Any advice you have can help...

[TKDHansVader]

Greetings forum members, I am posting here today to seek advice from the TKD community. Recently our Dojang lost our beloved Master Ken Ellis. He was shot and killed at his home in what is an apparent execution for lack of a better term.
http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_sarasota_manatee/north_port/north-port-police-investigating-the-murder-of-middle-school-teacher-kenneth-ellis
He was a great friend, instructor and Master, He was the first person to bring TKD to be part of an actual school’s (6th -12th grades) curriculum and part of the regular classes. This was a very successful program that brought the values of TKD to hundreds upon hundreds of children over the course of many years. Many of which would have never been able to be part of such a great thing for many reasons.
Being involved in Martial Arts most of my life I was eager and participated in his evening classes to support my daughter who was enrolled as part of school. Because he felt this was an integral part of the success of each student he offered amazing rates for the whole family to attend. Master Ellis believed in, lived and breathed the values and tenants of TKD, a true inspiration. His violent death came as a shock to everyone, with no understanding and no suspects we are left to only wonder what is next.
I wanted to bring this to this forum today to ask for advice on what we the students can do to carry his legacy on. I cannot change what the school will do with the Scholastic program and only hope to influence the decisions they will make. But that is not why I am here. I am here because our night program ended abruptly with his untimely death and this is where I need you thoughts and advice.
In our Dojang the top student below Master Ellis was a 3rd dan black belt. He was ready to test for his 4th but was on hold until Master Ellis completed his 5th during this summer. What the students of the school would like to see more than anything is for him to carry on the school in whatever capacity he can. Most likely this will mean starting out at someone’s house, church or other space that is available to host around 20 people and that would be minimal on cost. The system was based on the ITF system but like many other schools had modifications made over the years. Here are some of the questions that are before us.
- What rank can grade other students, both colored belts and black belts. I should state that there are also a few 2nd dan’s that are/were part of the school.
- What can we do to assist our 3rd dan to test and reach 4th dan
I will leave it at those two questions for now, I do have more but those may change based on the advice I receive from the first two.
Thanks for being patient if you managed to read this far. I am humbled and appreciate any advice that you have for us to keep our system and the TKD dream of my Master alive.
Paul

 

[granfire]

First:
My deepest condolences to you and the community for the loss of your Master.

Then I would like to take the opportunity to welcome you on Martial Talk.




ITF is not my style so I can't really give a lot of advice on that.

I am pretty sure that as 3rd Dan you can test pretty much all ranks below you.

If you know the channels through which your Master was going to test, I am sure they can help you along with the rank grading for the 3rd Dan holder. I would be surprised if they are not accomodating, especially in your situation.

I hope you get to continue the program. I have seen a lot of good it does in many people.

My best wishes to you and your group!

 

[RSweet]

How eerie, in the early 1980's one of the instructors who had left Kang's Taekwondo in Tulsa - Kelly Hogan, was killed in pretty much the same manner, only it was one assassin. Turned out that the killer was paid to kill Kelly. I just found the book about the murder written by Charles Sasser (the whole story gets stranger with the killer turning himself in 5 years later, then breaking out of prison taking the deputy warden's wife with him. They were found 10 years later at a chicken farm in Texas and she is now on trial. True story.) when I unpacked some books yesterday.

Depending on the system etc... there are plenty of instructors who are in a position to test a 3rd dan for 4th. If this were a WTF school, I could give you names. USAT and AAU do rank testings - you could check with them. You said there were modifications? Do the black belts get Kukkiwons? Are you affiliated with other schools? You have all kinds of options depending on affiliations etc.... Did Master Ellis issue his own certificates or did he go through a kwan or the kkw?

Can you give some more information on how things worked? Might make it easier to guide you. My condolences on your loss.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Well, since you state Master Ellis was working on his 5th Dan, perhaps you should seek an aliance with whomever he was seeking his promotion from.

 

[TKDHansVader]

Thanks to everyone for the responses thus far I can not express the level of gratitude.

RSweet > This was called Scholastic Tae Kwon Do Association (STA) , It followed the foundation, values and fundamentals of the ITF . The Black belts did not get Kukkiwons and after just speaking with the 3rd dan, the STA issued all the TKD certificates. Master Ellis also instructed Ko Am Mu Do and those were issued by the World Ko An Mu Do Federation. This was the first of what he had hoped to be many Scholastic programs designed to integrate this TKD into other schools. The night program, which I was involved was to support the students on the journey. With the grades 7-12 some had the opportunity to get 20 hours of instruction per month for 5 years as part if their regular classes. Any modifications that were made were done so due to school liability, which needed things like minimal student contact.. The only other modification was the addition of a form at the yellow belt level. To the best of my knowledge..

Earl >
He was under Grand Master N.G Guak of the World Ko Am Mu Do federation. The problem there is that he is about 3.5 hours away, I would rather speak face to face with him out of respect rather than an email.


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[granfire]

ah, distance, the ongoing problem...

I would suggest to try via phone if a face to face can't be arranged.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

My condolences to Master Ellis' family and students. Very sad.

Daniel

 

[TKDHansVader]

Thanks Daniel, this was unexpected and very sad..
There was a quote from the TKD encyclopedia,the final line of the Philosophy of TKD in the card for his memorial service....

[SIZE=-1]"Be the eternal teacher who teaches with the body when young, with words when old, and by moral precept even after death".
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] General Choi Hong Hi. [/SIZE]

 

[Poomsaeguy]

Hello,
I am a 5th Dan Kukkiwon school owner in North Port Florida as well as a member of the National poomsae team. I also have studied under GM Guek and the Ko Am Mu Do. If you would like to email me ([email protected]) I would be glad to help you get together with GM Geuk.

 

[TKDHansVader]

Poomsaeguy> Thank you very much! That would be awesome. I will email you soon so we can discuss this more. We are taking everything one step at a time and this would be a big one for sure.

We are patiently awaiting the schools decisions. This will really determine where we stand.


“I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing”. RONALD REAGAN,