Following months of correspondence and discussion between Grand Master Ken Craig, President of TMAA and the organizers of the next world out games in Copenhagen, 2009, it appears as though the efforts have paid off and the martial arts event will be conducted using rules similar to those promoted by IAGLMA.

"Initially the event was promoted as a TaeKwon-Do tournament when information was first presented over a year ago" said Grand Master Craig. "As an international LGBT focused sporting event, limiting the martial arts participation to only one discipline seemed restrictive and exclusionary as it would not encourage martial artists from other disciplines to participate. TMAA is at the forefront of promoting and encouraging the active engagement of diverse and inclusive martial arts events, so it was natural that we would make an appeal to Out Games to adjust their martial arts model accordingly."

Despite a lower player turnout than expected, TG-19 held at Hwa Rang Kwan martial arts in San Francisco was very successful on a number of levels. "These games involved more juniors than any prior games" noted Grand Master Marty Marcus, Tournament Operations & Procedures (TOP) international program director for TMAA. "They also formed the basis of preparations for our TG-20 Games and Martial Arts Gala scheduled for the first weekend of August."

"These games were seen as developmental in a large sense" commented Grand Master Ken Craig, president of TMAA. "We had a number of new players and quite a few officials taking on roles which they are relatively inexperienced in. The small size of these particular games allowed us to spend time making the new players feel comfortable, while we also developed our officials experience and abilities. This is essential in the creation and progression of a fully qualified and experienced corps of officials."

Working out and practicing is much more fun when you can enjoy it with your friends, and studying martial arts is no different. While we all make new and wonderful friends within Triangle once we join and begin training, many of us also harbor the wish that our non-Triangle friends would just "give it a try."

Our 2008 "Bring A Friend For Free" initiative addresses this by allowing all full Triangle students to literally bring along a friend to class for one week to train alongside them. The friend can join you in your regularly scheduled classes and will be able to engage in every activity you do, within obvious safety and experience limits. What could be better to let a friend, family member, loved one, or work colleague to see why you love Triangle so much!

We are tremendously excited to announce the premier on the LOGO channel of this seasons "Be Real!" series which will feature TMAA in episode 3 titled "Changing Lives" on Monday May 12, 2008. Please be sure to tune in, or set up your recorders to capture this episode for posterity.

The five episode series on LOGO will feature a number of interesting topics and begins with this seasons premier show on Monday April 28, 2008 with episode 1 entitled "Family."  The full series line-up is:

Episode 1- Family
James and Brian / Amanda and Rebecca
Premiere Monday 04/28/08 10pm
Wed 04/30    7:00 PM
Sat 05/03    10:00 PM
Mon 05/05    7:30 PM

Episode 2 -  New  Beginnings
Premiere Monday 05/05/08 10pm
Peterson / Stephen 

Episode 3- Changing lives
Premiere Monday 05/12/08 10pm
Grand Master Ken Craig /  Freda

Episode 4- Community
Premiere Monday 05/19/08 10pm
Patrick and Tee / Meghan 

Episode 5- Commitment
Premiere Monday 05/26/08 10pm
Pat and Lisa / Cori and Shana

The jock straps were donned, the Jell-o shots were organized, the raffle prizes were announced, and the students and supporters all came out in force to make Jock Sunday at the Lookout Bar in San Francisco on Sunday April 20th a roaring success.

The weekly event, sponsored by Gloss Magazine raises much needed funds for local LGBT sports groups, and last Sunday, TMAA benefited from the event. "The event was a lot of fun," says Grand Master Ken Craig, President of TMAA. "Everyone seemed to have a good time and we raised $960 during the four hour event with sales of Jell-o shots and raffle tickets."

Triangle TaeKwon-Do Kentucky Club Chief Instructor
SBN Jim Gardner, KTO, SMA

TTKDC Kentucky Club held its 2nd class at Fuzion (http://www.fuzionnightclub.com/) on April 15, 2008—their 12th class in total since resuming formal instruction activities in late March. Due to tax issues, several of our newly reliable students had to opt out of that class so attendance was down but picked back up on Thursday and Sunday.

On Saturday night, April 11, Chief Instructor SBN Jim Gardner and Mark Fearnow handed out flyers at the club for the first time. Some technical difficulties with a DVD burn of the TMAA highlights movie hampered that initial effort, but we will be back in full force on April 25th with a properly burned DVD in tow.