I will be adding a Black Belt class on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm starting May 9th and continuing through August.  This will allow all Black Belts to train and prepare with my attention for the test.  I would suggest this is also an excellent opportunity for those Black Belts who have not been training for a while or even a long time to come back in and work on Hapkido.  These classes will be designed to make it very easy for you to come back even if it has been many years since you have trained.

 The September promotional test will consist of two testing dates.  One test will be for Black Belts only and the other for all other ranks.  The exact dates have yet to be decided but more than likely the Black Belt test will be September 7th
or 8th with the color belts testing the following Friday September 14th.
 
My intent is to Promote Mr. Dave Saum to 6th Dan in September.  He will be giving a demonstration at the Black Belt
promotion test.  Additionally, several Black Belts have been recognized for potential promotion.  I am making this information available to you all well in advance to allow further consideration to any others who are interested
in promotion.  We are trying to coordinate a Hapkido seminar the same weekend and are looking at bringing in the current directors of the World Hapkido Federation to conduct it.  If you go to their web page which you can access through the Bloomington Karate web page you will see information on the seminars that have been conducted in the past and are scheduled for this year.  The seminars in Greece and Mexico are good examples of what we are looking at doing.  The proposed schedule would be the Black Belt test Friday the 7th and the seminar Saturday the 8th.  

This seminar would be open to all in the area regardless of school, style or rank.

Here is the current breakdown and status of the September Black Belt Test:
 
Recommended:

Mr. Dave Saum – 6th Dan

Candidates:

Mr. Seth Halvorson – 4th  Dan
Mr. Mark Bettes – 3rd  Dan
Mr. Ben Chung – 2nd Dan
Mr. Scott Legus – 2nd Dan
 
Requesting:

Mr. Luan To – 3rd Dan
Ms. Lisa Davis - 2nd Dan

 
If you are requesting consideration please discuss this with me soon.  More information will follow as we get closer to knowing who all will be involved in both the test and the potential seminar.  This is public information so please feel free to share with anyone you know who has an interest.

Tim Mullin