Hi everybody!
How are you all? I hope you made the most of your holidays and had an absolute blast! With the second semester of Uni starting, so do the Taekwondo Club lessons and I am pleased to announce that there are many new and exciting things planned for this coming semester!
However, before the good news, I need to tell everybody the bad news first. Between Monday August 3rd until Friday August 14th there will sadly be no training as the HK Ward Dojo Room will be closed. Why? Because the old floor mats will be thrown out, a new foundation will be installed and brand new mats will arrive!! Therefore, there WILL be training in Week 1 (Monday July 27th – Friday July 31st), NO training in Week 2 and Week 3, and training will resume again on Week 4 (Monday 17th August). I apologise for any inconvenience this causes and the Taekwondo Club had no power in deciding this sudden closure of the Dojo room.
As club members are aware, at the end of Semester 1 we had to say farewell to Master Zoo Yong Seo and the position of the club coach became vacant. Since then, members of the club committee have put in a great deal of time and effort to find a suitable replacement coach as quickly as possible. As of now, I can finally reveal that a new coach has been confirmed and I would like to introduce you all to Master Jong Man Hong! More info about him will be made available soon on our website, but here is some key and impressive facts about Master Hong:
-Gold Medallist (Bantam Weight) at the 1985 World Taekwondo Games in London
-7th Dan Kukkiwon Black Belt
-Graduated from Yong-In University in South Korea with a Bachelor’s -Degree in Physical Education
-Five Time Korean National Champion
-Former Captain of Korean National Team
-1987 National Team Coach for Finland
-Current NSW High Performance Coach
-Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Taekwondo in Yong-In University between 1986 to 1988
-Coached many National and World Champions
Looking at these points above, we really are privileged to have such an outstanding Taekwondo Master and World Champion come teach at our club. So I encourage you all to come to trainings this semester whenever you can and learn from one of the best! You won’t be disappointed and honestly this is something that you can’t allow to pass you by. Bring a friend too!
As you may already know, the 2009 Australian University Games will be held during the Mid Semester Break of Semester 2 at the Gold Coast and that the team manager is our good friend Jason Liem. If you wish to compete this year in AUGs (which I highly recommend as it is HEAPS of fun) please contact Jason by e-mail at streetfighter607 (at) hotmail.com or come see him at training. He sent out an e-mail to everybody in the club about the AUGs earlier this month so if you either didn’t get it or lost it please let him know and he’ll be happy to forward the info to you. The same info will also be made available on our website shortly.
I can also finally reveal to everybody that Jason Liem is now the AUG team trainer! He will be taking 2 classes on Mondays: from 3:00pm to 4:15pm he will lead the beginner class and between 4:15pm to 5:30pm he will be taking the AUG Training class. Beginners are encouraged to come to both classes and Jason recommends that AUG competitors should try to make it to both classes for MAXIMUM results. And it goes without saying that people not competing in the AUGs are also more than welcome to come along to both Monday classes.
This leads on to my next topic: class times.
In semester 2 we will continue to train on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Jason Liem will teach on Mondays and Master Hong will teach on Wednesdays and Fridays. On each day there will be 2 classes: 3:00pm to 4:15pm, 4:15pm to 5:30pm and all classes will be held in the Dojo Room. Both the Wednesday classes will be normal classes and the 3:00pm Friday class will be a normal class too. The 4:15pm Friday class will be a Tournament Class, but don’t let the name scare you as it will be fun and suitable for beginners as well as sparring enthusiasts. In addition, I regret to inform club members that there will no longer be any night time classes.
Furthermore, I would like to let all club members know about a great new deal we have on Taekwondo traditional “Dobok” uniforms for this semester. I am proud to announce that from now on, the Taekwondo Club can provide all its members with proper Adidas Uniforms for only $80! These uniforms are of high quality; higher than the Pine Tree uniforms we sold previously and for only $5 more! This is a REALLY GOOD deal and it is definitely something you do not want to miss out on because other stores/clubs in Sydney offer the same uniform for $120! If you want one, please let me know by e-mail or during training AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and make sure to tell me your height (Taekwondo uniforms are available according to your height) and have your money ready. Seriously people, this is a really sweet deal! Don’t miss out!
Lastly, some modifications to the lesson fees have been made and I would like to make you all aware of this change. After a lengthy discussion with the new club coach, it has been decided that there will be no classes during the holidays and so it only makes sense that an alteration needs be made to the 6 month pass; who would pay for a 6 month pass when there are no classes in the holidays? My point exactly. As a consequence, the 6 month pass is no more and we would now like to introduce everybody to the Semester Pass. For those of you who still hold a current and valid 6 month pass, please don’t worry as your pass is still valid in Semester 2 until its expiry date (printed on your receipt). The Semester Pass costs only $130 and if you consider the high quality and expertise of Master Hong’s teaching and international experience, you can truly appreciate that this is an AMAZING Deal. Secondly, I would like let you all know that the Monthly Pass fee has been increased to $50, and though the we wish to provide the best for club members at a very affordable price, increasing the monthly pass to $50 from $45 became an unavoidable change. I hope people can understand that even at this price, you will still be receiving an incredible value for money in regards to Master Hong’s teaching and that the club committee continuously endeavours to provide the best for club members. N.B The aforementioned prices apply to Students/Uni Staff and new lesson fee prices for community and junior members will be available soon on our club website.
As you can see, there are many big and wonderful changes coming this semester and I thank you for reading this informative yet very long e-mail (I apologise for its massive length). I hope to see you all at training during Week 1 and I am sure that you will be delighted with Master Hong’s and Jason Liem’s classes.
Thank you and Kind Regards,
John Lee
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John (Jung-Ho) Lee
President
Mobile: 0415 409 030
Email: jlee6406 (at) uni.sydney.edu.au
Sydney University Tae Kwon Do Club
Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness