Ong Bak 2 has been recently released to DVD to much anticipation. The story is not a sequel to Ong Bak, and takes place in ancient Thailand as we follow young Tien, the son of a murdered nobleman. After witnessing his family’s massacre, Tien eventually finds himself under the care of a group of bandits. Through training with them he pursues his dream of being a great warrior, and grows into a young man proficient in a wide variety of martial arts.

Jaa put in a lot of time and effort into learning these different styles, and it shows. He continues his tradition of performing his own stunts and there are many impressive fight sequences featuring these arts. Unfortunately, the plot is very convoluted and seems to be almost entirely traded off half-way through the film in order to fit in one fight after another. Whether this is a big issue or not is ultimately up to the viewer.

While perhaps not Jaa’s best film to date, I would recommend viewing it at least once, as there are some truly wonderful combat scenes. Ong Bak 2 shows that Jaa continues to be an excellent martial artist intent on expanding his skills and I look forward to his future projects.

2009 Junior Canadian Pan Am Team. Photo courtesy Alff Henry / Exposure Net

In November 2009, the top Taekwondo players in the Americas convened in El Salvador for the biennial Junior Pan Am Championships. The Canadian team performed with excellence and earned two special awards:

• Best Male Athlete: Charles Bedard Desilets
• Best Referee: Master Eric Wah

See more photos in the Junior Pan Am photo gallery

Jeffrey Trieu: Gold medal, welterweight. Photo courtesy Alff Henry / Exposure Net

» 2009 Junior Pan Am Photo Gallery
» Full Results
» 2007 Junior Pan Am Taekwondo Championship Results

Monkey makes 3-point kick on trainer

Lo Wung was entertaining crowds with his monkeys in Eastern China. When he slipped during the show, one quick-thinking money delivered a devastating jumping roundhouse to the trainer’s head.

A bystander reported “I saw one punch him in the eye – he grabbed another by the ear and it responded by grabbing his nose. They were leaping and jumping all over the place. It was better than a Bruce Lee film.”

When the trainer finally got his footing and grabbed a staff to subdue his students, he found himself in a tense face-off with an aggravated stick-wielding monkey. The monkey out-maneuvered the trainer and bashed him over the head.

The trainer eventually managed to tangle the monkeys up in their their own leashes.

» Related monkey attack articles

• Maxime Potvin (lightweight): Silver
• Yvette Yong (finweight): Bronze
• Sébastien Michaud (welterweight): Bronze

Maxime Potvin – Silver

Maxime dominated his first two matches until tying Venezuela 4-4, and winning by superiority. Then after a 15-14 win against Iran, Maxime beat Germany 6-3 in the semifinal. In the final match Maxime lost 2-5 to Korea’s Joon-tae Kim, who had won his semifinal against USA’s Mark Lopez.

»Maxime’s YouTube channel

»Maxime’s website

»Lightweight result tree

Yvette Yong – Bronze

Yvette won her way through a series of tight matches against Greece, Iran, and Spain. She narrowly lost her quarterfinal match 2-3 against Zoraida Santiago of Puerto Rico. Yvette says this is the highest achievement in her taekwondo career so far, although other significant accomplishments include Gold at the 2006 and 2007 Junior Pan Am Championships, and Gold at the 2009 U.S. Open. Yvette explains her World Championship matches:

Up until the day of my fight, my injuries were still holding me back, but I was able to pull through with the help of our team doctor Kazemi, and I felt prepared for each match and knew exactly what I was supposed to do and focused on those specific techniques that I discussed with coach Bernier. Before my first match, I had never been so nervous in my life, but luckily I managed to finish in the first round and my nerves settled and each fight after that I felt more confident.

After I won the quarterfinals and was secured for the bronze, I was overwhelmed to make it this far, but coach Bernier kept me focused and ready for the next match. During the semi-finals, I was confident and relaxed, but somehow I let loose a bit and carelessly attacked a few time and I could hear and see out of the corner of my eye, coach Bernier telling me to stay calm and coach Jamie Dossantos in the stands and even Doctor Kazemi screaming out for me to stay focused, and that really helped me get back into my game.

In the end of my semi-finals, it came out to a 3-2 win for Puerto Rico. I went out of that ring giving everything I had and wasn’t disappointed. Only that I knew the next time I go into that ring, I’ll be even more prepared.

»Finweight result tree

Sébastien Michaud – Bronze

After battling his way through Grenada, Greece, Armenia, and Italy, Sébastien faced-off against USA’s Steven Lopez in the semifinals. Although the extreme technical skills of each player were clear, a questionable three-point face kick in round two put Lopez in the lead 4-1. Michaud performed much better than his previous encounter with Lopez at the 2007 World Championships, where he also won bronze. Steven Lopez went on to beat Spain in the finals, making him history’s first five-time World Champion.

»Michaud vs. Lopez video

»Welterweight result tree

Team Rankings

Despite speculation that the South Korean team may have be weaker, Korea still managed to place first in the medal count (9 total, 5 gold) just ahead of Spain (with 7 total, 3 gold). Canada placed 12^th overall — 7^th for the male team, and 9^th for the female team.

»Official World Championship website

»Medal table (Wikipedia)

2009 Canadian World Championship Results
	Maxime Potvin (light)	Silver
	Sébastien Michaud (Welter)	Bronze
	Yvette Yong (fin)	Bronze

Canada placed 6^th in total medal count, an improvement from 2007 when Canada’s Karine Sergerie placed frist, and Sébastien Michaud placed third.

More World Championship details will be posted as they become available.

» Official World Championship website

» Full results (Wikipedia)

The world’s top players have prepared nearly two years for this week. The World Championships have already officially begun, with competition running from October 14 to October 18 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Canadian dream-team of 16 Taekwondo athletes was qualified nearly three months ago in Kingston Ontario.

Example of how a coach can request a video replay on critical points (click to watch video)

This Championships is notable as being the first using the new WTF sparring rules, which include a smaller ring, three-point headshots, two-point spinning kicks, and a video instant-replay system. Electronic scoring will also be used, which is now standard at international and some national events.

The Korean team has always dominated the World Championships, winning more than double the total number of medals (and eight times the number of gold medals) than the second-place country, Spain. However Korea’s team roster is weaker this year, with several players lacking significant international experience.

The big question is: can another country adapt to the new rules better, and capitalize on Korea’s weakness to edge them out on the medal count? If so, it won’t come easily. For example, the Korean coaching staff is reported to have customized new training methods to perfect each of their players’ face kick techniques.

The Korean men’s team coach Park Jong-man says, “Unlike in the past, there is no gap in skill level between Korean taekwondo athletes and athletes from other places around the world. In order to take a clear lead in a match, we must make good use of the new scoring system. Our athletes are in good condition. We are expecting three gold medals in men’s competitions and three to four golds in the women’s events.”

With this power imbalance and new rules that encourage attacking, we can expect some very exciting matches out of Copenhagen. The good news for Canadians who can’t make the trip is that all matches will be broadcast online courtesy of Dartfish.

»Official World Championship website

»List of new sparring rules

We’re going to make a kicking bag out of a tree. Some may say this is stupid but if you’ve ever tried to hang a heavybag where you didn’t have the support, or tried kicking in closet-sized room, you’ll see the divine wisdom in this. The only trick is convincing your wife/neighbours/landlord that this is necessary and somehow benefits them too. I built my first kicking tree many years ago and have enjoyed countless early-morning and evening sessions with it.

1. Find a tree. Not too big: 1 or 2 feet diameter is ideal. Preferably on your own property [wink-wink].

2. Find some foam carpet padding. Springtime is great because of all the people doing renovations and throwing their old padding to the curb (that’s exactly where I found mine). Or do some exploratory digging under your own carpets. You’ll need a strip almost 30 feet long and 4 feet wide.

3. Wrap the tree with padding. Tie it using thick string or cord (cotton cord works best because the knots stay tight).

4. Wrap and tie some blue nylon tarp over top. Oh you may think this is optional… but no. You’ll literally kick the stuffing out of that padding, and the dust and debris it makes probably isn’t good for you either. More importantly, it makes the thing waterproof.

5. BONUS STEP: build a head for your tree. As you can see in the photo above, I used a partially-inflated soccer ball wrapped in a basketball net. This setup moves like a real head and builds your accuracy too (especially for punching).

Congrats! you’re done. I should probably give some kind of disclaimer here… ‘be careful’. Make sure you have enough padding to absorb the shock since trees are pretty strong, and build your way up from just a few minutes a day. Send a photo of your own kicking contraption and we’ll post it here too!

A couple more things you can do with trees:

The contests are:

» Taekwondo – Most Exciting Sparring Match

» Taekwondo – Best bagwork or target combos

» Taekwondo – Best advice or tip

First prize for each contest is $200 cash. Second and third place gets a copy of the new Tae Kwon Do World Champion video game.

» Taekwondo video contests

» Read the full story