ST. PETERS—Twenty-two youth and for adults passed their Belt Examination at the King Yen Taekwondo School on Saturday.
The exams were conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations of World Taekwondo (WT) and the Kukkiwon in Seoul South Korea under the auspices of the St. Maarten Taekwondo Federation and officially authorized and tested by their recommender Grandmaster Theo Liu at the Helmich Snijiders Hillside Christian School in St. Peters.
White Belt - One Yellow Stripe
Earning a White belt with One Yellow Stripe, called 10th Kuye were Dahlia Acosta – Toss, Rehanna Dasrat, Joshua Lake and Gunesh Natram.
White Belt - Two Yellow Stripes
Philip Chang Sing Pang and Dwayne Wilson moved up to a White Belt with Two Yellow Stripes (9th kuye.)
Yellow Belt
Earning the right to wear a Yellow Belt (8th Kuye) were Jacuro Flanders, Nikki Holiday and Roeniel Sarabdjitsingh.
Yellow Belt - Green Stripe
Bengt Acosta Toss meet the requirements for Yellow Belt with a Green Stripe (7th Kuye.)
Green Belt
A Green Belt (6th Kuye) will now be worn by Kendrys Fuentes, Sunil Mankaran, Jhavid Ramcharan – Persaud and Jayden Tennant.
Green Belt - Blue Stripe
Reomar Jeffers and Thashan Khemraj earned a Green Belt with a Blue Stripe (5th Kuye.)
Blue Belt
A Blue Belt, ( 4th Kuye) was earned by Lucas Brouwer, Key-Mari Richardson and Rique Lee Rosalia.
Blue Belt - Red Stripe
Moving up to a Blue Belt with a Red Stripe (3rd Kuye) are Myles Holiday and Jacquelle Johnson.
Red Belt
Kiara Williams met all the requirements to wear a Red Belt (2nd Kuye.)
Four adults also completed Belt Examinations. Mandy Jong A Tai earned a Yellow Belt, Liesel Acosta-Toss, and Danny Acosta earned Yellow Belt - Green Stripe and Luisa Perez – Veras earned a Green Belt with a Blue Stripe.
“Despite the difficult situation caused by the Covid pandemic the students have done very well again,” said Grandmaster Liu. “Once again as our students improve Taekwondo in general moves forward. Also our country, St. Maarten, moves up in statue earning us more International participation.”
The Grandmaster was one of 181 masters from 74 countries invited to attend the virtual conference of World Leaders in Taekwondo organized by the Kukkiwon this past week. Grandmaster Liu was also one of the few invited speakers at the conference.
The Belt examinations are how students move up through the various levels of the sport toward earning their Black Belt.
The students underwent a battery of physical tests that involved the demonstration of TKD martial arts Forms (Taeguks), several defensive and offensive techniques and sparring. The testing concluded with the students having to break boards and do free sparring.
Assisting with the examinations were local home grown black belt holders Master Lee-Ann Liu (2nd Dan), Julien Fleming (1st Dan), Shekinah Carbon (1st Dan) along with Master Pastor Rodriguez Leon (2nd Dan) from Venezuela.
The testing helps students see the value of setting and working towards goals, which is an important life skill we want them to learn explained the grandmaster.
