I have been studying Tae Kwon Do for a over 2 years now and and have been sharing my story with everyone here about my success. Well our academy's booster club has an annual community fundraising event,a board break-a-thon, and all of the proceeds go to the Katy ISD D.A.R.E program. The past 2 years we have raised over $4500 per year as a group for the program and we want to do even better this year. It is a good program and a lot of fun for all of those that participate.
I hope to raise at least $400 this year if possible, and it all comes down to you my friends and readers. What I am looking for is for you all to sponsor my daughters in this event. For every $5 donated they get to break a board. So we are looking to get donations towards 80 boards, now I know that sounds like a lot but knowing my kids they will rip through that in no time flat.
As an added bonus if anyone wants, I will provide photos of myself or my kids breaking the boards that are purchased by anyone who sponsors us. And if you want I will even make sure your name is on the board. Please help support D.A.R.E. You can contact me through here or via E-mail at wtweldon@yahoo.com and use TKD in the subject line.
Thanks again,
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Black Belt Expectations
It has been a crazy month, let alone the past couple of weeks, what with all of the personal excitement and nerves about my latest Tae Kwon Do belt testing. Now you may be wondering why this event is any more important than any other belt testing, and that is understandable, so let me provide some background.
Two years ago this August I signed up for a 3 class trial of Tae Kwon Do at the academy that my daughters had spent the summer at. I was 39 years old weighed about 225 to 230 lbs and my cholesterol was at around 235. Add on top of that my diet consisted of fast foods, soft drinks, and candy. Yes I was a walking advertisement for medicine companies and the US heart association. I could not walk up one flight of stairs with out getting out of breath, and could barely do anything physical with my children with out needing an oxygen tank. I realized at that time that if I did not do something I would, despite not drinking or smoking, be in the hospital with a heart attack, or worse dead in the next 5 to 10 years.
So I did something that up until last month, my mother though I was crazy for doing, I tried out martial arts, Tae Kwon Do to be specific, I saw several older adult males in the class and figured if they were able to do it I should be able to as well, especially since I was at one time a respectable college level swimmer as well as could hold my own in other sports. So with a summer of watching my daughters and a little courage I signed up for the trial class package, which is actually a really good value, $19.95 for 3 lessons and you are provided a uniform as well. So it actually is a great deal and the opportunity to try something at a very reasonable price.
Well needless to say even before my first class I was interested, I walked on the training mat, a 39 yr old overweight, former college athlete, and was immediately greeted by two Black belts and a Green Belt who came over and welcomed me and offered words of encouragement ranging from glad to have you, to just do what you can and do not be afraid to ask questions. Needless to say that first lesson was if not completely forgettable, it was an experience, I had considered myself a reasonably agile and limber person from my swimming days. Suffice it to say I was neither agile nor limber, and I walked off of the mat soaked in sweat, tired and wondering if I had done the right thing. The next morning my body reminded me of just exactly how out of shape I was, I ached all over, and also in places that I did not know I could ache, but for the first time in nearly 15 years it was a good ache, my body was telling me that I was doing something good and I was reminded of all of the time I spent in the pool and in the gym, and all of the blood, sweat and pain I went through to accomplish what I did, and you know what it was something that I realized that I had missed these past 15 years.
Fast forward through twenty months of classes, aches, sore joints, failures, successes, significant diet changes, as well as the multiple belt tests and tournaments, and we come to the last weekend in March of this year. I am now a senior Red Belt and am testing for my level 1 First degree Black Belt, also called probationary rank, however instead of doing things the easy way, I attempted to test for my level 1 instructor certification. Double dipping at a testing is not always the best thing to do, especially when you are making a major jump in rank like I was. I knew I was taking a calculated risk doing this however I felt that if I was not prepared for both I was not prepared for one. So everyone who was testing lines up and warms up, and I am getting focused upon my belt testing, and things are going well. I feel good, stretch out well and go and sit down waiting to be called up to test when I am thrown the ultimate curve ball, the head of the academy that I attend starts to talk about the instructor certification program, and at that time I realize that my belt testing is going to come second and that I need to switch mindsets. As the description of the program is finished and my name is called, I take a deep breath, answered up sharply and moved to my position on the floor. I can only guess why they chose to run things in this order, maybe it was because he wanted to see me at my freshest when testing for the instructor certification, maybe it was because he wanted to see how those being tested would react to an unpredicted change of plans, who knows? Needless to say I blew through that testing and did well, and I completed my belt testing with out so much as a single mistake.
So I walk out of testing knowing I have done as well as I possibly can, and then the waiting starts. See we are not informed of our test results till the following Monday, at which time you will get a call from the academy if you failed or No Changed at the test. Needless to say the waiting was the worst part, but nobody who tested from our family received that phone call. which meant not only did I pass my instructor test but also my belt test and was now a black belt. Now I have come to realize that being a black belt means being held to a higher standard both in the class room as well as outside of it, what I did not realize was that the standards for someone like me, an (supposedly mature) adult who is both a black belt and an instructor were even higher, not only am I expected to assist in lower classes but I also need to expect to be called upon in my own class to assist, demonstrate, or even teach some of the lower ranks if necessary. The ironic thing is some family members have asked me if I now regret taking on these responsibilities and I tell them emphatically, "not in the least, if anything I am enjoying the challenge of living up to what is expected of me."
Now I expect some of you are asking, well now that you have your black belt, what else do you plan on doing? Well to be honest, this rank is simply the beginning of the journey, my ultimate goal is to achieve both an advanced Black Belt rank (4th degree or higher) as well as becoming a level 4 or 5 instructor. Beyond that I do not know but as of now getting to, testing and passing my test for 4th degree Black belt is a journey that will take around 5 years of work, possibly more if for some reason I no-change, however that is one thing that I do have some control over, and to be honest with everyone, I will do everything that I possibly can to avoid that.
So back to my personal health, if you look back to when I started I was 39 yrs old, around 230 lbs, with a cholesterol of around 235, in less than 2 years I am down to between 200 and 205 lbs, and at last check my cholesterol was at 188. So it comes back to this, Tae Kwon Do has provided me with not only wonderful new challenges, but also probably has added maybe 10 or 20 years onto my life. Will I stop? not if I can avoid it, both for my physical as well as my mental health.
God bless and enjoy.
Two years ago this August I signed up for a 3 class trial of Tae Kwon Do at the academy that my daughters had spent the summer at. I was 39 years old weighed about 225 to 230 lbs and my cholesterol was at around 235. Add on top of that my diet consisted of fast foods, soft drinks, and candy. Yes I was a walking advertisement for medicine companies and the US heart association. I could not walk up one flight of stairs with out getting out of breath, and could barely do anything physical with my children with out needing an oxygen tank. I realized at that time that if I did not do something I would, despite not drinking or smoking, be in the hospital with a heart attack, or worse dead in the next 5 to 10 years.
So I did something that up until last month, my mother though I was crazy for doing, I tried out martial arts, Tae Kwon Do to be specific, I saw several older adult males in the class and figured if they were able to do it I should be able to as well, especially since I was at one time a respectable college level swimmer as well as could hold my own in other sports. So with a summer of watching my daughters and a little courage I signed up for the trial class package, which is actually a really good value, $19.95 for 3 lessons and you are provided a uniform as well. So it actually is a great deal and the opportunity to try something at a very reasonable price.
Well needless to say even before my first class I was interested, I walked on the training mat, a 39 yr old overweight, former college athlete, and was immediately greeted by two Black belts and a Green Belt who came over and welcomed me and offered words of encouragement ranging from glad to have you, to just do what you can and do not be afraid to ask questions. Needless to say that first lesson was if not completely forgettable, it was an experience, I had considered myself a reasonably agile and limber person from my swimming days. Suffice it to say I was neither agile nor limber, and I walked off of the mat soaked in sweat, tired and wondering if I had done the right thing. The next morning my body reminded me of just exactly how out of shape I was, I ached all over, and also in places that I did not know I could ache, but for the first time in nearly 15 years it was a good ache, my body was telling me that I was doing something good and I was reminded of all of the time I spent in the pool and in the gym, and all of the blood, sweat and pain I went through to accomplish what I did, and you know what it was something that I realized that I had missed these past 15 years.
Fast forward through twenty months of classes, aches, sore joints, failures, successes, significant diet changes, as well as the multiple belt tests and tournaments, and we come to the last weekend in March of this year. I am now a senior Red Belt and am testing for my level 1 First degree Black Belt, also called probationary rank, however instead of doing things the easy way, I attempted to test for my level 1 instructor certification. Double dipping at a testing is not always the best thing to do, especially when you are making a major jump in rank like I was. I knew I was taking a calculated risk doing this however I felt that if I was not prepared for both I was not prepared for one. So everyone who was testing lines up and warms up, and I am getting focused upon my belt testing, and things are going well. I feel good, stretch out well and go and sit down waiting to be called up to test when I am thrown the ultimate curve ball, the head of the academy that I attend starts to talk about the instructor certification program, and at that time I realize that my belt testing is going to come second and that I need to switch mindsets. As the description of the program is finished and my name is called, I take a deep breath, answered up sharply and moved to my position on the floor. I can only guess why they chose to run things in this order, maybe it was because he wanted to see me at my freshest when testing for the instructor certification, maybe it was because he wanted to see how those being tested would react to an unpredicted change of plans, who knows? Needless to say I blew through that testing and did well, and I completed my belt testing with out so much as a single mistake.
So I walk out of testing knowing I have done as well as I possibly can, and then the waiting starts. See we are not informed of our test results till the following Monday, at which time you will get a call from the academy if you failed or No Changed at the test. Needless to say the waiting was the worst part, but nobody who tested from our family received that phone call. which meant not only did I pass my instructor test but also my belt test and was now a black belt. Now I have come to realize that being a black belt means being held to a higher standard both in the class room as well as outside of it, what I did not realize was that the standards for someone like me, an (supposedly mature) adult who is both a black belt and an instructor were even higher, not only am I expected to assist in lower classes but I also need to expect to be called upon in my own class to assist, demonstrate, or even teach some of the lower ranks if necessary. The ironic thing is some family members have asked me if I now regret taking on these responsibilities and I tell them emphatically, "not in the least, if anything I am enjoying the challenge of living up to what is expected of me."
Now I expect some of you are asking, well now that you have your black belt, what else do you plan on doing? Well to be honest, this rank is simply the beginning of the journey, my ultimate goal is to achieve both an advanced Black Belt rank (4th degree or higher) as well as becoming a level 4 or 5 instructor. Beyond that I do not know but as of now getting to, testing and passing my test for 4th degree Black belt is a journey that will take around 5 years of work, possibly more if for some reason I no-change, however that is one thing that I do have some control over, and to be honest with everyone, I will do everything that I possibly can to avoid that.
So back to my personal health, if you look back to when I started I was 39 yrs old, around 230 lbs, with a cholesterol of around 235, in less than 2 years I am down to between 200 and 205 lbs, and at last check my cholesterol was at 188. So it comes back to this, Tae Kwon Do has provided me with not only wonderful new challenges, but also probably has added maybe 10 or 20 years onto my life. Will I stop? not if I can avoid it, both for my physical as well as my mental health.
God bless and enjoy.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Life the Universe and Everything
With apologies to Douglas Adams, It has been a long time since I have posted much of anything here other than a few photos of my children. There have been several reasons, including not having the time, as well as simply being burned out by all of the garbage that is/was going on in the world. That being said, I do not know how much I will be posting in the future simply because every time I start to write about something, the inspiration, or infuriating that spurred me on to write seems to fade. It could be that I am simply sick and tired of bitching about things that I have no control over, and somewhere in the back of my mind a switch has been thrown and I subconsciously now realize that I need to be more aware of my own personal surroundings and do more to take control of those things that I can effect. I could continue to collect headlines of stories that I find interesting and make a comment or 2 about them, however right here and right now I am more of a mindset to suspend this blog in it's current format and look for some other form of expression in this space. What it is going to be I do not know, stay tuned for more news and updates.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Things that make you proud
There are a few things in life that make people really proud. Having your child accomplish something is one of the joys in life that never gets old. My oldest daughter spent spring break with her Grandmother. They spent that time doing things that Grandma's and their grandchildren do, such as going to movies, and fun things, but they also spend a lot of their time making a quilt together. Below are a few of the pictures of that event.
I am so proud of her, this was also the first time she had spent more than one night away from home without Mom or Dad.
I am so proud of her, this was also the first time she had spent more than one night away from home without Mom or Dad.
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