Colbs

I recieved an email from my former next door neighbour (who we sent a great deal of our childhood playing together in his sandpit). He informed me that he was currently in Korea teaching (Hanam City). So we met up in Jamsil, and enjoyed a nice coffee and lunch at a western establishment. It was good to see my old friend, whom I think we have offically lost to the world. He is a pop idol in Korea - King Shaun.......... read more

Training has been a little subdued since the beginning of this week. I was informed that because the TKD season is over, and that Korean ThanksGiving is in two weeks, that the school semester is winding down, therefore training is winding down. We have still been doing tough morning training (i.e. running and sprints), but the afternoon is usually filled with some sort of ball sports (soccer, basketball, some other form of soccer). I have been mitt kicking with an injured korean boy, who has been kind enough to hold for me whilst i hit them. The story behind this boy's injury is quite tragic. About 2 months ago, a visiting Italian TKD team came by and were sparring (as usual), expect this boy sustained a corked leg from one of the visitors, which was later ... read more

The training is taking it's toll on my body, as I now have a slight fever and headache, as well as a sore throat. I have managed to communicate my predicament to the other students with my crappy korean, so they have been very helpful in getting medicine for me. I have slept for much of the day, apart from this mornings running session, which I sat half out of. I am alot better now having the day off, but realized just how boring the life of a korean fighter must be - sleep, wake up, train, eat, sleep, wake up, train, etc, etc...and these kids do it day in day out - which explains why there is not an ounce of fat on these kids (or more to the point, there is ALOT of crap ... read more

Morning training started as per usual with the morning run, sprinting exercises and stepping exercises. The session then came to an abrupt halt, and the foreigners (South African Team, John and myself) were asked to leave. I was later informed that due to the poor performance that the kids were being punished. Punishment here invovles a table leg, and hitting on the leg....and I mean not a little tap, but a big hit. The history behind the stick is that is has been hear as long as the school has (since 1967). I was later shown the results of the hits that the kids recieved for not bringing enough medals home... The kids in Australia have it so easy.... read more

Pung Saeng boys have had a competition over the last 4 days (from the 7-10). Both the middle school and high school feilded competitors. The high school competed over the last two days. There were approximately 10 players from the High school. All of them fought extremely well, with the School taking home 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze. The competition standard was very high, probably higher than that of the Korea Open, as many of these kids are literally fighting to get into a good university. As I had 5 days worth of competition, I decided to leave early, and head back to the Dorm for some much needed rest with the Phillipines boys, who were leaving today to fly to Thailand for the World Cup tournement (good luck!). After an hour sleep, the ... read more

The Australian team's final day at the Korean Open proved to be a mixed bag. We came away with one Bronze and One Silver. Dounia (Friend and fellow VTA club member) fought very well today, but was KO'ed by the Korean girl in her final fight. Up until that point, Dounia was evenly matched with her. Despite the KO, she fought very well, with this being her second international event. Duncan (South African team) fought as well, but was unfortunate to meet Korea in his fight. Alot of the play went Korea's way despite Duncan fighting very well. Alot of the scoring is questionable, even though you may have hit, usually it does not register or the Korean player gets the score. This has been the main theme through this tournement. Despite that, tonite is the ... read more

One thing that I have to give to the Korean people is the fact that they will never go hungry here. Ever corner, subway, street has at least 10 restuarants on them, and if there is no restuarant, there is a vending machine serving food. I have done my "get to know you area" walks over the recent days, and have seen some interesting things Much of the sity scenary is like Hong Kong - bright neon signs everywhere - except all the streets are for food places. Sungnam main street does have what is called "Ubiquotis Mart" which is a multi storey shopping centre for clothes. Buying clothes is not the cheapest however, but food is - with a big meal costing 4000 won (or 7 AUD). Tonite I decided to walk to the meat ... read more

7:00am wake up this morning for training. We were told to run about 20 mins around the hall, progressively getting faster and faster as we went. Needless to say, i died in the arse about half way...and that was only warm up. After the warm up, we continued and did sprints around the make shift track in the hall...4 laps of sprinting, then rest. This continued for 5 times, before we were able to get a drink. We then did sprints again, this time for 20 meters, for 10 times. Then 10 meters for 5 times. This was proceeded straight after by shuttle runs/suicides - which means you run back and forth 3 times, from one end of the hall to the other, and back again. (To give you an idea of the size of the ... read more