Spencer's Warriors News Letter * May 2004

 SPECIAL DELIVERY-If any of you have been wondering where our lady Black Belt (Lisa) has been the past few months, well she has been preparing and now entered the world of mother hood.  On 4 April 2004, husband Christopher Archuleta and her are the proud parents of a new boy- Christopher Isaiah Archuleta. (Born 8:54 am.-7 lbs. 11oz)  We hope to see her kicking in class soon.(see photos on web under her name)

Other club news- The ESPN fundraiser is still available for any that may be interested.  It can earn you $$ for tournaments and testing fees etc.   Our first group that participated was Megan & Kristin Dunn, Larry Winstead and myself.  We were invited by ESPN magazine to forward them a photo of us for their ESPN magazine.  In some future issue we will be in the back somewhere.

  On 24 April, Black Belt Larry Winstead and color belts Terry Elliott and Andrew Simonsen competed in Virginia’s AAU TKD Championship in Woodbridge Va.  Here are their standings:

Larry Winstead - 1st Dan - 35+ (Gold-Olympic Sparring/Silver–Forms/Bronze-Point Sparring)

Terry Elliott- Green Belt-14 (Gold-Olympic Sparring/Silver- Forms)

Andrew Simonsen - Yellow- 16 (Gold-Olympic Sparring/Gold-Forms/Silver-Point Sparring-Competed in Black Belt Division /Silver - Forms- Adult Division). See photos on our web site.

 Congratulations for their efforts and accomplishments as they are now looking forward to competing in the Nationals this coming July in Ft. Lauderdale.  Larry has already made arrangements to compete. Jonathan and I will be accompanying  him to his gold medal victories.

 Black Belt Larry Winstead was recently awarded our club’s Competitors Patch.  The state competition was his twelve and earning him the patch. This is a dragon/ ying-yang patch to be worn on the right arm.  There have only been 6 of these awarded since it’s conception in 1996.

 Up Coming Events-

5 June- Jack Darks TKD tournament- Forms and Karate Point Sparring (only for those that have been sparring in this fashion are invited to compete.)  Trophies will be awarded 1^st thru 4^th place and only $35. to compete! (see web for all details)

 5 & 6 June- MS150 Fund Raiser- I will be cycling a 150 miles this weekend and will not attend the 5 June tournament.  If you care to donate to MS, I will gladly accept you contribution.  If  you interested in riding, you must raise a minimum of $200 to participate.  We stay over night in the dorms at Chowan College. They also need volunteers for other duties during the weekend. Let me know if you are interested. Look under photo albums at vatk.dom, and you can see results of my last three rides.

 12 June- The VA State TKD Game in Midlothian Va. -$60 early registration & $70 at the door for Forms-Sparring and Breaking. You must buy your boards there. See web site for all printable info.  I will be refereeing at this one and hope to see you in the ring!

 18 & 19 June- The Friday night camp out and Saturday picnic is still planned for this weekend.  I will be arriving at the hunting club early Friday afternoon to get a head start on  fishing and napping.  I will pass out a sign up sheet and directions some time in June.  It is located in the countryside near Smithfield about 25 minutes from the YMCA. There is in-door pluming for those that may be interested. This is once again a joint event with Morgan’s Martial Arts of Windsor.  Saturday, as last year, will consist of fishing,  softball, volleyball, horseshoes with lots of  grill’n and eat’n!

 26 June- Promotional Testing for those that will be notified-DON’T ASK!  We will have the Day Care facility, but have to be out by 1:30.  Make-ups follow as usual during the weeknights when possible.

 5~9 July- I will be in Florida at AAU National TKD Championship, so no class this week. There is almost 5 weeks in June and July, so I will not be making up those two days missed.  Have a safe and happy 4^th of July.  Please pray for our safe trip to Florida  and return and that no one gets injured!

 !!!!! First Baptist Students only-  We will have classes in June and August, but not JULY !!!!!

 Instructor’s Corner:

 I know a few of you will be out for the summer, away on trips visiting grandparents, sailing in the Bahamas etc.....I hope you have a safe and enjoyable time and look forward to seeing you in September.  Though you may be away, try to maintain what TKD skills you have acquired and sharpen them too.  Cross training in cycling, running, swimming etc...will keep you in some sort of athletic shape.  Don’t just eat and vegetate in front of the dumb tube!         

 Remember the words from the late Florida State Senator Claude Pepper “Life is like riding a bicycle: you don't fall of unless you stop pedaling.”