Students of SEO is Martial Arts in Dalton were a little more excited than usual for their demonstrations on Friday. That’s because they were performing taekwondo in front of an international audience.
The world famous Korean National Demonstration Team was in town for the second time in as many years to perform in support of Master Ju Hyon Seo’s Sidekick Against Drugs fund-raiser at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center.
The SEO is demonstration teams — the Little Tigers (3-5-year-olds), the B (beginners) and (elite) teams — took center stage in front of about 200 people, including the Korean Team, to support Whitfield County’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and the Family Support Council.
Members from Lee’s Taekwondo in Chattanooga also participated.
The event not only gave SEO students a chance to see some of the world’s best taekwondo artists, it also allowed them the chance to perform for the Koreans.
Colton Mantooth performed with SEO is elite demonstration team and was excited to show off his training of the past eight years, which has earned him a second-degree Black Belt.
“Knowing their abilities and knowing how well they can perform, it does put a little bit more pressure on you,” said Mantooth, who enters his senior year at Northwest Whitfield and hopes to start his own martial arts school in the future.
“You know you have got all these other people watching, but you’ve also got a professional team that does this for a living and travels around the world performing. It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also motivation because they’re people we can look up to.”
Seo, who helped fund the Korean Team’s trip to the United States, believes students watching professionals at work provides an invaluable experience for them. The Korean Team consisted of 14 members, plus a director, professor Kim Jung Heon of Yong In University in Yongin City, Gyeonggi province, South Korea.
“Taekwondo started in Korea,” said Seo, who is from Korea and was also a member of the Korean Team for five years after training in sparring for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. “The reason I do this is I want my students to see where this art came from. All these members that come here are highly trained.
“And it’s a cultural experience for my students as well. Team members stay at some of my students’ houses and they get to learn the Korean culture.”
The Korean Team’s performance impressed Paxton Bennett, who has been a student at Seo’s for 2 1/2 years and has earned his red belt.
“It is really cool to see all that they can do,” said Bennett, who enters seventh grade at Westside Middle School. “I try to compare our stuff to their performances and it can help you work on your technique. I want to see if I can reach their abilities.”
While SEO students were impressed with the Koreans’ performances and intrigued by the cultural aspect of the event, Kim said the feeling was mutual for him and his students.
“SEO teams were very impressive,” Kim said. “Last year we were here and practiced together for about a week and they were not at as high of a level as they are now.
Article Source: http://www.daltondailycitizen.com
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