Once again I was proud of my students who continue to challenge themselves and overcome the adversity inherent in these competitions. You all handled yourselves with courage and dignity in both victory and defeat.

Our first place finishers in each event were as follows:

Balance Challenge

Marcus Boigros, Amber Grant, Milan Capers, Max Kwan, Malcolm Roesser, Justin Smith, Brenna Chen, Junior Batista

Forms

Trystan Mohamed, Elias Germanakos

Kicking Sprints

Nico Germanakos, Michael Zaccaria, Christian Battaglia, Max Kwan, Amanda Morel, Eli MacColl, Brenna Chen, Elias N. Germanakos

Power Breaking

Nico Germanakos, Rudy Torrijos, Tommy Bender, Owen Hayes, Jeremy Eichler, Trystan Mohamed, Elias N. Germanakos.

Prince Pad Pushing

Nico Germanakos, Michael Zaccaria, Gracia Acheson, Milan Capers, Claire Fox, Kyle Folkes, Justin Thomas, Justin Smith, Trystan Mohamed, Teddy Mendez, Elias N. Germanakos

Punching Sprints

Nico Germanakos, Aidan Johnston, Michael Zaccaria, Jacob Nadler, Max Kwan, Tian-Xin Brown, Justin Thomas, Benji Goldman

Sparring

Junior Batista, Elias N. Germanakos.

As the winter months get into full swing, snow can become a major factor in our lives. Most of you who have been around for years know we rarely allow the weather to affect our classes. However, when road conditions prevent us from safely offering classes, we may close.

This year we want to make sure that students clearly understand if and when the school closes. For normal afternoon and evening classes, the answering machine message will be changed to indicate a closing at least a half an hour prior to the class start time. This should provide students the opportunity to check in before leaving for class.

With regards to morning classes, if Tuckahoe schools are closed or on a 2-hour delay, no morning classes will be held. You can check for closings by watching the Westchester News Channel, generally channel 12, or by listening to 1230 AM.

We will always make every safe effort to be there for our students. And we appreciate your patience as we face the upcoming winter months.

One of the most critical aspects of being a successful student is working effectively with your fellow classmates. Understanding what is expected of you requires good judgement, and often a lot of trial and error. However, there are a couple of simple guidelines you can follow.

Anyone who is less experienced then you can be referred to as a junior belt. When working with a junior belt, we must always be caring. We display this caring by:

•Keeping them safe, from both us and themselves.

•By making an effort to share our knowledge with them.

•We must encourage when they are having trouble, and recognize when they are doing well.

•We must be patient as they learn, yet challenge them to improve.

Anyone who is more experienced then you can be referred to as a senior belt. When working with a senior belt, we must always be respectful. We display this respect by:

•Listening to their guidance.

•By accepting their advise or criticism and appreciating it as an effort to help us improve, not as an insult.

•By differing to them by allowing them to go before us, so we can learn from their example.

Submitted by Editor

Continuous Point Sparring:
Only available to students who participate in sparring at the school. Divisions are based upon size and rank. 

Forms:
Only for students Green belt or higher. Divisions are based upon rank and age. Students may preform any form taught to them at the school.

Prince Pad Pushing:
Divisions are based on rank and size. Students try and knock each other off balance with body shields, while hopping on one foot.

Punching Sprints:
Divisions are based upon rank and age. A competition to see who can punch two hand targets the most in a 30 second period.

Kicking Sprints:
Divisions are based upon rank and age. A competition to see who can do the most front kicks in a 30 second period.

Balance Challenge:
Divisions are based upon rank and age. Students attempt to maintain their balance on one foot, over time they are required to change positions.

Power Breaking:
Divisions are based upon rank and size. Students attempt to break several 1/2" by 5" boards.

As many of you know we hold in-school tournaments for our students twice a year. These events always bring up several key questions such as:

Who can attend?
Children in 4-6 year old and mainstream programs may attend. Each event is broken down into small groups to provide each student with a fair chance to compete. We don’t recommend this event to children in our Future Black Belt program, and students with less then a month of training.

What events should my child compete in?
We recommend students compete in events that they enjoy. Over the next month we will expose students to the various events to help them get a feel for them. We do recommend that if you choose to compete, that you compete in two or more events.

When is it?
One week prior to the tournament, once registration is complete, each event time is carefully predicted. Before that, we can’t give you a very accurate event time. An easy rule of thumb however is, the lower the rank of the student the earlier they will compete.

Where is it?
The tournament is held at the school in lieu of regular class groups.

How are groups setup?
We set up groups based upon two criteria, rank and either age or weight. In events like sparring, board breaking and prince pad pushing size is a critical factor so we use that to split up groups. In other events, forms, self-defense, punching and kicking sprints, and balance challenge age is a more critical factor in making the competition fair.
We remind you that students need to be weighed in at the school at the time of registration. Having each student use the same scale to base weight classification to be the most fair.

What prizes are there?
All students receive a patch for participation. Having the courage to compete is one of the greatest indicators of success in any venture. Beyond that trophies and medals will be awarded to winners in each division.

The next black belt promotion has been scheduled for February the 10th and 11th. This event is quite different than most promotions, and is held only twice a year at most.

Unlike a standard promotion, a Black Belt promotion is a two day event. The first night generally lasts about 6 hours. During this time students demonstrate their entire curriculum. During this phase of the promotion only Black Belts and students promoting are allowed to attend. At the end of this first evening students sleep over at the school, and oh boy do they sleep.

The following morning we wake up bright and early, around 6 AM, and continue the testing process. Around 9 AM students and instructors are given a short time to return home and prepare for the next phase of the promotion.

Early that afternoon students return with friends and family for the demonstration portion of the promotion. This part of the promotion is much like a regular promotion. It lasts roughly an hour and ends with the belt ceremony. However, the belt ceremony is more complicated.

For the belt ceremony the black belt candidate picks 1 or 2 people to participate in the ceremony and remove their brown belt. This honor is given to the one or two people who were most directly responsible for the students success.

The Black Belt promotion signifies the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end. Participating in it requires maturity and discipline. It is a substantial accomplishment to have reached this milestone. We wish you all the best of luck in preparing for it.