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UMASS Taekwondo Team Members

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Name	Joined	Brief Bio
Hans Mentzen	Summer 2005	As our chief instructor, Master Hans is charged with managing all aspects of our curriculum. It is the solemn duty of the chief instructor to exemplify the physical and philosophical attributes of Tae Kwon Do, and to impart a passion for learning and discipline to his students. Master Hans started practicing Taekwondo in 1988. He received his first Dan in ITF in 1993, and has gone on to receive advanced degrees in several arts including a 6th Dan in WTF style Taekwondo, a 4th Dan in ITF style Taekwondo, and a 2nd Dan in Hapkido (a korean self-defense art). Hans is a Ph. D. student in the Chemistry department at UMASS. Hans is devoted to the teaching of Taekwondo. He has a B.S. in Education, and has owned and operated his own dojang.
Michael Xu	Spring 2005	Michael is our senior student. He started training in Taekwondo when he was six years old.
Myungsuk (Mike) Ro	Fall 2004	Mike is from Agawam, Massachusetts, which is about 40 minutes away from UMASS (Currently living in Mary Lyon, NorthEast). Mike is a Computer Science major at UMASS. He started learning TKD when he was in Korea about 9 years ago at the age of 10 years old. After a hiatus in his training since coming to America, Mike is happy to be practicing Tae Kwon Do again.
Lauren Anders Brown	Fall 2003	Lauren is our team president, and an inspiration to our team. She began taking karate at age 8, earning her first black belt at age 12. Lauren switched to Tae Kwon Do after achieving her karate black belt, and was awarded her Tae Kwon Do black belt at 13. Lauren has continued to train hard, and was awarded her second dan at 16.
Timothy Yi	Fall 2005
Jaremiah Encarnacion	Spring 2005	Jeremiah is our vice-chief instructor. He is charged with assisting Master Hans with the management of our curriculum and teaching.
Kyu Cho	Fall 2003	Kyu is originally from Texas, where he studied Tae Kwon Do, and achieved his black belt before enrolling at UMASS. We are deeply grateful to Kyu for having served as our chief instructor during the 2004-2005 season.
Dawn Eriksen	Fall 2003	Dawn is a sophomore at UMASS double majoring in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry. Dawn has been practicing Tae Kwon Do for six years, as well as training in Kung Fu, Tung Soo Do, and Copoeira. She received her black belt in March 2003. She also enjoys Scuba Diving and Whitewater Kayaking. AIM: Whitewaterdances
David Yeo	Fall 2004
Sarah Velten	Spring 2005
Nick Stevens	Fall 2004
Jenny Shaw	Fall 2004	Jenny, a Freshman at Smith college, joined UMass TKD the Fall of 2004. She began studying Taekwondo in 1996 in the Bronx and continued to practice under other instructors, Master Brandon Saltz of Taekwondo West and Master. Bill Knauer of West Side Taekwondo and Harlem Tae Kwon Do
Jesse Punch	Fall 2005
Alison Pond	Fall 2005
Rob House	Fall 2005	Rob started in training in 1999 under the direction of Jay Ferguson and Diane Houston of Choson Taekwondo in Northboro, MA. Three and a half years later he passed his 1st dan test and shortly thereafter was offered a position teaching children taekwondo which he did until arriving at UMass as a civil/environmental engineering major in September of 2005. Rob hopes to test for his second dan in the summer of 2006.
Ray Mak Hon Kit	Fall 2005
Tom Heydt-Benjamin	Fall 2004	Tom is the captain of the UMASS Tae Kwon Do team. He is a Ph. D. student in the computer science department at UMASS. Tom started training in Tae Kwon Do in 2001 under Master Bill Knauer of West Side Taekwondo and Harlem Tae Kwon Do. Tom, Ava and Ivy are the UMASS Taekwondo Family Super-Team!
Nishi Popat	Fall 2005	Born and raised in Southern California, Nishi started training in Martial Arts at the age of 4 at Sensei Chris Pelliteri's Traditional American Karate School in Rancho Cucamonga, California. She continued training at this dojo until she was twelve years old where she ended as a Brown belt. Nishi then moved around the country and as a result took a 3 year hiatus from Martial Arts. She resumed training at the age of fifteen at Yuenger's ATA Taekwondo in Ridgecrest, California and continued training until graduation from high school where she was a red belt. She is a sophomore Spanish and Geology major at Mount Holyoke College.
Marc Maier	Spring 2002	Marc is a Senior in the Math/Computer Science major. Marc plans to return to UMASS next fall to enter the Masters program in Computer Science.
Kemi D George	Winter 2005	Kemi is a great fan of martial arts, and is currently also practicing kickboxing (NOT the cardio rubbish), as well as just beginning grappling. Previously, he attained the rank of 2nd degree blue belt in Tae Kwon Do, and several years before, attained 2nd degree blue in Shotokan Karate, as well as learning a smattering of Capoeira. He is also a PhD candidate in political science, and despite being raised as a city boy originally, has developed a newfound appreciation for Amherst.
Barbara Goldthorpe	Fall 2005
Bobby Luckhardt	Fall 2003	Bobby is a junior majoring in Japanese Language and Literature. He began studying TKD in the fall of his senior year of high school, achieving the rank of blue stripe under Chang Lee's TKD before coming to Umass. Although he only studied TKD for less than a year, Bobby traveled to several tournaments, including the 2003 Texas State Championship (Bronze in forms, Gold in sparring) and the 2003 Senior Nationals in New Orleans (Bronze in sparring). Although extremely rusty from a two year hiatus (1 year of which was spent studying in Japan) he looks forward to getting back in shape and competing once again this fall!
Katherine-Marie Conover	Fall 2005
John Tuttle	Fall 2003	Originally from England, John was raised in smalltown Massachusetts and found his way to UMass in 2002 as a psychology major. He has been practicing Taekwondo since his senior year of high school and has recently taken an interest in training with the bo staff. Outside of martial arts, his other hobbies include playing guitar, reading, and video games.
Mike Yau	Spring 2004	Mike is the vice-captain of the team. He joined UMass TKD in spring 2004 and continued under Master Kelso at KYK Taekwondo in San Diego. He competed at the 2005 CA State Games TKD Championships as a green belt, earning gold in poomsae and silver in gyoroogi. He loves everything about Umass TKD
Brian Hudson	Spring 2005	Brian is the vice-president of the UMASS Tae Kwon Do team.
Francine Braese	Fall 2004	Francine is the vice-treasurer for the team.
Carrie Ng	Spring 2004
Alex Chudnov	Fall 2004
Andrey Ostapchenko	Fall 2004	Originally from Ukraine (moved in 1999), Andrey is a CompSci / Math double major who practiced TKD for a year when he was 7. Not having enough time for Ultimate Frisbee, he decided to go back to TKD and test the limits of his mind and his body.
James Jude	Spring 2005
Ben Nyer	Spring 2005
Kate Gordon	Spring 2005
Pan “Deuce” Du	Fall 2004	Duce wrote his bio in Chinese, which I can't read. So there.
Kyle Mole	Fall 2004	Kyle is the treasurer of the UMASS Tae Kwon Do team. He is a junior Civil Engineering major here at UMASS. He joined up for one class in the Fall of 2004 at the call of Mike Yau, and is now back for more. He plans to continue his practice for as long as his legs will hold him. Aside from Taekwondo, he is an accomplished pianist, with ten years of classical lessons under his (Yellow) belt.
Bary Yuen	Fall 2004
Benjamin Vanderpuije	Fall 2005	Benjamin is a Ph. D. student in the Chemistry department. He has many years of experience in a variety of martial arts including Kung Fu. Benjamin is also an experienced practitioner of Yoga.
Ivy Heydt-Benjamin	Winter 2005	Ivy is our team mascot, and is part of UMASS Taekwondo family super-team! Ivy attends about half of our practices, so come and meet her!
Ava Heydt-Benjamin	Fall 2004	Ava is a Junior in the pre-vet major at UMASS. Like Tom, Ava started training under Mr. Bill Knauer of West Side Taekwondo. Tom, Ava and Ivy are the UMASS Taekwondo family super-team!
Jim Ciper	Spring 2005	Jim graduated from UMASS in the Spring with a B. S. in Computer Science, and has remained at the University to pursue a Ph. D. in the same subject.
Noah Enelow	Fall 2005
Kimmy Zhong	Fall 2005
T. J. Grim	Fall 2005
Eduardo Pinto	Fall 2005
Maura Talmadge	Fall 2005
Wenfeng Kang	Fall 2005
Kristina Stearns	Fall 2005