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Taekwon-do history
Jan. 19th, 2018 10:07 amThis is the essay I had to write for my application to test for my 1st degree Black Belt:
I was born in a small town in central New York State, graduating from Lyons Jr Sr High School in 1989, and then attending Wells College, where I obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater/Dance in 1993. I moved to Portland in 1994, after living in Albany, NY briefly and going back home to Lyons, NY. I really wanted to get away from my home town, but I wasn't sure where I wanted to go. My best friend from high school was attending Reed College, and my college girlfriend was from Portland, and both of them told me Portland was a very cool city, so I thought "Why not?” Moving clear across the country certainly took me out of my comfort zone!
Somewhere around late 1994 or early 1995, I lived on SE 24th & Burnside, and I would often walk past Bettencourt's Taekwon-do, located in a small store front on Burnside. I'd sometimes see the classes through the window, and for some reason, it attracted my eye. Totally on a whim, I decided to check it out. Steven Bettencourt was a fourth degree Black Belt at at the time, and had a contagious enthusiasm for Taekwon-do, and I soon found that I really enjoyed classes, especially learning forms!
I progressed over the next year and a half to 4th Gup, if I remember correctly. Life grew increasingly hectic as I became a (step-)mother to a toddler, moved, and worked full time. I also had a fall on some broken sidewalk, and broke my elbow, so I ended up taking a break from Taekwon-do, which ended up lasting about five years.
(I was a bit disillusioned, too - I had been talked into joining Bettencourt’s “Black Belt Club”, which had a no refund clause, even when I was injured and not able to take classes. I basically paid for all the classes up to my theoretical black belt, 3 years worth, even though I stopped attending. I will never join another club like that, nor would I advise any of my friends to, but I digress.)
I started working at the library in January of 2001, when our second child was 2 years old and the oldest child was 6, and it was love at first sight! I'd always loved books and libraries - why it hadn't occurred to me to work at a library before then, I'll never know.
I don't remember how I stumbled across the Taekwon-do classes at the Portland Community Centers - probably while looking up classes for the kids. I discovered that Kim's Taekwon-do offered classes at several community centers in the area, and the times at East Portland Community Center worked best for my schedule. So, even though I was nervous about having been out of classes for so long, I decided to check it out.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams (now Masters) were the instructors at East Portland, and they welcomed me with open arms. From the records I managed to dig up, I think I returned to Taekwon-do classes around June of 2002, and worked on relearning the forms I had already learned, and then getting back to making forward progress. I was very happy that they used the same forms taught at Betterncourt's Taekwon-do, though the colors of the belts were slightly different. (I did not realize at the time that Master Bettencourt had once studied under Grandmaster Kim.)
I haven't found all of my certificates, but I did find references to testing for 3rd Kup in July of 2003, 2nd Kup in December of 2003, and I must've tested for 1st Kup sometime in 2004. I also have records of attending a friendship tournament in August of 2002, and medals from attending a tournament in Vernonia in 2004.
I'd been dreaming of reaching 1st Dan since I started studying Taekwon-do in the mid-1990s, and I thought I would finally make it under Grandmaster Kim and the Williams'. However, my love of libraries led me down another path. I decided to go to graduate school for my Masters in Library Science, starting classes in January of 2005. This meant I was working full time, attending school, and still raising 2 kids. It also meant there was no way I could go to class the required 3-4 times a week for black belt candidates, and probably not even 2 times a week. The work load was just too much, and something had to give - that something, alas, was Taekwon-do.
Fast-forward 13 years, and I'd long since finished graduate school. I'm still working toward a full librarian position, but I am working in reference in the library downtown, which is a lot of fun.
In April of 2017, I decided to try a temporary position as a Youth Librarian, to see if I liked it (it had always scared me a bit - youth librarians have a very busy schedule), and as fate would have it, ended up working with Adriana Martinez at the North Portland Library. She mentioned Master Camilo Centeno and showed me a photo, and I recalled meeting him a few times at advanced classes under Grandmaster Kim. She encouraged me to check out his classes, not far away from the library. I then ran into Master Centeno, and he encouraged me in person.
Even though I thought that I'd never return to Taekwon-do, that I was too old and out of shape, somehow I found myself back in class. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed it until I had it back! And this time, I decided I was not going to give up until I'd reached my goal of 1st Dan, and then who knows how far I'll go after that!
I was always a little nervous when I thought I'd get my 1st Dan under Grandmaster Kim - there was a lot of pressure for new black belts to teach classes, and that's never been something I wanted to do. I am, however, happy to help out in class, and work with other students if they need my help. I enjoy being part of the Taekwon-do community, and look forward to doing my part in ways that don't involve teaching - perhaps helping at tournaments and things like that. I'm not quite sure where my journey with Taekwon-do will take me, really, but I'm very happy to have it back in my life.
I also want to take a moment to thank all my past teachers, classmates and friends, and my current Master and classmates and new friends, for all their encouragement and help. I would not be here if it were not for all of the great people I've met along the way.
I was born in a small town in central New York State, graduating from Lyons Jr Sr High School in 1989, and then attending Wells College, where I obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater/Dance in 1993. I moved to Portland in 1994, after living in Albany, NY briefly and going back home to Lyons, NY. I really wanted to get away from my home town, but I wasn't sure where I wanted to go. My best friend from high school was attending Reed College, and my college girlfriend was from Portland, and both of them told me Portland was a very cool city, so I thought "Why not?” Moving clear across the country certainly took me out of my comfort zone!
Somewhere around late 1994 or early 1995, I lived on SE 24th & Burnside, and I would often walk past Bettencourt's Taekwon-do, located in a small store front on Burnside. I'd sometimes see the classes through the window, and for some reason, it attracted my eye. Totally on a whim, I decided to check it out. Steven Bettencourt was a fourth degree Black Belt at at the time, and had a contagious enthusiasm for Taekwon-do, and I soon found that I really enjoyed classes, especially learning forms!
I progressed over the next year and a half to 4th Gup, if I remember correctly. Life grew increasingly hectic as I became a (step-)mother to a toddler, moved, and worked full time. I also had a fall on some broken sidewalk, and broke my elbow, so I ended up taking a break from Taekwon-do, which ended up lasting about five years.
(I was a bit disillusioned, too - I had been talked into joining Bettencourt’s “Black Belt Club”, which had a no refund clause, even when I was injured and not able to take classes. I basically paid for all the classes up to my theoretical black belt, 3 years worth, even though I stopped attending. I will never join another club like that, nor would I advise any of my friends to, but I digress.)
I started working at the library in January of 2001, when our second child was 2 years old and the oldest child was 6, and it was love at first sight! I'd always loved books and libraries - why it hadn't occurred to me to work at a library before then, I'll never know.
I don't remember how I stumbled across the Taekwon-do classes at the Portland Community Centers - probably while looking up classes for the kids. I discovered that Kim's Taekwon-do offered classes at several community centers in the area, and the times at East Portland Community Center worked best for my schedule. So, even though I was nervous about having been out of classes for so long, I decided to check it out.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams (now Masters) were the instructors at East Portland, and they welcomed me with open arms. From the records I managed to dig up, I think I returned to Taekwon-do classes around June of 2002, and worked on relearning the forms I had already learned, and then getting back to making forward progress. I was very happy that they used the same forms taught at Betterncourt's Taekwon-do, though the colors of the belts were slightly different. (I did not realize at the time that Master Bettencourt had once studied under Grandmaster Kim.)
I haven't found all of my certificates, but I did find references to testing for 3rd Kup in July of 2003, 2nd Kup in December of 2003, and I must've tested for 1st Kup sometime in 2004. I also have records of attending a friendship tournament in August of 2002, and medals from attending a tournament in Vernonia in 2004.
I'd been dreaming of reaching 1st Dan since I started studying Taekwon-do in the mid-1990s, and I thought I would finally make it under Grandmaster Kim and the Williams'. However, my love of libraries led me down another path. I decided to go to graduate school for my Masters in Library Science, starting classes in January of 2005. This meant I was working full time, attending school, and still raising 2 kids. It also meant there was no way I could go to class the required 3-4 times a week for black belt candidates, and probably not even 2 times a week. The work load was just too much, and something had to give - that something, alas, was Taekwon-do.
Fast-forward 13 years, and I'd long since finished graduate school. I'm still working toward a full librarian position, but I am working in reference in the library downtown, which is a lot of fun.
In April of 2017, I decided to try a temporary position as a Youth Librarian, to see if I liked it (it had always scared me a bit - youth librarians have a very busy schedule), and as fate would have it, ended up working with Adriana Martinez at the North Portland Library. She mentioned Master Camilo Centeno and showed me a photo, and I recalled meeting him a few times at advanced classes under Grandmaster Kim. She encouraged me to check out his classes, not far away from the library. I then ran into Master Centeno, and he encouraged me in person.
Even though I thought that I'd never return to Taekwon-do, that I was too old and out of shape, somehow I found myself back in class. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed it until I had it back! And this time, I decided I was not going to give up until I'd reached my goal of 1st Dan, and then who knows how far I'll go after that!
I was always a little nervous when I thought I'd get my 1st Dan under Grandmaster Kim - there was a lot of pressure for new black belts to teach classes, and that's never been something I wanted to do. I am, however, happy to help out in class, and work with other students if they need my help. I enjoy being part of the Taekwon-do community, and look forward to doing my part in ways that don't involve teaching - perhaps helping at tournaments and things like that. I'm not quite sure where my journey with Taekwon-do will take me, really, but I'm very happy to have it back in my life.
I also want to take a moment to thank all my past teachers, classmates and friends, and my current Master and classmates and new friends, for all their encouragement and help. I would not be here if it were not for all of the great people I've met along the way.
