-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
Boise State Taekwondo Club to host BSU open
Archive
Comments
Story
The Boise State Taekwondo Club is set to host the BSU Open Taekwondo Championships on Nov. 10 in the Jordan Ballroom at the Student Union.
Taekwondo, “he way of foot and fist,” is based on ancient Korean methods of self-defense. It places major emphasis on flexibility and kicking techniques, but hand techniques are also widely employed.
It is a rapidly developing martial art that has become a major international sport and was introduced to the Olympic games in 1988, and became a full medal sport in the 2000 Olympics Games.
Today, Taekwondo is the most recognized Korean Martial Art. Taekwondo is practiced in 123 countries with over 30 million practitioners and 3 million individuals with black belts throughout the world.
The sport is growing at Boise State, too.
“We have over 50 members,” Chief Instructor Bob Drozda said. “Any BSU student can join.”
If a person has no Taekwondo rank, they would need to take the Taekwondo Beginner course (KIN-ACT 145). They can then get additional credit in later semesters by signing up for KIN-ACT 190 and 290.
The Taekwondo Club is an ASBSU Organization. It is open to BSU students and community members; however, it cannot have more than 50 percent of its membership be community members. Right now almost all of its members are BSU students.
Practices are on Tuesday and Thursday. The beginners’ workout runs from 3:40 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., and the Advanced from 5 p.m. until are 6:30 p.m., and from 1 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays.
The club hosts two major tournaments every year- the Boise State Taekwondo Open Championships in the fall (Nov. 10) and the Idaho State Taekwondo Championships in the spring (April 20, 2002). They also travel to several in and out-of-state tournaments every year.
“We have several national champions, and generally do very well in competition,” Drozda said.
The club practices Olympic style Taekwondo. The United States Taekwondo Union licenses Drozda as a Master Instructor, which is the exclusive national governing body recognized by the United States Olympic Committee.
Since it is a club sport at Boise State, fundraisers are the livelihood of the sport.
“The Tournaments we host are our primary fundraisers. We also work the ASBSU polls and some other smaller fundraising events,” Drozda said.
One thing to keep in mind is that it is not all about competition. Many members train hard but do not want to compete.
Drozda said that there are many facets to martial arts, and competition is just one of them.
To find out more about the club look up the website at http://boisestate.edu/tkd.
Source: http://boisestate.edu/tkd.
Darrin Shindle