By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
UTU XPL Demonstration Team, 2004 world champions, thrilled a midday crowd Friday at Southwestern Michigan College's Zollar Sports Center with a musical martial arts exhibition.
Children ages 8-17 performed under the keen eyes of Grandmaster Byung-Chae Lee, ninth dan (black belt) from Seoul, South Korea, and his eighth dan student Grandmaster Soon Pil Hong, Ph.D., of Universal Athletic Club on Ontario Road in Niles, as well as coach of the U.S. tae kwon do team and SMC instructor.
Master Hong, who has a second location in Mishawaka, Ind., is also affiliated with the University of Notre Dame and Lake Michigan College.
SMC President Dr. David M. Mathews, who received honorary black belts along with Ron Gunn, Eileen Crouse and Gunn's secretary, Dana Walker, spent 16 months in South Korea as an Army Ranger.
He said he has a brown belt.
Yes, the youngsters shattered boards with their hand and feet, but by building pyramids with their bodies to scamper up, making explosive contact several feet off the floor and scattering wooden shrapnel across the basketball court, as if chopping a cord of firewood was as much a part of their demonstration as acrobatics and gymnastics.
Tae kwon do is part of their school curriculum in South Korea.
Some of their choreographed movements were the opposite of fists of fury, almost ballet.
One dancer donned a fedora and imitated Justin Timberlake.
Their audience rewarded their exertion with a standing ovation.
UTU responded with several encores.
The team has been making rounds in the area for more than a week before returning home Tuesday.
Hong, an international tae kwon do referee, promotes his discipline to adults as a way to lose weight, reduce stress and learn combat self-defense.
Children can benefit from self-esteem, courtesy and leadership skills, as even the tiniest visitors attested.
Spectators were presented copies of the March issue of the 25-year-old magazine Tae Kwon Do Times with Master Hong on the cover with his prize pupil Dr. Trevor Neal, the Sturgis podiatrist and big game hunter who was also at SMC.
The article reinforces their stated mission to "hunt down and do away with the charlatans and organizations that cheat American martial artists, and this includes some Korean instructors and institutions."
Dr. Neal grew up in west-central Illinois in Monmouth with five brothers and sisters. His father built homes, his mother reared the children.
Dr. Neal began studying karate when he was 8. His dad drove him 32 miles for a half-hour lesson. The local YMCA also offered a summer-long judo class he took at age 9. At 14, he became a swimming instructor and lifeguard. Dr. Neal lettered in swimming and baseball in high school.
Dr. Neal's office recently became the first in Michigan awarded certification by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations - usually awarded only to hospitals.
He has hunted bear in Canada, mountain lion in Utah and cape buffalo and leopard in Africa.
Dr. Neal lives in Granger, Ind., with his wife, attorney Christine Neal, and their three children, Alex, who at 9 is U.S. national champion, and twins Abigail and Isabel.
Dr. Neal researched area dojangs. That hunt proved successful, too, because it brought him together with Master Hong, who offered superior skills while incorporating all the tenets.
Dr. Neal started classes with Master Hong in 1998 and began taking his 3-year-old son.
The Neals' diligent pursuit of excellence was rewarded with an invitation by Master Hong to travel to South Korea and test successfully for their black belts before Master Hong's instructor, Grandmaster Lee, at the Kukkikon in Seoul in July 2003.
They have come to regard South Korea as their second home, returning last summer to complete their second-degree black belts. The father and son have also attained black belts in Hapkido through Master Hong, himself an eighth dan.
Competing in numerous tournaments and competitions, in 2002 Dr. Neal won the gold medal in sparring and silver medal in poomse at the Jinmookwon World Championships. Alex won bronze medals in both sparring and poomse.
To complete the family's immersion in tae kwon do, Christine and the girls plan to start instruction next school year.
Dr. Neal is the current director of UANTU, the Universal American National Tae Kwon Do Union.
At a ceremony in Seoul in July 2004 he was named Secretary General of the Universal Tae Kwon Do Union (UTU), one of the world's largest tae kwon do organizations.
Dr. Neal became the first non-Korean to hold office in UTU.
UANTU, founded in 1985 by Master Hong, gave U.S. practitioners a traditional foundation for their learning and certification.
UANTU's position on U.S. tae kwon do is that it has become too "political," with the true meaning and techniques being lost.
Master Hong, who has been inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and been named International Instructor of the Year, began his training more than 35 years ago in South Korea under the teaching of Grandmaster Lee, who is UTU president. This affiliation through Grandmaster Lee lets UANTU members train and compete in South Korea.