WTF!!

WTF, or the World Taekwondo Federation is one of my new pursuits here in SOCAL. Incase anyone wants to know or needs clarification, I started martial arts when I was 10 years old with Scott Hamilton at the Yi Gin Ching Self-Defense Academy. I attained a purple belt with him (3 before black) and then he had to stop teaching because of back and neck problems (He was an airborne ranger and had an accident with a jump). Then for a brief time I did Yi Gin Ching with one of the black belt students, Brianne Reed. I attained no futher rank with her. During my training with Brianne, I encountered Royal West Martial Arts in Springville. They were headed by Anne Tolley. They focused on Taekwondo. I attained my 1st dan black belt with them before my mission. After my mission I started back up with Royal West Martial Arts but decided I wanted to try something new. So, I did Gracie Brazilian Jui-jitsu for a month and decided that I loved it, but it was too expensive for my low to no income state during college (I'd like to do it again someday). Then I started watching the local full contact fighting matches on TV that took place in Salt Lake. I watched a Kick Boxer named Keith Semkin a couple of times and thought, I'd really like to do full contact kick boxing. I let that thought fade away until the fateful night of the 2003 midnight 5k at UVSC when I ran into, guess who?, Keith Semkin. I told him I had watched him fight and would like to learn. He invited me to train with him at Amy's Taekwondo in Orem. We trained for about a year and I fought in the local Full Contact on TV. I lost by decision in the 3rd round, which everyone thought was bunk. But, oh well, I learned a lot and had tons of fun (I'd like to do full contact again someday). Then Keith decided to go work in Arizona and I never saw him again. I then took 2 years off from training, this was due to the fact that I didn't have a trainer, but also I really needed to make sure I graduated from college. I graduated in '06 and moved to Edwards AFB where I started doing Taekwondo on base with a 4th Dan Master from Korea. She speaks Korean in class and her English isn't that good. It's great!! She's the real deal. The federation I am with now is the World Taekwondo Federation, the olympic peeps. So, this is really cool. Even though I have a black belt with Royal West (American Kiyuki-do Federation) they can't recognize it and give me one of theirs. So, I had to start from scratch with WTF. It's not so bad though, because most of the stuff they teach is the same from Royal West. Today, I tested for my green belt with WTF and passed. =D I look forward to getting my 2nd Black belt, and 1st with WTF so I can compete in Korea and other really cool places. =)