Byeonhwa Tang Soo Do LLC

09/24/2026

🥋 THE RHODE TO VICTORY BEGINS! 🥋
🇺🇸 THE 2027 WTSDA U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
📍 Providence, Rhode Island
📅 July 28–August 1, 2027

The World Tang Soo Do Association proudly welcomes you to the 2027 U.S. National Championships, returning home to Region 9 where it all began!

The story of the U.S. Nationals began in 2017, when Grandmaster Robert E. Beaudoin approached Master Efrain Valentin with a vision. During his travels, Grandmaster Beaudoin had seen the excitement generated by national events held between World Championships in Europe and Latin America. He believed our members in the United States deserved that same opportunity to train, compete and come together as one Tang Soo Do family.

At the 2019 Region 9 Championships, Grandmaster Beaudoin officially announced the inaugural U.S. National Championships. Later that year, the first event was held in Stamford, Connecticut and a new WTSDA tradition was born.

From the beginning, the U.S. Nationals offered unique training and competition opportunities. At Grandmaster Beaudoin’s request, team forms and team sparring were introduced, along with a new tradition of presenting our Grand Champions with distinctive awards.

🏆 In 2019, our Grand Champions received championship belts.

🔥 In 2021, they received fire-themed trophies.

🌆 In 2023, Chicago celebrated its champions with trophies featuring the city’s iconic skyline.

🏄 In 2025, Master Hutchinson and his team took us to the “Battle at the Beach,” featuring surfboard awards and championship rings.

Now, in 2027, the U.S. National Championships are coming home to Region 9—the home of Grandmaster Robert E. Beaudoin.

We are proud to welcome WTSDA members from across the United States, along with our international Tang Soo Do brothers and sisters, to beautiful Providence, Rhode Island, for:

🇺🇸 THE 2027 WTSDA U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
🥋 THE RHODE TO VICTORY
📍 Providence, Rhode Island
📅 July 28–August 1, 2027

Today, we are proud to officially unveil our championship logo but we are not revealing everything at once!

Over the coming weeks and months, we will introduce our championship belts, trophies, medals and plenty of other exciting surprises being created especially for this historic event.

Begin making your vacation and travel plans now. Gather your students, families and teammates and prepare to join us on the Rhode to Victory!

The journey begins now. We’ll see you in Rhode Island!

Tang Soo!

09/24/2026

On behalf of the Governance Committee, we are happy to announce the appointment of Mr. Darin Offerdahl to the position of Assistant Treasurer for WTSDA.

Congratulations and thank you for your service to our WTSDA Family! Tang Soo!

09/16/2026

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdU3rNkhE7t/?stkn=cWc2d3lvd2Vwd3hs

08/27/2026

08/17/2026

Congratulations Mr. Bob!

TANG SOO!!!

Today, Mr. Bob found out he passed his 2nd degree black belt test. At 77 years young, the guy went out and rocked his test. We are so proud of him!

Will you still be training at 77 like Mr. Bob? He is awesome! Congratulations!

08/10/2026

Kata Looks One Way. Bunkai Looks Another

On one side, you have the clean version. Smooth, polished, fast and controlled. That is kata.
On the other, you have the crash test. Messy, awkward, with bits flying everywhere. That is bunkai. That’s not a criticism of either one. That’s the point.

Kata isn’t meant to look like a fight in the same way a car ad isn’t meant to look like a crash test. One shows the design at its best. The other shows what happens when that design is put under pressure. Kata is the shape whilst bunkai is the collision.

In kata, everything has space. Your posture is set. Your timing is yours. Your breathing is controlled. The embusen or line of movement is clear. You can see the structure, the balance, the mechanics, the intention. It is karate cleaned up enough that we can study it.
But application is different. When someone grabs you, pulls you, pushes into you, resists, flinches, turns away, panics, stiffens up, covers their head, tries to hit you back, suddenly it doesn’t look so pretty, and it shouldn’t.

Real movement under pressure isn’t neat and tidy. It is not perfectly framed for a photograph like you often see in a competition. Sometimes the stance is shorter, and your arm isn’t exactly where the photo version says it should be. That clean and beautiful line disappears for a second because you are dealing with a body that is moving, resisting and refusing to stand still.
That is where some people get lost with bunkai. They either expect the application to look exactly like the kata, which can make it stiff and unrealistic. Or they go so far the other way that the application has almost nothing to do with the kata at all. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

Kata gives us the principles: The posture, frame, speed, and direction, how to move. Balance, limb control, connection, weight, how to impact. Bunkai is where we test whether those principles still work when the pressure is on.

Clean kata movement might represent a strike, an escape from a grab, a joint attack, a throw or takedown, or several of those things depending on the context.
But when you apply it with another person, especially one who is non-compliant, the outside appearance changes. Because now you are not performing the movement, you’re using it. That’s a big difference.

At SRK, this is something we try to build into training. Kata is not treated as a dance, but bunkai is not treated as random fighting either. The two have to speak to each other. We practise the neater version so the body learns the shape. Then we practise the application so the body learns why the shape matters. Then, over time, we add pressure, pad work, partner drills, resistance, impact, grappling, clinch work, throws, groundwork and sparring, depending on the level and age of the student. Not all at once for the sake of looking tough. But gradually, safely, honestly. Because there’s no point saying “this works” if we never put it under any sort of pressure. But there is also no point making everything wild and messy before the student has learned the structure.

Kata without bunkai can become empty. Bunkai without kata can become disconnected. Together, they give us something much deeper. The clean technique and movement teaches us what we’re aiming for. The messy part teaches us what survives contact. That’s why a kata can look nice and a bunkai drill can look rough around the edges, and both can still be correct. They should look different.

A crash test is not a failure of the car’s design. It is one of the ways we understand the design. Bunkai is the same. It shows us where the kata holds up, where our understanding is weak, where our body mechanics fall apart, where our timing is off, where we are relying on cooperation rather than real control. And that’s a good thing. It’s where the learning is.

The polished version matters. The messy version matters too. Train the kata properly. Respect the form. Study the detail. Then get a partner, make contact, test the idea, feel where it works and where it doesn’t. Because karate was never meant to stay looking pretty forever.
At some point, the car has to leave the showroom.

Richard Hang Hong

08/10/2026

Know your history!