Blue Mountain Taekwon-Do & Fitness

On October 2, 2005,  Mr. McCauley took two of his students to the 2005 Oregon Cup Open Martial Arts Tournament at the Portland Convention Center.

Mr. Morgan Tucker, 4th Gup, earned a Gold Medal in Breaking, and 2 Bronze Medals in Patterns and Sparring. Mr. Garrett O’Shaughnessy, 7th Gup, earned a Silver Medal in Sparring.

Mr. McCauley encourages his students to attend open tournaments so that they may obtain valuable experience in competing, and prepare them for ITF competition.  "Anytime you can compete in an open tournament, with a different discipline and take their medals, is a reflection on the quality and dedication of the competitor.  There were 372 competitors from throughout the Pacific Northwest, and two of them were ITF, I am proud of the impressive job that they did, and continue to do each and every week". 

Congratulations to Mr. Mason McCauley III Dan and Mr. Morgan Tucker 4th Gup on their Gold Medal wins at the Goodwill Championships in New Haven, CT, October 15, 2005. 

Mr. McCauley won Gold in Men’s 3rd Dan Patterns and in Men’s Black Belt Sparring.  Mr. Tucker, a student of Mr. McCauley’s, also won Gold in Men’s Colored Belt Patterns and Men’s Color Belt Sparring.

There were about 320 competitors who in spite of the heavy rains the East Coast was receiving, came together to compete in one of the best run tournaments in the USA.  Mr. John Cacioli VI Dan is the Founder and Director of the ATFI/ITF Goodwill Championships.  The tournament was held at the Albertus Magnus College Sports Center.  Competitors were from all over the United States including Canada and Jamaica.

As always, it was a great opportunity to see all of our old friends and to develop new friendships as well.

A special thank you goes out to Dr. John Szostek IV Dan of Pennsylvania, who drove seven hours round trip to support Mr. McCauley during his competition.  We are privileged to have such dedicated members in our US-ITF family.

Mr. Mason McCauley III Dan and Mr. Steve Sultemeier III Dan

On September 3, 2005, Mr. Mason McCauley III Dan, had the rare privilege to train with his first instructor, Mr. Steve Sultemeier III Degree Black Belt.  The once Instructor and student met at Blue Mountain Taekwon-Do and Fitness, which also happens to be the same location where at one time Mr. Sultemeier had his Butokukon Martial Arts School.

For a few hours on an early Saturday morning, Mr. Sultemeier again became teacher to Mr. McCauley.  He shared his vast knowledge in defense tactics, joint locks, hand and sparring combinations, and then finished up by sparring one another.  Mr. McCauley was honored to spar and train with an individual as talented as Mr. Sultemeier, and later remarked, "I wish I had Mr. Sultemeier here on a regular basis, I could learn so much from him."

Mr. Sultemeir started his martial arts training in 1971 under the direction of Soke (Grand Master) Robert Hill, Butokakan Karate.  He has also studied under Sife Christopher Clark, Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do.

Currently, Mr. Sultemeier is a Senior Master Instructor in Defensive Tactics for the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.  He has also trained with and for Law Enforcement SWAT and other various Special Forces.

Mr. Sultemeier has trained several hundred individulas through the years, but has only trained two all the way through to Black Belt, Sensei Clint Striefling and Sensei George Kaup, both of Walla Walla.

On July 24, 2005, Mr. Johnny Ahmed IV Dan of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and Mr. Llauger Castillo II Dan, of Ponce, Puerto Rico made a seven hour drive to train with Mr. McCauley.

Mr. Castillo was flying out the following morning to compete in the 14th Senior World Taekwon-Do Championships, in Dartmunth, Germany, and was seeking a bit of last minute training on the pattern he would be competing with, Juche.  The three martial artists worked out for two and a half hours and fine-tuned Mr. Castillo’s technique.

After the short work out and a message of good luck to Mr. Castillo, the duo again headed out to Seattle.

We are happy to report that Mr. Castillo won a bronze medal in Patterns at the championships in Germany.  Mr. Ahmed and Mr. Castillo are shining examples of how perseverance can help each one of us pursue our goals.

It was a pleasure to see Mr. Ahmed again, and to develop a new friendship with Mr. Castillo, we look forward to the opportunity to train with these talented martial artists again in the future.