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BREAKING ground

CONT

ENTS

Striving for Perfection

A Word from the Chief InstructorBy Peter Cameron 6th Degree Black Belt Chief Instructor

2020 will go down as a year we will all remember long into the future and one we will all likely want to forget. With Covid-19 pretty much changing the way we have lived, socialised and trained, we are proud that we have still managed to keep things together, albeit with some differences. We have had a few members in preparation for their black belts sadly had to abandon their dream – for at least this year. Luckily most have been able to keep on track with their training and adapt quickly

with new focus and commitment. So rather than grading in the middle of the year, the December Black Belt grading will now be double the size of the normal Black Belt events. With the use of YouTube, we have managed to produce multiple training videos for you all which allow for a variety of home training options, including my recording of all IMT patterns. We used two cameras to capture a front and side view so it was easier to follow. My thanks to Malcolm for his time behind the cameras and the hours of editing he did for this project. Be sure to check them out on the MODERNTKD channel on YouTube!

CAMP The All Rank camp, that was scheduled for back in March, was cancelled due to you-know-what, but we are happy to advise that we have decided to change the Black Belt camp that was booked to now be our new All Rank event. It will be on the weekend of the 9-11th of October at Mudjimba on the Sunshine Coast (the same venue as last year's camp). It starts on Friday evening at 6:30 pm and will go right through to the Sunday afternoon, finishing after lunch on that day. It is a fully catered camp so all you need to bring is your sleeping equipment, uniforms, sunscreen, hat and personal toiletries. At the time of publication we are not sure if the usual relaxing trip to a local water park will occur, but are hopeful and we will advise in time. The cost of the camp will be $130 for the two nights, with meals supplied from Saturday morning through to the Sunday lunch.

NEWSLETTER VOLUME 14 ISSUE 2 SEPTEMBER 2020

Page 1 Chief

Instructor

Page 3 Redcliffe Review

Page 5 Kallangur Chronicle

Page 5 Mastering the Art

Page 6 Gladstone Grapevine

Page 7 Banyo Breakers

Page 8 Murrumba Maniacs

Page 10 Running for Self-defence

Page 12 Fight or Flight?

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Continued… We never have a full attendance on the Friday night due to arrival times varying because of the travel and traffic, so please eat something on your way up on Friday night, or have a meal ready for after training. If you have never attended a camp, I encourage you to try to get there. You will have over a month's worth of training condensed into one weekend. Yes, it's hard work, but I believe it is ultimately one of the most rewarding weekends in our training calendar. Our new members will be blown away by how much new knowledge we will share with you. Friendships will be made, as will memories that will last a lifetime. I attended my first camp as a green belt, and I enjoyed it so much that it helped me decide that this Tae Kwon Do “thing” was something I would never give up – and 45 years later I am still training in this Martial Art that I love so much. I hope to share some of this joy with all those that attend. Camp application forms are now available from your instructor, so please grab one and return it ASAP as we need confirmed numbers for the caterers so they can plan our meals. We will be observing social distancing in the bunks for sleeping and at the dining area as well, but I think we can all handle this, as it’s part of the new world we are now used to living in.

GRADINGS We held our first grading since lockdown in mid September (as we are all painfully aware, the June grading was not able to go ahead) and I am happy to say that the standard was very, very high. This might be due to most people having a much longer time to prepare in the lower grade levels – perhaps this was a silver lining of lockdown! The numbers were a bit smaller in the higher grades, but this was mainly due to the fitness and complexity levels required being higher - and needing more than two months of unbroken preparation. The changes we have made to the curriculum for 2020 were well demonstrated but took us a little longer as we are still getting used to the modifications ourselves. Overall, it was just a great day and it was wonderful to see all those faces that we hadn’t seen for so long. Some of our junior members have grown so much in the six months since the last grading, I think some new uniforms may be required!

We have booked a 2nd Dan grading for the 4th of December (the Friday night before the normal grading day). We are expecting the end of year grading to be huge in numbers, so much so that we are separating the 2nd Dan Black Belt gradings to occur the night before so as not to run too late into the night on the Saturday. We will also start our white belt grading at 8am to help make the day work better for all involved. The tournament series has obviously had to be cancelled for 2020, but we are in discussions about possibly hosting one single event, with no points going to our perpetual trophy this year in order to keep it fair for all the classes. Stand by

for more details, as this idea will be discussed at length with the instructors over the next weeks. With current restrictions still having to be adhered to, it may be a very different looking tournament for both students and spectators, however, we do what we need to in order to keep moving forward!

SOCIAL EVENT We have also been planning for a social event for either October or November – which will also be discussed and details released once we have confirmed details. Our apologies for the vagueness, but that's the nature of 2020 with all the government restrictions and constant changes needing to

be observed for the safety of all. Recently Queensland has been doing well but that does not mean it will stay that way, and as such we have to remain flexible in our decision making. My thanks to all our Instructors and Black Belts for their support and enthusiasm throughout this year. As I said earlier, this is not a year we will forget soon.

The Ipswich class is growing steadily and I would like to welcome all my new white belts (plus all the other new members from the other locations too). I have some real talent coming through and great dedication from my existing students that have been with me for some time. I thank you for your unwavering support. We may be smaller in numbers (for now) but the standards are really very high and I appreciate your hard work.

Stay focused on your personal goals with training, and externally as well. We all should remain positive and know that things will eventually go back to...well, maybe not normal, but perhaps a new kind of normal soon. Train hard, kick high and keep striving for perfection.

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REDCLIFFE REVIEW

JASON PARKER

5th Degree Black Belt - Instructor

Well, I was hoping to do a post-Covid article this time around, but it seems we are still mid-

Covid, but luckily here in Queensland, for the most part, life has returned to some normality.

So I hope everyone is doing well still.

With training back to normal now, it has been great to see everyone again at training sessions and at the recent grading. Everyone seems to be benefiting from our new curriculum changes, as there was a noticeable increase in standard at the last grading.

Everyone at Redcliffe has been training very well since our return to regularly scheduled programming. Unfortunately, we have lost a few students over the Covid break, so for a smaller class, this has been tough. Hopefully our numbers will start to increase again soon.

On a personal note, if you remember from the last newsletter, I tore my ACL in February. But I have since had surgery to repair it and I am now on the road to recovery. My surgery was in June, so it has only been 3 months since my operation, so I am very much out of action still. It will be a full 12 months before I am back to 100%, so still a long way to go. I will be missing out on a lot of training, but let’s be honest, 2020 is pretty much a right-off anyway, so I guess the timing for this injury happened at a good time, relatively speaking.

I would like to thank all of my students for their help in class with demonstrations and assistance while I am sidelined. An extra special thanks to the Black Belts (in no particular order) Matthew, Martin and Andrew for your help, especially with the cleaning of the hall after class.

Keep training hard everyone; I will see you at the upcoming All Rank Camp in October!

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Kallangur

Chronicle Kris Ashton - 4th Dan - Instructor

A big hello from the Kallangur Crew,

Well, what trying times of late, however looking on the bright side at least we’re back training. I hope everyone is safe and healthy and looking forward to a better 2021.

I’d like first to give a huge congratulations to all students that graded this month, the standard shown was exceptional especially after the long break we’ve had. Well done!

I’d like to extend this warm ’n fuzzy to the students from Kallangur who sat for the September grading. Let’s just say that I’m a very proud instructor and dad.

Well done to Hunter Ashton (mini me) for attaining his green belt and Luke Kassulke for his massive effort earning him a double promotion from green tip to blue tip. Well done, mate! Luke has so far only graded twice in his TKD journey, triple grading to green tip and then double grading to blue tip. You’re a true natural, however at the same time, you really dedicate yourself to what we do.

To Emily and Jonas, you guys demonstrated skill and maturity far beyond your years. Emily, aged 15, graded for her brown tip and Jonas, aged 14, for his brown belt, both of these kids faced up to 2nd Dans for most of their sparring and successfully weathered the storm. You’re both growing into being great martial artist and one day will be exceptional martial artists.

Well, that’s enough from me. I look forward to the December gradings that we’re already training hard for. Remember, if you’re looking to sit a senior grading don’t hesitate to call into Kallangur for a session.

I look forward to seeing you all at the camp.

Train hard!

Kris

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MASTERING THE ART

By Joseph Sandona

4th Degree Black Belt - Instructor

I am sure you have all heard your instructors telling you time and time again, "Stay light on your feet.” And you have probably even heard the famous words of Muhammad Ali ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’. These words are very important within martial arts as it underpins the foundation of your sparring. A martial artist who is light on their feet is able to move faster, react quicker, create more angles, strike more efficiently and counter attack more effectively.There are several important factors required to be light on your feet. Firstly, you must be in a correct sparring stance. Have your feet one shoulder width apart with your feet slightly turned to the side. Ensure your rear foot is not directly behind your forward foot. Slightly bend both knees, and have your weight on the balls of your feet so your heels are slightly off the ground. It is very important to make sure your weight is in the middle of your sparring stance. This will give you better balance and allow you to move faster as you will not have to shift all your weight to move your leg. When it comes to the actual movement it is important that you do not walk or cross your legs. Each movement should be a slide by pushing off the opposite foot. Always remain relaxed as this will keep your movements smoother and ultimately faster.It is important to always practice being light on your feet and getting the movements correct so they become muscle memory. Set-sparring gives you a good opportunity to practise this as you do not need to focus on defending at the same time. As you improve remaining light on your feet, you will see significant improvements across all areas of your training.

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GLADSTONE GRAPEVINE

Daniel Jays

3rd Degree Black Belt - Instructor

Hi everyone!I hope everyone is staying safe in these crazy

times. There is nothing like a break in training to reinforce how much a part of

my life it is. With the return to sports there has been an influx of students in the Gladstone class. We are looking forward to a big grading at the end of

this year.

I can’t wait for the camp in a couple of weeks. It will be good to see everyone

again. I look forward to seeing you there.

Dan

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Banyo Breakers

Tony Robinson

3rd Degree Black Belt - Instructor

Hello from the guys at Banyo.

I hope everyone is now deep back into the swing of training. I can’t wait for the training camp to catch up with everyone.

While we took a little while to remember everything after a near 4 month absence, we still managed to get our 2 new white belts, Joshua and Yehemi, ready for the grading along with a few of our green tips that were ready before the shut down. They all did themselves proud on the day and their promotions were well deserved.

Although we lost a whole heap of students over the Covid-enforced break, we also welcomed back a couple of old faces in Owen and Angel to our regular training. It is awesome having you back guys.

We also welcome 2 new students, brothers of 2 already training, in Rion and Juan.

Both are picking up the basics very quickly and showing a lot of promise.

While we only had a few grade in September, the end of year grading is looking quite big for our club with all seniors at least eligible to grade alongside quite a few juniors.

We also have Alysha hopefully attempting her long awaited black belt grading.

It’s gonna be a long day!!!

Tony Robinson

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Greetings from Murrumba Downs! In all the years of writing articles for the newsletter this is the first time I have written one while on holidays. Currently away camping at the sunshine coast and I completely forgot to write my article so had to pull the laptop out while camping and sit to provide an update.

The grading was just a few weeks ago but a big congratulations to Nathan, Alicia, Harry and Stewart who all competed their first grading. Hopefully it will be their first of many. All the kids (and Stewart) did well, considering that they are quite young. They have already learnt their new yellow belt pattern that I hope they have been practising in the school holidays. No higher grades went through, but hopefully the end of the year will be a big grading for Murrumba Downs.

We have had a big influx of new students recently – too many to mention them all, plus all my students know how bad I am with names! Regardless, welcome to the Murrumba club and we are very happy to have you training with us.

Murrumba Maniacs

John Barron

2nd Degree Black Belt - Instructor

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BACK TO BLACK BELT TRAINING SESSIONS

A TRAINING TIP:This involves training the most important muscle in your body…. Your brain. There are numerous ways you can do this, but the one I would like to talk about is – fear and self-doubt. This is the little voice in your head saying “you can’t do that…” or “you did that terrible…”

That voice is wrong! Just remember these key points:-

•When trying any new technique, be it a kick, a takedown or a lock, you will not get it right first time.

•Challenge yourself by doing the techniques you avoid. They will never improve if you don’t do them.

•When working on your techniques, you will fail countless times BUT that is fine, we learn through mistakes.

Just remember, every instructor, no matter how many Dan’s on their belt, was once a white belt – we all learnt just like you. There is nothing you can’t do if you set your mind to it.

Train hard and see you all after my break.

Regards,

John

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Here is the scenario. You are confronted by an aggressive assailant who means to do you harm. They are bigger than you and you are afraid.

You are trying to de-escalate the situation, but no matter what you try, nothing is working and it looks like you may have to defend yourself against an imminent attack. You probably have 2 options going through your mind, Stay and fight, or run for your life.

It is very easy to have running away to be the solution to any self defence encounter, but before you make this your go to tactic, you must still remember a few key things:

1. Why am I running away?

You are probably making the decision to run because you don’t think you can beat this person in a fight. Of course that is an easy decision to make. Or is it? If you don’t think you can beat them in a fight, it’s probably because they are bigger and stronger than you. So how do you think you are going to outrun someone who is bigger and stronger than you? Remember, running means they may chase you, so you aren’t running away from the situation, you may just be moving it to a different location. If so…

2. How is my fitness?

If you decide to run, how fast or far can you run before you get tired? If you have poor fitness, you may not last long enough to escape. Even Olympic level sprinters can only last around 10 seconds at their peak speed. Now remember, if the person is chasing you, you may still have to fight them, but now you have just expended most of your energy, so how are you going to last in a fight? Like any self-defence, running must be practiced to make sure it will be a viable option.

Running for Self Defence

By Jason Parker

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Continued…

3. Where am I running to?

You need to run to safety, but where is that? You should try run to other people first because there is safety in numbers, but what if you are in a poorly populated area? Do I run to a house or business? What if there is no-one home? How long will it take them to let you in? This gives your assailant time to catch up to you. The best thing to remember is to always run where you just came from; at least you know where that was and where it led to. Never run into the unknown. So as you go along, pay attention to places you pass that you think would be safe to go.

4. How many are you running from?

There may even be more than one person. You may also even be in a group with other people, none of which have any self defence training.

Let’s look at the implications of being in a group, if you run, how does anyone else know you are going to do this? If you are with your family, there may be someone who may not be able to keep up? Do you stay together or split up? Where are you running to?

As you can see, it is not a simple decision. There will still need to be planning and communication in order to make this your final decision. So if this is something you are concerned may happen, you should definitely have discussed it at some stage with those you are with.

So how do you increase your chances of getting away? Well, you need to use a combination of fighting/distraction and running. So you need to have confidence in both abilities. Practice your self-defence and sparring and also practice your running. Hitting the person first before you run will give you a better head start and may put them off chasing you. It may also give them more motivation to run after you. The decision to run may also come later. If you engage first and decide it may be time to run, try disengaging from behind them so you are facing different ways to give yourself an edge. These options still have to be practised before you can do it quickly and efficiently.

So is running the answer?

Yes, of course, if that’s the best course of action to ensure your safety. It is an option, not a solution to every encounter of physical threat or harm.

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To complement Jason’s great article, ‘Running Away’, I thought I’d add the following:

We’ve all heard of the ‘Fight or Flight?’ response, but there are a few more ‘F’ options available when we are perceiving an external threat, particularly. Firstly, it must be acknowledged that the stress response is not solely contained within the brain, but the entire body. We’ve all experienced that adrenaline rush with some of the following symptoms:

I would surmise that all of you, at some stage have experienced one or more of these symptoms as you stand on the floor and about to grade and being met with the ‘poker-faced’ instructors about to witness and grade your performance. Believe it or not, they too, have been in your position and I challenge anyone to state that they haven’t felt somewhat nervous in these situations. What they want to see, however, is that you work through those nerves and use the nervous energy to put in your best performance.

This aspect of your martial arts’ training involves training the mind, and this, when practised, can impact on just about every aspect of your life. Please don’t ever underrate the power of the mind.

RAPID HEART RATE HEIGHTENED SENSES

RAPID BREATHING DECREASED ABILITY TO FEEL PAININCREASED STRENGTH AND

PERFORMANCE

DILATED PUPILS FEELING JITTERY OR NERVOUS

SWEATING

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So is this ‘fight or flight?’ a normal response by the mind and body? Most definitely!!!! The above-mentioned symptoms are a result of an automatic adrenaline rush throughout the body due to the threat and lead you to one of the following responses:

THE FOUR F’S

As there are numerous factors to consider in a potentially unsafe or dangerous situation, there are choices in how we can respond. Some responses will be automatic or instinctive; some will be effective, some not. Safety is your goal.

FIGHT Standing your ground and responding to the threat.

REMEMBER though, if in the case of a potential attack,

particularly when weapons are involved, it might not be wise to fight back but to flee

to safety and help, if available.

FLIGHT/ FLEE Reading the situation and choosing to run away or to escape. This is not always a

cowardly response.

Safety first!

FREEZE Feeling unable to fight or take flight. You are now

vulnerable.

FOLD/FAWN You’ve unsuccessfully tried fight, flight OR have made

the choice to submit or being compliant. You are

now not in control and have handed your power

over to someone else.

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The above responses are, in fact, a choice, but many of us have developed a habit of relying on one particular response. Reflect on this in both your daily activities, work or exam stress, being in an abusive environment or situation, or your life as a martial artist. Are these threats real or imagined? Are you really in danger? Underpinning all of our responses to a wide range of situations is what thoughts are driving them. Being mindful of your current thoughts and asking yourself, ‘Am I currently in danger?’ is paramount before you allow yourself to enter a state of stress response. Breathe! Breathe! Compose yourself!

What to do? Well, believe it or not, our actions can be a conscious choice. Learning how to make this choice in a calm manner, choosing the best response in order to protect yourself, to feel safe, takes practice……practice…..and more practice. How much you practise this in day-to-day situations and on the training floor is totally up to you!!! From a personal perspective, I work in a very dynamic and potentially volatile learning environment for students with special needs. Becoming aware of my external environment and what could potentially happen when a child becomes violent, is crucial in my role to keep both the child, other students, myself and other staff members safe. You could say, that I’m in a constant state of alert, but I regularly rehearse the best response to meet those safety needs. Without having had more than 25 years of training with IMT, I would, with confidence, state that my instinctive responses and awareness of my external environment and potential threats are well-developed. What I focus on more, though, is my internal environment….my thought processes……something only I can monitor and control.

IMT has a proud and long-standing history of guiding students to be courageous, to be strong and responsive thinkers and skilled responders to physical threats. As mentioned earlier, it’s up to the individual student to take the reins of their own development in self-defence and, indeed, being able to mentally and physically respond to a threatening situation.

I encourage you to reflect on those areas of your life which may lead you to a fight, flight, freeze, fold/flop/fawn response and the crucial role your mind has in making you less fearful and developing your ability to respond to a wide range of situations which you perceive to be a threat to your safety. I also encourage you not to view your mind and body as two separate entities. You are one complete and finely-tuned physiological and psychological system in this human body, and you are the one in control of all that happens within you (the mind which inhabits the whole body), and to some extent, how you respond to what is around you - your external environment. So, taking all of the above on board, next time you are on the training floor in a self-defence lesson; next time you feel a perceived external threat; next time you are feeling fearful about anything, practise making those calm and rational thought processes before acting.

In conclusion, we have all had to ride the waves of the impact that the COVID-19 virus has had on many aspects of our community, our schools, our training sessions…..all part of the external environment. What can stay balanced or in a state of equilibrium (emotionally and physically) are our thoughts, our perceptions, our choices. This pandemic has brought us unique opportunities to strengthen our internal landscape. Let’s face it, we are unable to change what is happening in the world, but we can do what we can to remain inwardly strong and resolute to handle whatever comes our way.

Wishing you all a safe journey (personally and in your training) through to the end of the year, which will go down in history as world-changing.

Lee (aka Miss G/MissGvous)

(Lee Griffith - reluctantly a ‘semi-retired’ instructor)