22th October 1998

Hello sirs and ma'ams,
    My name is William Awl, 1st dan black belt with ITF/USTF, from
West Monroe, LA. I met your junior development team in Odessa, TX last
weekend and I wanted to write and say how impressed I was with them. The
team members I met were all very nice and courteous, and I was quite
impressed with their team pattern. I came across your web site after I
got back and was browsing the internet. I really like your site. Keep
up the good work, and I wish your junior development team the best of
luck in future competitions. I hope to meet them again some day. Thank
you for your time.
    Your in Taekwon-do,
    William Awl, A-1-7680

19th October 1998

Tournament yesterday, approximately 200 competitors from 17 different clubs in
all from throughout Texas and a few from outside - our New Zealand team did
really well, results are as follows:

Mark 1st Sparring
3rd Patterns

Toni 2nd Sparring
3rd Patterns
3rd Breaks

Gemma 2nd Patterns

Team Pattern - 1st

They just loved our team pattern we incorporated the Haka at the beginning of
the pattern followed by both fast and slow movements of the pattern Po-eun.
Looked awesome .. so many comments from the other competitors and spectators.

Last night after the Tournament we all went out to dinner, and came back to Mr
Nunez's studio till 1.30 am - Toni as team captain, Mark and Gemma did a good
job in teaching them the Haka was hilarious.

Mr Nunez is now ready to take a class so had better go.


See you all


Jill & Steve, Mark, Toni, Gemma, Paul, Deb & Alisia

PS Deb and Alisia have departed our group and are at the moment off to Miami.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

and from Debbie...

The Team has had a really awesome time. The Odessa hospitality is
incredible and the tournament would not have been the same without Mr
Nunez and his relatives, students and parents.

The tournament was extremely well run. The contact level is definitely a lot heavier than at home, but all three of the Junior team managed this really well.
Mark's hip and leg were feeling a lot better and he felt he would be
able to cope well, which he obviously did.

Toni had a really hard fight with a competitor much larger than herself. Gemma was first up in the morning and although she did not make it through to the second round, she felt that she could have adapted a lot more if she had seen a few
rounds first.

16th October 1998

Yes we are here at the Nunez Studio, awesome place, taken heaps of photos to
bring back and show all. All gearing up for tournament tomorrow - kids are
training now in gym, sorry studio. Mr Nunez, his family, students and parents
etc met us at Midland Airport last night at 10.25pm - so hospitable. Checked
into a great hotel, whirlpool, indoor heated pool, sauna, and steam room plus
a small gym. Dined out with the above party at Ihop about midnight.......
Today we were picked up by these wonderful people and taken to what you might
call at refuge for zoo type animals, so got really close to Lions & Tigers,
patting them from the outside of the cage. the Tiger licked the kids hands.

Had lunch at a Mexican place and are here right at this moment compiling this
email.

Before we forget we must mention that when Steve decided to assert his
authority Toni as Team Captain, decided to assert hers, knowing that Steve had
purchased a pair of Planet Hollywood Boxers she decided the rest of the team
needed a close look and oops Steve's tear away pants proved to be just that
"Tear Away" pants.....
As for Paul, he was a bit sleepy last night went upstairs to go to bed, took
off his clothes, pulled down the bed, went to brush his teeth, guess what,
wrong room, he quickly got dressed before anyone came in and found his own
room.

There are no hills here, it is as flat as... and they have tumbleweed here,
very common, it is dry and hot, about 82 degrees F.

The team are doing the USTF Referee course tonight - so that will be good for
them. Looking forward to tomorrow, catch you later.


Jill

14th October 1998

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's taken so long to write, there are not a lot of places in LA to
email from, and when Jill and I finally found a station, we felt like complete
idiots when we were unable to operate the email system.

Disneyland was a awesome experience, especially for Steve who needing the
restroom in a hurry failed to see the diagram of a lady in a dress and then
failed to see the sign that read 'Ladies' while looking for the urinal, he
finally looked up to see a number of women laughing at him, he beat a hasty
red faced retreat. Toni decided her feet hurt and took her shoes off to give
them a rest, within two minutes security was there to ask her politely to put
them back on.

Everyone agreed Space Mountain, Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain were the best rides and Fantasmic was the best Show. Fantasmic was a lazer light and water show with fireworks and was the most amazing show we had ever seen.

We went to Universal studios on Wednesday and the Jurassic Park ride was
incredible. We enjoyed back to the future ride and had a really good day.

Toni Mark Gemma and Steve have been training hard for up to six hours.
Wednesday night they trained till one in the morning.

Leave for Texas tomorrow, will catch up then.

Debbie

12 October: - Fax received from the team:

We had a good flight, with no sleep. The adults couldn't sleep and the kids didn't want to. The lady behind Mark could not manage to make it out of her seat without hitting him in the head. Toni is so attached to her airline earphones, they are still in her bag. Oops.

Toni had a comfortable flight - her head on Gemma's knee and her legs and feet on Mark.

The landing in LA was successful on the second attempt. (There was a plane sitting in the middle of the runway on the first attempt), so as the wheels touched the ground we took off again skywards in a big hurry to re-join the flying pattern to re-land 10 minutes late.

Our Hotel is perfectly situated directly opposite the main entrance to Disneyland & beside numerous low cost restaurants. Toni, Gemma and Mark couldn't wait, so we were at Disneyland gates by 5.30 pm. It was extremely busy and waits in the queues were 20-30 minutes. But worth the wait. The Fantasmic show (Laser lights and water backdrop) was fabulous.

Finished off with Space Mountain and Hot Chocolate & Coffee at 1am & finally sleep.

Today shopping, training, swimming and rest.

Finally a big thanks to all the supporters and friends who came to the airport to see us off. It was a brilliant start to our trip.

9 September

The team are training hard - 7 days a week, including working with the Senior World Champs pre-squad.