2008 Hanmadang in the US

[IcemanSK]

The 2008 Hanmadang will be held in the USA for the first time. It will be in Anaheim, CA on July 16-20 at the Converntion Center.

For those who have attended previous events in Korea, or know more about it, please chime in. I'd love to more about what takes place.

 

[mango.man]

With just 6 weeks or so to go, it looks like Hanmadang is setting up to be a major flop!!!

http://mookas.us/media_view.asp?news_no=1363

Worldwide participants, numbers expected to be below par; last push to gain additional funding

2008 World Taekwondo Hanmadang is just around a corner. 2008 World Taekwondo Hanmandang will be held for the first time in the United States. The rights to host the event was given to United States Taekwondo Federation (President Sang Chul Lee, USTF), sanctioned by Kukkiwon. With July 16th approaching fast, 2 organizations are feeling the pressure in few other factors in hosting a successful 2008 Hanmadang.
* Kukkiwon, USTF, feeling the pressure

The main factor that will determine whether Hanmadang in the US will be successful is the 'number of participants'. Hanmadang coordinators have said "so far we have about 200 participants from Korea who will be attending Hanmadang in the US." And with about 43 days left until Hanmadang, "we are anticipating about 300 overall participants from Korea."

USTF anticipated about 500 participants from Korea. USTF and Kukkiwon are pushing for more at this time. One Kukkiwon affiliate said "we have marketed Hanmadang using our athlete data base and we are still receiving responses from potential participants."

It is still too early to say that Hanmadang is lacking participants. However, with Nationals (USAT) also taking place in July (Detroit, MI), it is unclear how many athletes will actually attend both Nationals and Hanmadang with the financial burden of traveling expenses.

USTF is responsible for $631,500 of the cost and guaranteed $300,000 from the organization. Current registration fee for Hanmadang is approximately $100 per person. If participants from Los Angeles area consists of about 2000 competitors, out of state athletes about 1000 competitors, that alone is projected to support the cost by $300,000.
Master and professors who have opposed Hanmadang in the US said "if they do not have enough participants, they cannot provide the funds to host the event and hence the outcome of Hanmadang will be unsuccessful."

* Hanmadang, missing the 'key factor'?

USTF who is hosting the event is struggling to land a major a sponsor for Hanmadang. From total cost of approximately $900,000, USTF is responsible for funding $600,000 and Kukkiwon $300,000. Without a major sponsor, it is unclear how they will provide funds to host the event.
USTF's initial plan was to cover $400,000 from registration fees and balance ($231,000) from potential sponsors.

However, current sponsors are only Adidas and Best Martial Arts. On May 22nd, USTF told MOOKAS during an interview "we have approached major companies such as LG and Samsung but so far they have not agreed on the sponsorship."

Some people who initially opposed the idea of hosting Hanmadang in the US are now stepping up to say we all need to work together to make Hanmadang a successful event. If Hanmadang is not successful, it will ruins the image of Taekwondo as a martial art.

 

[terryl965]

Yes they bboked it the same week as USAT and The AAU Nationals, why would they try and compete with the two biggest orgs. and there Tournament. They are looking like complete asses right now. Thank mango.man I was reading about it earlier today on another site.

 

[miguksaram]

Yes they bboked it the same week as USAT and The AAU Nationals, why would they try and compete with the two biggest orgs. and there Tournament. They are looking like complete asses right now. Thank mango.man I was reading about it earlier today on another site.

It was my understanding that USAT were the ones who booked after USTC already established their date. Perhaps out of spite for not being able to be the host in the first place. Regardless the Hanmadang ran very well and was well received. So much so that the KKW has allowed them to have the tournament again next year in Chicago.

 

[IcemanSK]

It was my understanding that USAT were the ones who booked after USTC already established their date. Perhaps out of spite for not being able to be the host in the first place. Regardless the Hanmadang ran very well and was well received. So much so that the KKW has allowed them to have the tournament again next year in Chicago.

First of all, welcome to MT. I really need to disagree with your assessment of the Hanmadang in the US this year. I did go & talked with several people in the know. I also had my own observations. There were less than 2000 competitors there. Considerably lesss than the more than 3000 that show up when in Korea. As far as it being run well, I wouldn't say that by a long shot. Several groups were called to begin at 1pm on Saturday. They didn't actually start until 7-8pm. The worst tournaments are THAT bad. That's with 1000+ less competitors than they planned on.

By all accounts, the Hanmadang will not be held in the US again anytime soon. If you have a source that says differently, please share it.

 

[mango.man]

It was my understanding that USAT were the ones who booked after USTC already established their date. Perhaps out of spite for not being able to be the host in the first place. Regardless the Hanmadang ran very well and was well received. So much so that the KKW has allowed them to have the tournament again next year in Chicago.

USAT Junior Olympics / Nationals are always the first week of July. Has been that way since they combined the 2 events a couple years ago. Prior to them combining the 2 Jr Olys has been on or near that first week of July for many years before that.

Here is a recent article from TKD Times that helps explain many of the reasons for failure, including the idea that USAT JOs/Natls conflicted. http://www.taekwondotimes.com/index.php?PAGE_ID=425

The USTC (Formerly USTF) was only created a year ago, Aug 11, 2007. Much like USAT already knows where and when next years nationals will be held (first week of July in Austin Tx) I am more than sure they knew by Aug 11 07 where this years nationals we going to be held. I know I remember hearing rumors of Detroit in San Jose last year.

So please don't try to say the USAT intentionally tried to disrupt the event by scheduling Nationals at the same time.

And Hanmadang did not "run very well" and with fewer than 1000 participants it was not "well received". It was wrought with problems and long delays, no Korean Tigers, referee protests and walkouts.

And why did Sang Lee change the name of the org, right after the failure of Hanmadang from USTF to USTC? Perhaps because he thinks that people will always associate the USTF with the failure of Hanmadang 2008 and the best way to try to disassociate himself from the failure is to change the name of the organization?

 

[miguksaram]

By all accounts, the Hanmadang will not be held in the US again anytime soon. If you have a source that says differently, please share it.

Ummm...yes..I do..It will be held in Chicago next year. I believe in the 3rd weekend of June. Source...USTC.

 

[IcemanSK]

Ummm...yes..I do..It will be held in Chicago next year. I believe in the 3rd weekend of June. Source...USTC.

Do you have a website referrence?

 

[miguksaram]

And why did Sang Lee change the name of the org, right after the failure of Hanmadang from USTF to USTC? Perhaps because he thinks that people will always associate the USTF with the failure of Hanmadang 2008 and the best way to try to disassociate himself from the failure is to change the name of the organization?

I believe that it was the fact is that they were unaware of the USTF name was held by the ITF organization. Since they did their marketing as USTF and everythign was posted as USTF event they asked permission to use it for this year only. After the even the USTF changed their name to the USTC.

I love the way people are ready to push it off as a failure. Was it perfect? No, but anyone who has tried to promote a tournament, much less a world event, knows that you will have problems. Things will not run smoothly all the time. Does it need improvement? Apparently. The members know this and and are working to resolve these problems for next year.

 

[miguksaram]

Do you have a website referrence?

None that I know of yet. Unless they changed their mind in the past couple of days, it is coming directly from the source.

 

[miguksaram]

USAT Junior Olympics / Nationals are always the first week of July. Has been that way since they combined the 2 events a couple years ago. Prior to them combining the 2 Jr Olys has been on or near that first week of July for many years before that.

Just out of curiosity, how many people showed up to the JO's and how does it compare to attendance for the past year? Also, was David A. at the tournament? I read that he did not even show.

 

[mango.man]

I love the way people are ready to push it off as a failure. Was it perfect? No, but anyone who has tried to promote a tournament, much less a world event, knows that you will have problems. Things will not run smoothly all the time. Does it need improvement? Apparently. The members know this and and are working to resolve these problems for next year.

And I love the way people are always willing to make up excuses when they have some stake in things. So what is your stake? There must be some, if you have inside information.

I have been to many tournaments big (4000+ ) and small (under 150). Some run better than others, but I have never seen the referees just walk off the mats in protest.

Regarding location for next year, I heard that next year will be back in Korea and that it will alternate from year to year in Korea then another country. I believe 2010 was Rome, as I recall. Then 2011 back in Korea, then 2012 someplace else, etc.

 

[mango.man]

Just out of curiosity, how many people showed up to the JO's and how does it compare to attendance for the past year? Also, was David A. at the tournament? I read that he did not even show.

I don't know how many people actually showed up. I did not count. I can tell you how many were registered, if you would like to know. But I am not going to go to the hassle of counting the names on the brackets to see how many actually showed up.

And yes, Askinas was there.

 

[miguksaram]

And I love the way people are always willing to make up excuses when they have some stake in things. So what is your stake? There must be some, if you have inside information.

I have been to many tournaments big (4000+ ) and small (under 150). Some run better than others, but I have never seen the referees just walk off the mats in protest.

Regarding location for next year, I heard that next year will be back in Korea and that it will alternate from year to year in Korea then another country. I believe 2010 was Rome, as I recall. Then 2011 back in Korea, then 2012 someplace else, etc.

Ahhh..I see..so I have to have a stake in order to have an opinoin? To be honest I have no stake whatsoever. I was lucky enough to be invited to a dinner because my wife is from the hometown of one of the members. (I guess when you come from a small town in Korea it is rare to see someone from that town).

I have no stake in this at all. My opinoins on this, right or wrong are my own. I am not making excuses only observations base on my experience as both a tournament goer (judge, coordinator, spectator, competitor) and one who has helped in the promoting and running national tournament. Not trying to be a smartass but have you ever promoted or ran a tournament? As you said some ran better than others, but why do you think that was?

 

[miguksaram]

I don't know how many people actually showed up. I did not count. I can tell you how many were registered, if you would like to know. But I am not going to go to the hassle of counting the names on the brackets to see how many actually showed up.

And yes, Askinas was there.

I was just curious. If it is too much of a bother, then no worries. As for David A. I guess I read wrong. Thanks for the info.

 

[miguksaram]

I do stand corrected about the Hanmadang for 2009. It is not the World Hanmadang, but the US Taekwondo Hanmadang that will be in Chicago for 2009. Sorry about the misinformation.