08 December 2010

Totally Tae Kwon Do Article "Hooking Block" and Martial Artist Birthdays

For the Christmas 2010 issue of Totally Tae Kwon Do I submitted an edited version of my Hooking Block post, from this blog. You can find the article on page 71 of Issue 22. As always, Totally Tae Kwon Do is full of a variety of articles. This issue especially sees many personal accounts of people's experiences in the martial arts. There is also a nice article reflecting on Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, the "Father of Taekwon-Do in America." During his long career, Grandmaster Rhee has taught such celebrities as Muhammad Ali--helping him with his punches, Bruce Lee--refining his kicks, and motivational speaker Tony Robbins--contributing to his personal philosophy (p. 8). Apparently, even at his age, Grandmaster Rhee still does a thousand push-ups and sit-ups a day! Grandmaster Rhee had his 80th Korean birthday this year. According to Korean custom, they are considered to be already one years old at the time of their birth. Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee was born in 1972 and will be 80 according to Western reckoning, January 7th, next year.

Speaking of birthdays, recently would have been Bruce Lee's 75th birthday. This martial art legend was born on 27 November 1940. The martial art blogosphere have been quite Bruce-busy of late, contemplating the contribution of Bruce Lee to the martial arts as we know it today and also the martial art film industry we have come familiar with. I wonder what Lee would have thought of the current MMA fad?

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