Martial arts students to compete in Cape on Saturday

Martial arts students and masters will test their skills Saturday in a tournament in Cape Girardeau.

The American Martial Arts Sports and Education Association and Moo Sul Kwan will sponsor the Lee H. Park Ways of Honor Martial Arts Championship at the Arena Building.

There will be plenty of kicks, blocks, punches, sparring and some board-breaking at the event, according to Steven Dunn, 6th-degree master instructor and an event organizer. He expects more than 150 competitors from Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. Black belts will be breaking different thicknesses of boards using different styles, and a small group that studies hapkido will demonstrate self-defense techniques.

Grandmaster Lee H. Park founded the Moo Sul Kwan Martial Arts Institute in Cape Girardeau in 1969. Park also taught at Southeast Missouri State University. He was an icon in his era and was one of the two highest ranking Moo Sul Kwan instructors in the world, according to Dunn.

He died in 1988, but Park's martial arts schools in the United States carry on his traditions. Moo Sul Kwan schools focus on the Korean martial arts of tae kwon do and hapkido, and also emphasize a judo program. The programs of the institute cover the history and philosophy of martial arts, techniques of teaching, varsity training in martial arts and a form of total body combat.

Park's legacy runs deep in Southeast Missouri. Cape Girardeau police chief Carl Kinnison studied with Park, though he won't be competing Saturday.

"The whole martial arts discipline works well for life in general whether studying and working," Kinnison said. "In the profession I chose, the defensive tactics worked out well in later years, but the discipline itself has created a great foundation in my personal life as well as my professional life."

Tae kwon do is valuable for all ages, said Dunn, who teaches the skill at HealthPoint Fitness in Cape Girardeau. Children as young as 4 and adults as old as 60 will compete in Saturday's tournament. Several of Dunn's students will be taking part.

One of them, 7-year-old Blake Kolwyck, already recognizes the value of studying tae kwon do.

"I learn discipline and self-control and respect and self-defense," said Kolwyck, a yellow belt. This is his first tournament, and he has a goal: "I want to take home a trophy."

Kolwyck's grandfather, Dan Kurtz, encouraged him to take classes. Kurtz helps with publicity and at tournaments for the Cape Girardeau institute. He took tae kwon do in Iowa but does not take classes in Cape Girardeau. He said he wasn't even sure if Kolwyck would like it.

"But he never misses a practice," he said. "He is learning roundhouse kicks, spars and free fights, but he is learning so much more. He is learning 'Yes, sir' and 'No, sir' and things that he will carry with him the rest of his life."

The fee for competitors is $35. Admission for spectators is $5 per person; children 12 and younger are free. The tournament directors are Denise Pingel of Perryville and Doug Johnson of Jackson. Registration begins at 9 a.m., and the competition starts at 10 a.m.