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Tae Kwon Doae Kwon Do is a Korean martial art. It was developed by combining incorporating the elements of Karate and Chinese Martial Arts along with the indigenous Korean

martial arts traditions of Taekkyeon, Subak, and Gwonbeop. The main actions of Tae Kwon Do are head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking tech-niques. Tae Kwon Do requires proper uniform—Dobok—and belt. The belts are available in various color and this color indicates different levels. There are many other styles in Tae Kwon Do so those colors are not standardized but the darker colors are higher than lighter belts. So white belt is for the beginners and black belt is for masters. Furthermore, Tae Kwon Do requires facilities and equipment. In America, most of the places where they work-out is called gymnasium, but the place where Tae Kwon Do’s instruction is given is called dojang in Korean. When sparring, padded equipment is required for every player such as homyun that is padded helmets, hogu—padded torso protectors for feet, hands, and etc. Also for each dojang, there are different people in different positions. The grandmaster of the dojang is called gwanjangnim while master (senior instructor or head of dojang) is called sabeomnim. I was born in Korea and enjoyed attending Tae Kwon Do class. I learned Tae Kwon Do about 4 years and got un-til Pre-Black belt. When I was searching my topic for this picture story project, I was surprised to know that there were

Tae Kwon Do class in Bloomington. Since I never been to a Tae Kwon Do class in America, I thought this would be a great opportunity get to know about foreign version of Tae Kwon Do. Excel Tae Kwon Do class is held at Bloomington recreation center—Twin Lakes Recreation Center. It is located at 1700 W Bloomfield Road and opened from Monday to Friday 5am to 10pm and 7am to 10pm over the weekends. This class focuses on coordination, dis-cipline and self-confidence in a fun and safe environment. Excel Tae Kwon Do is available from June 6ththrough July 21st and the members meet Monday and Thursday 5:30pm to 6:30pm. Since this class is for all ages, anyone can join this class by $50 fee. Master Emeline O’connor is the instructor of Twin Lakes’ Excel Tae Kwon Do Class. She has more than 20 years of experience in Tae Kwon Do with 4th degree black belt, which is the highest belt level and 4th rank of Tae Kwon Do. Some of her achievements include multiple National and Junior Olympic Championships in the AAU and USSSA organizations, AAU and USSSA National Team Member, and the first woman to be inducted in the USSSA Hall of Fame. The ultimate goal in Excel Tae Kwon Do is to mold future black belts into the best martial artist they can be. I first entered the Twin Lakes Recre-ation Center and asked where the Tae Kwon Do classroom is.

@ BloomingtonTwin Lakes Center

Instructor Emeline and student Kevin is having Gyeorugi together. His kick got right at the middle of her belly.

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The employee told me to go downstairs and Studio A at the end of the hall would be the place. The class was about to start, and Master Emeline kindly explained information about her and her class. There were only four students but they all looked passionate about Tae Kwon Do. Since students were young, parents were allowed to sit next to the class. Luckily, every parents who were there let me to take pictures of students. The class started by everyone stretch-ing their bodies. Stretching before moves reduce muscle soreness and improves physical fitness. After stretching, they warmed up by running few laps. Then, they started formal Tae Kwon Do Poom-sae and practiced their kicks with mitts. In between activities, they had quick breaks so they could drink or rest for a moment. For the last part of the class, students got to have Gyeorugi. After having one on one with everyone, few students who won had Gyeorugi with Emeline. Tae Kwon Do is a Korean martial art. It was developed by combining incor-porating the elements of Karate and Chinese Martial Arts

along with the indigenous Korean martial arts tradi-tions of Taekkyeon, Subak, and Gwonbeop. The main actions of Tae Kwon Do are head-height kicks, jumping and spin-ning kicks, and fast kicking techniques. Tae Kwon Do requires proper uni-form—Dobok—and belt. The belts are available in various color and this color indicates different levels. There are many other styles in Tae Kwon Do so those colors are not standardized but the darker colors are higher than lighter belts. So white belt is for the beginners and black belt is for masters. Furthermore, Tae Kwon Do requires facilities and equip-ment. In America, most of the places where they work-out is called gymna-sium, but the place where Tae Kwon Do’s instruction is given is called dojang in Korean. When sparring, padded equipment is required for every player such as homyun that is padded helmets,

hogu—padded

torso protectors for feet, hands, and etc. Also for each dojang, there are different people in different positions. The grand-master of the dojang is called gwanjang-nim while master (senior instructor or head of dojang) is called sabeomnim. I was born in Korea and enjoyed attending Tae Kwon Do class. I learned Tae Kwon Do about 4 years and got until Pre-Black belt. When I was searching my topic for this picture story project, I was surprised to know that there were Tae Kwon Do class in Bloomington. Since I never been to a Tae Kwon Do class in America, I thought this would be a great opportunity get to know about foreign version of Tae Kwon Do. Excel Tae Kwon Do class is held at Bloomington recreation center—Twin Lakes Recreation Center. It is located at 1700 W Bloomfield Road and opened from Monday to Friday 5am to 10pm and 7am to 10pm over the weekends. This class focuses on coordination, dis-cipline and self-confidence in a fun and safe environment. Excel Tae Kwon Do is available from June 6ththrough July 21st and the members meet Monday and Thursday 5:30pm to 6:30pm. Since this class is for all ages, anyone can join this class by $50 fee.

LEFT: Twin Lakes Recreation Center is Bloomington rec-reation center that is located at 1700 W Bloomfield Road.RIGHT: The instructor of Excel Tae Kwon Do is Master Emeline O’Connor, 4th degree black belt with more than 20 years of experience.

Jaden (left) and Arvin(right) are having Gyeorugi.Every couple minutes they rest for 30 secondsand rotate to a different player.

TOP: The students are stretching with instructor before the Tae Kwon Do lessons to avoid injuries.Stretching reduces injuries to muscles and increase flexibility.

Bottom: During quick break, Jaden’s mother is wiping sweats

from forehead with handkerchief.

Master Emeline O’connor is the in-structor of Twin Lakes’ Excel Tae Kwon Do Class. She has more than 20 years of experience in Tae Kwon Do with 4th degree black belt, which is the highest belt level and 4th rank of Tae Kwon Do. Some of her achievements include multiple National and Junior Olympic Championships in the AAU and USSSA organizations, AAU and USSSA National Team Member, and the first woman to be inducted in the USSSA Hall of Fame. The ultimate goal in Excel Tae Kwon Do is to mold future black belts into the best martial artist they can be. I first entered the Twin Lakes Recre-ation Center and asked where the Tae Kwon Do classroom is. The employee

told me to go downstairs and

Studio A at the end of the hall would be the place. The class was about to start, and Master Emeline kindly explained information about her and her class. There were only four students but they all looked passionate about Tae Kwon Do. Since students were young, parents

were allowed to sit next to the class. Luckily, every parents who were there let me to take pictures of students.The class started by everyone stretching their bodies. Stretching before moves reduce muscle soreness and improves physical

For more information about Bloom-ington Park and Recreation : https://bloomington.in.gov/