Minnesota Hanmadang 2016

Kukkiwon Taekwondo Academy is proud to announce the first Minnesota Hanmadang which will be held at Spring Lake Park High School, Spring Lake Park, Minnesota on Saturday, October 15, 2016. For those who are not familiar with Hanmadang, it is a tournament none like others. Taekwondo sparring is very well known as an Olympic sport. However because of the high skill level and physical conditioning needed to be successful, the average taekwondo schools in United States only has 10% of the students participating in sparring class and competition. Hanmadang offers the opportunity for the majority of students to showcase their skills in traditional forms, power breaking, creative breaking and team demonstration. This tournament is more of a festival than a competition. I also want to point out that this tournament is an official Minnesota Hanmadang tournament which is sanctioned by the U.S. Open Taekwondo Hanmadang. All 1st place winners at MN Hanmadang will be awarded a free event registration at the upcoming 2017 U.S. Open Hanmadang in Colorado.

For those who are familiar with the Andy Wallen Tournament, 2015 was the last year of the Andy Wallen Tournament. Donald and Maxine, parents of Andy Wallen asked me if I would like to continue with the tournament and I was honored and graciously accepted the invitation. Although I directed the Andy Wallen Tournament for past 8 years I did not have any experience in running a tournament from the ground up. However I knew I wanted to honor Andy in some way and I thought Hanmadang style tournament is a great way to honor Andy and celebrate his legacy. Andy Wallen was a close friend who I trained with and admired, we always dreamed of owning a school together. Andy tragically passed away in 1995 and we would like to continue his memory through MN Hanmadang.

Although the format of the tournament will change from previous Andy Wallen tournaments, I assure you that you will experience a tournament none like others in terms of organization, efficiency, and utilizing the latest technology for fair judging. We will be using Poomsae Pro scoring system which is used at Nationals and other international events and boards will be held by board holding machine which currently is being used at U.S. Open Hanmadang and World Hanmadang in Korea.