Celebrating our 10th anniversary year since our foundation in November of 1998, TMAA will proudly participate in the annual San Francisco Pride Parade on Sunday June 29th and we would love to have you join us.

"The parade is one of our major annual outreach efforts" said Grand Master Ken Craig, President of TMAA. "Hundreds of thousands of people come to watch the parade and participate in the celebrations from all over the US and all over the world, and it is a prime opportunity for us to show them that martial arts is present, strong, active, and supported in our community. We would therfore like to strongly encourage and invite all of our former students, instructors, self-defense seminar attendees and our friends and supporters to join us in this years parade."

    
Jock Straps Came Out For TMAA's 2nd Jock Fundraiser

Following our extremely successful Jock Sunday I fundraiser at the Lookout Bar in April, TMAA repeated that success as the beneficiary of our second Jock Sunday afternoon on June 22, 2008 beginning at 4pm and running until 7pm.

"The Jock Sunday events have been incredibly successful for a number of LGBT sports organizations in the Bay Area who have been beneficiaries and this event was no exception" commented Grand Master Ken Craig, President of TMAA. " Jock Sunday I raised $980 for us in April, and Jock Sunday II raised an equally incredible $930 by selling Jell-o shots and raffle tickets over a three hour period. We are incredibly grateful to the Lookout Bar for hosting the event each week, to GLOSS magazine for sponsoring the event and providing the Jell-o shots, and to all of our students, friends, and supporters who purchased shots and raffle tickets on Sunday."

Outdoor Classes Begin June 17, 2008

Summer has not quite arrived yet, but our Triangle TaeKwo-Do Castro Club novice and beginner classes will move outside into the fresh air and sunshine of Dolores Park again this year beginning on Tuesday June 17, 2008.

This fun tradition of heading outdoors for classes is in part enforced as our home during the Autumn and Winter seasons, Everett Middle School and the Community Bridges Beacon program, become unavailable due to summer closure. The move outdoors however is a very cool opportunity to enjoy a different class enviornment and to take advantage of the beautiful city of San Francisco during the Summer term.   

Since it was first formed CCOP has enjoyed the full support of TMAA, and indeed TMAA was principal in developing the volunteer training programs that allowed the organization to put their safety walking patrols on the streets to begin with.

Now in its second year of operations, CCOP is recognized by the SFPD and the District Attorney's office for aiding in the reduction of violent assaults in and around the Castro and 18th Street neighborhood and TMAA has played a significant part in that success. "TMAA offered a measured response to concerns the community had when CCOP was formed" noted Carlton Paul, CCOP President in a recent LOGO TV interview.

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."