vacation

my long vacation feels like its taking forever...its ery fun with all my family but my body needs to be back in the dojang. the muscles i use in the dojang are cramping up here...not to mention my very light skin is burned! so far, i cant believe i only missed 4 gst trainings but i actually missed 6 trainings in all. i really miss my team and will be back soon!

KTC tournament/ a little history about an honorable man

the day started out pretty funny/cool with the demo team from korea. they did a demo with some michael jackson songs and put a korean soap opera twist to it. but we had some good fights and some fights where we didnt get the desired result. but lets move forward. we learned A LOT! today. some of us we resorting back to bad habits but its good that we fix them not in a local/small tournament rather than at nationals, qualifiers or for some, in korea. next week is a tournament at james logan, my high school. i sure hope its not held in the small Al Roderigues gym because that one was pretty small. hopefully, its held in our big pavillion. its very very nices anywho, there is a big story behind Alfonso Roderigues that has not been shared outside of my community. mr.roderigues was a very commited man to sports and the health of youth. he dedicated most of his time to james logan high school as the sports director and later moved on to the stanford men's volleyball team after he knew that the sports program at james logan was under control and could be passed on to some great coaches. his team went from the WORST to FIRST! he coached the stanford volleyball team very well and was very involved in sports programs. Roderigues was diagnosed with stomach cancer in late 2008 and he peacefully passed this year at the age of 68 with his family at his bedside. actually, since mr.will smith is from stanford, and my dad was a big part of the Logan Baseball team, they saw eachother at Roderigues' funeral where many had wonderful things to say about how Roderigues contributed to the well being of the youth in our community and the pride in our schools. even though he had stomach cancer, he still worked hard at trying to make our community a better place and tried to make our youth have a healthier lifestyle.

next year

next year we will have two more competitors eligable for the US national team. both lexy bomagat and austin lew will get a shot at their first 14-17 team spot. i sure cant wait til 2012, which seems forever...kinda is but im going to have to wait... anywho, goodluck and start working hard now kiddos! cant wait until next year when we have A. Guting, E. Guting, D. Burns, A. Bomagat, N. Bomagat, A. Ubando, and A. Lew fighting at team trials for the team spot. Goodluck to Y. Bomagat also for her first year of official seniors.

waiting

its not the easiest thing to handle when you find out that you wont be able to fight as a black belt next year. i've been working my butt off and its really painful but whats waiting for me in a couple years will be worth it. gotta keep my head up and move forward. i feel like everything is telling me to quit and that everything is against me. my body feels like its wearing down, there is no chance of me being on team next year and im not in the place i wanna be, the place i've ALWAYS dreamed of. but i have to stop letting those things get to me. gotta stay strong for my team and fight my best. i cant give up on myself or let myself down. i dont want to live a life full of regrets. i guess all that i can do is fight to be the best. thats my plan...

TLo

congrats to angelica and yasmine too

goodjob all three of you guys for making the us team. go represent in korea!

CONGRATS ANNA UBANDO!

anna ubando was chosen to be on the US team to go to the Korea Open. Wow! great job. all your hard work is paying off. She leaves August 30th but her plane ticket payment is due on July 28th..ya short notice but lets all work together and help out our teammate. IM SO PROUD OF YOU MY "HALFZIE!" :) train hard and fight smart. lets prep you for the korea open!

thanks everyone!

first off, i want to thank master ortez for giving me this opportunity to test. its taken me so long and now i can finally do it! thank you to both master garr and master ortez for helping me in the basics class and really giving me the one-on-one time i need. Master garr, you always push me to my limit and even farther. you never give up on me and are the best coach. i couldnt ask for anyone better, because there is none. Also! Thank you to the williams and esaka family for going wayyyyy out of your way to help me out. they got me videos, worksheets, emails and everything i need to get better at what i need to do. thank you to my family. you guys are also going out of your way to get me to each practice almost EVERY night to accomplish my goal. thanks mama sue, you not only get me to practice when i need you to, but you went and did your research on what i need and how i need to do it before everything started. you go me in the position im in. thanks dad for taking time away from sophia, mama, ricky and jade to take me to practice and tournaments. you not only sacrifice your time to relax, but you always come through financially. you work so hard and always provide the best you can. even jade, you are one of the best sisters i can ask for (sophia too but she cant really help right now, beside the support she gives me). jade goes out of her way to take me to class and help me out in anyway. she not only makes me a better fighter by pushing me and mentoring me, but she makes me a better person and shows me how to be a better human being. thanks for taking a couple hours or even a couple days off of your life to make mine better. thanks for using your time and money to get me where i wanna be. thanks for being an awesome sister and my best friend. i know i can count on you for everything and anything and i know that you will always be there for me, even though i am the annoying little sister :). i love you, jade! thanks ricky for really supporting me in taekwondo. you never complain that you dont get much time with dad. you're growing up to be a better person each day. you all work your hardest and sacrifice a lot for me to be happy. so i am going to do my best, work 150% and never give up. just like you do for me. i never feel like anyone has given up on me. i always feel the support and love from everyone. i hope i can make you proud!

day 1!

Tonight will be my first day of my training for my testing. I am very excited and hope this helps me in my fighting also. Like Master Ortez said, I have to build myself a stronger foundation and work up from there. I took the time over my weekend last week to learn some forms. At first, I was a little overwhelmed and scared because at my last dojang, we never had to learn forms or and basic taekwondo. Now, I don't fear my testing. what I want to accomplish in this testing is one of my biggest dreams. Ever since I was little and watching my older sister, Jade, in the dojang, Ive wanted this so badly. Now that the opportunity is coming my way, nothing can stop me. I recently found out that I might not get it as early as i want it next year, but still, I have to take my baby steps in my taekwondo journey and I will reach my goal when the time comes. This test will be one of the biggest tests I've had. Its not just a test of my physical strength or the way I do my forms and basics, but a lot of it is my will power and leadership. This is my main priority right now so i might not be able to make it to some of our GST trainings because i will have 6 practices a week. My fear is burning out too early. But know that even though i might not be at practice some days, i will still be here for you guys and that you can ask me for any help or whatever still. Wish me luck tonight.

TLo

2010 nationals

the 2010 nationals was great! everyone fought hard and hopefully achieved something during this experience. i am proud of everyone on the team and very amazed with your fights. this nationals for me was overwhelmingly happy. not only did i get the result i wanted, but i saw my teammates fight hard and do what they love. i was very happy with the effort we all put in not only at the tournament, but in the dojang. lets learn from this experience and press forward hard as a team. GST!

TLo

Stanford

great performances at Stanford. i know many of us got banged up and injured but lets take care of those injuries and work hard for nationals. its great having a bigger team now because we have more support. one thing that we all have to work on is making sure we stick together when we need to for warm up and when our teammates are fighting. unfortunately, one of our teammates, nico bomagat, will not be able to fight at nationals because his arm war broken in two spots. he will be out for 6-8 weeks. goodluck healing up nico, we will be ready when you are able to come back to training!

confidence

one thing i noticed is that we are losing our confidence. DONT! i will admit that even i have lost confidence but i realized that there was no point in not believing in myself. i feel so blessed to get up every morning and be able to go do something i love (tkd). if i personally dont believe in myself, then who will? if i dont have confidence in myself, i cant expect anyone else to for me. today we had a great double session and and tough workout. i am proud of everyone who came. we went all out and performed well. lets all continue to work hard and push until nationals. we can all accomplish what we want if you just believe in yourself. i spoke to a teammate this week about believing in themselves and their desired result will come easy if they give it their all. we have the right training, an excellent coach and a strong team to back us up. i know we all can unleash the innerbeast we have within us. it just takes the correct mindset and the wanting heart to bring it out. as your teammate, captain and friend, i will not let you fall. im behind each and every one of you guys 100%.

TLo

thank you and welcome

thank you to captain james howe for coming to fresno even though he doesnt have to fight. he sacrificed a weekend to hep us out and be our coach. also, welcom to our new family, the Ubandos. the Ubandos, Bomagats, and the Lews are a very strong addition to our team. now that we have a full sized team, lets go out there and fully support eachother. one thing i like to do is to make sure our team is behind eachother and very supportive. its great going out on the mat and hearing your team chanting your name. it gives you this hype and thrill to go out there and give it your all.

TLo

fresno

today is Saturday, April 10th, 2010 and 9 hours before i fight. Am i nervous? Yes. But am i scared? No. I have a good, supportive team behind me and Im very confident in myself, my training and my coach. Its time to leave it all on the mat. even though we have been training like crazy and giving it all, it was only 3/4 of our battle. now its time to show that 1/4 and show no mercy. Goodluck to all my teammates and best wishes.

TLo

havent blogged in a while.

its nice to have many new team members to our gst family. welcome to the lew family and bomagats. also, it was great to have back the miradors at our training on saturday. we have a good sized team. keep up the good work!
TLo