@MizzouVB China Trip Flashback: Carly Kan
6/28/2016 9:07:00 AM | Volleyball
Kan recalls learning taekwondo with her teammates
COLUMBIA, Mo. – In late May, Mizzou Volleyball made its long trek to Beijing, China, for an unforgettable 13-day trip. While overseas, the Tigers competed against top Chinese competition during the week and visited historic landmarks on the weekends.
Throughout the offseason, MUTigers.com will meet with each of the Tiger players who made the memorable trip. Each individual will focus on one part of the team's trip and recall what that moment meant to them.
Up second is senior Carly Kan and her recollection of learning taekwondo martial art. The following description was written by Kan.
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In China, our team had the pleasure of attending a taekwondo class. We walked in to the venue and had no idea what to expect. Most of us, if not all of us, had never participated in taekwondo.
In the beginning, we started off with a general warm up. It consisted of a lot of stretches and body weight movements. Next, we played a running game that we had never played before and then freeze tag. As you can see in the pictures, I picked a good spot! Everybody was running around in that small room and having a lot of fun!
Next, the "serious" part started. We were put to a test with our reaction skills. This activity required us to catch falling gloves with a partner. Let's just say some of us were better than others. After that, we learned how to kick properly.
Little did I know that there was so much technique involved with such a simple action. We partnered up again and practiced our side kick and aiming for a pad that someone else held. It was a blast!
To conclude our visit, our instructors were kind enough to show us how a real taekwondo competition would pan out. It was awesome! They were getting after each other and I didn't realize how much technique there was in this special art. Overall, it was a great experience and we all became taekwondo masters!
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