Greetings and Happy New Year.  This is our first electronic newsletter.  We are still working on an appropriate frequency for distributing the Newsletter and what kind of content to provide.  All newsletters will include a calendar of upcoming events and announcements of any tournaments.  We are also planning on listing belt promotions.  The other content for the news letter is still being discussed and will probably undergo change during the coming months.  We certainly hope that you find the newsletter interesting and will look forward to the upcoming editions.  If you would like to make suggestions, explore the new test web site at http://home.cinci.rr.com/stollhome and use the comment feature.  You may comment on the proposed new web site and our newsletter using this feature. 

As a reminder to all the sparring students, no sparring classes are held on the night of Junior Belt Testing.  Parents should expect the Junior Belt Test will be approximately 1 - 1.5 hours long.

During this month, we will be starting our tournament fund raiser.  The students at Hamilton-Fairfield Taekwondo will sell candy with the proceeds used to offset the cost for our tournament and participation of our students in the tournament.  Awards for the top selling students will be made.  Last year, the proceeds allowed us to reduce the cost for students to participate in the tournament by 50%!  The candy sale will begin on 13 January.  The other calendar items for January are listed below.

Michael Capek and Craig Stoll are teaching our Nunchaku class on Saturday morning at 11:15 am to 11:45 am.  Starting this year, the classes will follow a curriculum developed by John Keller, Craig Stoll, and Michael Capek that allows students to be recognized as their skills advance.  All students should bring at least one practice Nunchaku to the class.  As students reach level 3, they will be required to bring a second practice Nunchaku and a Tournament quality Nunchaku (no foam padding).  The weapon class is open to all adult students and all juniors that have obtained at least a brown belt.  These classes are excellent for developing reaction time and hand-eye coordination. If you have questions, please contact Craig Stoll at hamfair-tkd@cinci.rr.com.  A practice nunchaku is only $8.00 and can be bought in the office.  All students should begin with the practice weapon before working with the actual weapon.

Adult training in grappling based on Jiu-jitsu is offered on Saturday mornings 11:45 am to 12:30 pm.  The classes are taught by Robert Gerhardt, 3rd Dan Black Belt and police officer, and focus on ground defense techniques and throws.  These classes also integrate self defense techniques.  These classes compliment Taekwondo by focusing on combative self defense.  The class is open to all adult students.  Because of the techniques used in this type of martial arts, full participation will require that the student obtain an uniform that is capable of withstanding the strains of grappling.  All adult students are encouraged to at least take a look at the class to see whether it might interest them.

Hamilton-Fairfield Taekwondo has remained open during many winter weather events.  Students are expected to use good judgment when deciding whether to venture on to the roads during the winter months. When classes are cancelled and if possible, an e-mail notification will be sent out to those students that receive this newsletter and for now the crawler on the test page at http://home.cinci.rr.com/stollhome will be updated.