RHMAA Bulletin Board

Class Schedule

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
11A – 12P						Elite Training
12P – 1P						Team Training
5P - 5:30P	Lil Kicks All Belts	Parent & Child	Lil Kicks All Belts	Parent & Child	Lil Kicks All Belts
5:30P – 6P	Tiny Tigers All Belts		Tiny Tigers All Belts		Tiny Tigers All Belts
6P – 6:45P	Pee Wee Yellow Belt	Pee Wee Green-Blue	Pee Wee Yellow Belt	Pee Wee Green-Blue	Pee Wee Yellow Belt
6:45P – 7:45P	Jr & Adult All belts	Pee Wee Red-Black	Jr. & Adult All Belts	Pee Wee Red-Black	Jr. & Adult All Belts
7:45P – 8:45P	Combat Hapkido	Jr & Adult All belts	Team Training	Jr & Adult All belts	Combat Hapkido
Lil Kicks – 4-6 years old		Pee Wee 7-13 years old			Jr. & Adults 14 and above

NEWS

The Register Star
Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Red Hook MAA headed to big stage
By Brian Radewitz

RED HOOK - The Red Hook Martial Arts Academy sent a team to the AAU Adirondack Taekwondo Championships at Hudson Valley Community College on Feb. 21 and established itself as a top-notch Taekwondo program, as evidenced by the numerous medals the team brought back.

Team coach Master Hector Jimenez Jr. and seven members of the Red Hook Martial Arts Academy (RHMAA) Competition Team competed in Troy and qualified for the AAU Nationals and the Junior Olympics. Over 350 competitors from over seven states showed up at the college to participate in the event. Red Hook's team consists of Brandon Caridi, Cristina Cummings, Alec Cummings, Danielle Gay and Dan Sherrod, all of whom are black belts at RHMAA, as well as Raeanna Levenson and Laura Muldoon, who are both advanced level color belts.

According to Master Jimenez Sr., Muldoon takes her black belt test in May. Each of the participants have been with the academy anywhere from two to 15 years. The team competed in forms and Olympic sparring, bringing home seven medals overall.

Master Jimenez Jr., a town of Livingston resident, performed a fifth dan black belt form and won a gold medal for his efforts. "Forms" are a predetermined set of moves which each participant must carry out. The sequence looks like a simulated sparring session and is judged on speed, grace, beauty and execution.

Cristina Cummings of Elizaville won a bronze in sparring and forms while her older brother, Alec Cummings, competed in the 14-17-year-old division for the first time, winning a gold medal in Olympic sparring.

Olympic sparring differs from conventional point sparring in that the former contains more contact. Athletes wear head gear and chest protectors for Olympic sparring and there are no breaks in the action as there are in the point version. Gay, of Rhinebeck, won a silver medal in sparring and Levenson, of Tivoli, won a silver in forms and a gold in sparring. Caridi and Sherrod, both of Rhinebeck, and Muldoon, of Red Hook, placed in the top eight of their respective divisions and were given participation medals for their efforts.

By placing in the top eight, the team qualified to attend this year's AAU Nationals and Junior Olympics. Nationals are scheduled to be held June 29-July 4 at the Broward County Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

"We felt the team did very well in the Adirondack Championships," said Jimenez Sr., who competed in the 1970s and feels it is much more gratifying to see his students perform well than to perform well himself. "The feeling doesn't come close to how I feel seeing the students progress, develop and compete well."

Unfortunately not all of his students will be able to make the trip to Florida for the national event as each student must pay for their own trip and accommodations.

"The economy definitely plays a part as each family has to absorb all of the cost of competing," stated Jimenez Sr. "It is nice to see a large number of people still competing at the events though in these tough times. The numbers weren't down too much at the Adirondack event and I hope they won't be down too much at the national events either."

Members of the competition team are training diligently for the summer tournament. In addition to practicing twice a week in normal classes, members come to the gym at least two extra days during the week to get some extra work in.

"I expect everyone to do very well that goes to Florida. We always come home with medals and I feel that we have a very strong competition team this year," stated Jimenez Sr.