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First Female Kuk Sool Won Master, Nice Story
Here's a short video about the first female Kuk Sool Won master, Choon Ok Harmon:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16420925
Her story is touching. She overcame a childhood of extreme poverty and prejudice against women in order to get where she is. Her mother was a free-diver who caught shellfish to feed the family. She and her siblings grew up hungry, too poor to go to school.
In her twenties, she came to America alone and married an American who was introduced to her by her master. He trains in Kuk Sool Won as well and is now the first non-Korean Kuk Sool Won master. They run their school together.
Choon-Ok has written a book about her life, titled, "Iron Butterfly". She decided to write it when she saw her grandchildren throwing away leftover food, and realized that they needed to know the kind of hardship that some people live with.
Comment
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Comment by SteelyJan on Thursday -
Thank you for sharing the story of this amazing woman! May she be an inspiration to all women martial artists! Of course it's nice to have a husband who trains with you...Great story!
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Comment by Daniel McCullar on May 21, 2012 at 6:13pm -
Thanks a lot. The video is taking forever to load up though. It will be interesting to see what May be different from what i already know. Cold Steel also has a tomahawk fighting video. I always wondered if that was any good.
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Comment by Wael on January 8, 2012 at 7:48pm -
Yes, I should have called her the first female grandmaster.
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Comment by Alex on January 8, 2012 at 6:38pm -
Also, thanks for posting this Wael, I'll pass it on to my classmates.
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Comment by Alex on January 8, 2012 at 6:30pm
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I feel it important to mention two things.
1) she is EXTREMELY humble and nice. Even her smile could kill.
2) she is not just a master of KSW, both she and her husband Barry are 9th degree blackbelts.
© 2012 Created by Wael.
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