participated in MTC summer camps headed up by Mr. Rosbarsky, Ryan Watson and Kyle Hammond during June. The 16th-20th and 23rd-27th The MTC held camps for kids from age 4-12.



Days were filled with fun, games, clay projects and lots of TKD. Everyday we spent time honing our TKD skills in the areas of Poomse, Self Defense, Sparring and Basics. Part of every afternoon we spent time expressing ourselves through other media including some incredibly expressive ceramics projects with Mr. Glenn Parks and we all made some colorful Tshirts. We visited McLeod Park every day and road the bus to Bonner Park for some TKD in the Park and some play in the splash deck. To end the two weeks of camp, we visited Splash Montana and spent the afternoon on the lazy river and flying down the slides.



We look forward to offering more great camps in the future.

from the desk of Mrs. Rosbarsky

Dinner and a Show with a Kick

The first ever Missoula Taekwondo Center Dinner and a Show was a great success.

The evening started full of cheering for the Kick-a-thon participants. Thirteen students kicked for 1 minute each. . .as many times as they could. With a little preparation some students made the most of their 1 minute of kicking. Ryan Watson earned over $600. And the person with the most kicks over all, Andy Mikkola, was game when suddenly called to the stage from the audience.

We moved on to a fabulous feast provided by our MTC family and Diamond Bar Meats. Followed by an evening full of great home grown entertainment including singing, dancing, comedic skits and many instrument solos.

It was enriching and heartwarming to witness so many of our family members expressing themselves and entertaining us all in the process. From Austin Clark a fledgling French Horn Player to Viet Le a well practiced Violinist.

The event was held as a fundraiser for all individuals who wished to participate in the kick-a-thon and also for the National and Junior National teams.

Thanks to all who assisted in making this night great fun and a great success. Everyone who volunteered to set up, take down, cook, clean and participate had a part in making this a great end of the year celebration for our TKD family.

We plan to make this an annual event, so be thinking about how you will contribute to this school wide event next year. Better step up your singing in the shower.

from the Desk of Mrs. Rosbarsky

A Few Reminders

No Poomse Classes will be held the remainder of the summer. We hope that you all are able to use these long weekends to create some extra family time within your individual families.




To stay current on your Poomse, the Power Poomse DVD set is available at MTC for $55. Poomse classes will resume September 5th.





No classes will be held on July 3rd and July 7th.


The summer Belt test will be July 25th, sign up on the front counter.


August 8th from 4-7pm we will have a MTC outing to Splash Montana.

from the desk of Mrs. Rosbarsky

Relay For Life

"Aloha - Goodbye cancer forever!!!

What an awesome time we had at Relay for Life this weekend!!! I am so grateful to everyone who helped get the Relay team for Missoula Taekwondo Center together! I never could've done it alone! Special thanks to Amanda R. for getting everything started and answering about a million (give or take 10,000) questions, Kim S. for the tent, table and chairs, and also for making our buttons supporting our Taekwondo, family who are winning the fight against cancer! Thanks to Karen for bringing sunscreen and helping to decorate our base camp, Danni Kay for recruiting Megan, Allison, Josh and her mom to walk with us, to the Huntons and Tomi for their AWESOME participation, even though Tomi *just* had her wisdom teeth out! It was great to see so many people that I knew there! My chiropractor's wife was there as a survivor, my friend Renda, and Mr. Rosbarsky, senior.



Together Missoula Taekwondo Center raised $520, we had team members representing MTC on the track the entire time from the Relay start at 6 pm on Friday until 9 am the following morning - yes, nearly 16 hours on the track!!! Many folks walked around 18 miles - some more! It was an amazing, and slightly surreal thing to be walking as the sun went down (and other than a few breaks to doze off in my chair) to still be walking as it came up the next day. :)



Other than a few blisters here and there we all made it until the next morning. I ate too many of the free popsicles... oh boy! I was like a kid in a candy store - they gave out soooo many goodies!



The luminaria ceremony was very poignant. Almost everyone's life has been touched by cancer - whether you know a family member, friend, or co-worker, grandparent, spouse, yourself or your child who has battled cancer. It is very sobering to think of how intimately we all have experienced cancer. The luminarias lined the entire center of the track, and approximately 3/4 of the outside track. Walking in the twilight and seeing all the bags with the names of loved ones - these were people that were loved and cared about - the bags were beautiful - decorated elaborately, with pictures and beads, stickers, cutouts that glimmered in the candlelight...or very simply with a name or a letter to that person. To see the track lit with all those glowing bags in memoriam of someone who had or has cancer was beautiful, inspiring and also very very emotional.



One bag that got to me was from a little boy: "Grandpa, I wish you were still here so we could play trains. Mom said you always liked them. I hope you're happy in Heaven."

So touching...... Kim and I decided we liked the bags with pictures of the people smiling. Made me think of them being loved in happier times. Life IS precious!



I can't wait for next year - with the knowledge that I now have about how the event works, suggestions from my team to improve for next year, and the opportunity to spread the word to friends and family to raise even MORE funds for next year!!!!" From Captain Ruth


Slideshow

State Tournament - Bozeman

Poomse: 1st: Ruth, Rachel, Ryan C., Hunter, Ryan Watson

Poomse 2nd: Dylan, Brannon, Bonnie

Poomse 3rd: Ericka

Poomse 4th: Abbey, Tavin, Kallie, Evan

Doubles Poomse: Ruth and Rachel 1st

Creative Poomse: Ruth 2nd

Sparring 1st: Dylan, Abbey (and 1st in her second division)

Sparring 2nd: Tavin, Rachel

Sparring 3rd: Evan, Steart, Ryan C., Hunter, Ericka, Kallie, Bonnie

Sparring 4th: Brannon

Slideshow

Abbey got to Center Ref for the First time!!

MissoulaTKD got 3rd place overall.

Summertime Reminders

We all are so looking forward to the change in weather that summer in Montana brings. We would like to remind our students of a few things as the weather changes.

We implore all of our students to wear shoes to and from the dojang. Aside from the obvious reasons of protecting the feet wearing shoes also protects the mat from a horrible film. For when we wear no shoes outside then walk directly on to the mat it is if walking on the mat while wearing your shoes. Clean feet also smell better and we all appreciate that.

Also, as a reminder, every student at MTC wears a similar or identical dobok and gear and when a whirl of dressing and undressing happens in the changing room often items don't match up with their proper owners. To help minimize mistaken and misplaced items please put identifying markings on all pieces of dobok, gear and the inside of the belt. Thanks for your help in minimizing the confusion that sometimes happens.

From the Desk of Mrs. Rosbarsky