On Saturday, Feb. 10 over 50 local students at Kwon's Karate and Kumodo School on Hillcrest Avenue in Manhasset removed their shoes and lined up excitedly in the sun - dappled gymnasium for the first in-house championships. Ranging in age from 4 to 17 years they competed to earn their white, orange, green, red and black belts. There were two categories - form and free sparring. Andrew Jacono has been a student for a couple of months and Jorge Matus, with 6 or 7 months "under his belt," claimed "it is really fun and the best is when we do sparring and the worst is the sweat test, when we don't sweat enough and have to do more work - 50 jumping jacks, 10 sit ups and 10 push ups.' Red belt Damien Quinn said he intended to have a good time in the competition and that he hoped "for the best and if things don't go well I will just keep trying." Twenty adult volunteers assisted with the judging that was efficiently divided into several groups testing the same skills. George Georgiadis, a student for 12 years, was engaged in judging his first competition, and grasped a red flag in his left hand and a white in his right. When called upon to show her best Karate form, Alexander Steck completed her moves, then waited for the judges to hold up her scores. The studio is run by father/son team Hy and Dae Kwon. Dae Kwon began helping his father in the studio at age 14. At the time he was in the Manhasset Middle School, having attended Shelter Rock Elementary and then Schreiber High School after the family moved to Port Washington. He is now a certified instructor and teaches alongside his dad who has been teaching for about 40 years. Hy Kwon was in Korea from 1981 to 1983 when he taught Karate to the US Army. Later from 1976 to 1981 he again taught Karate to the Army in Brunei, at the time not independent and under British rule. In 1983 the family moved to the United States and Kwon opened his first studio in Long Island City in 1985. In 1992 he moved the family to Manhasset and has operated Kwon's Karate and Kumodo School for the past 15 years. On Saturday the karate students participating in the first in-house championships were disciplined and serious yet having a good time. Mom Deirdre Denihan said, "It's a great discipline for kids. It teaches them how to stay focused."