On Saturday, Oct. 21, over 600 Tae Kwon Do students from all over the country competed in the 2006 New York Open Tae Kwon Do Championships held at Queens College. Competitors on this day had the option of competing in any two of the following categories: sparring, forms and board breaking. The awards given were for first-place (gold medals), second-place (silver medals) and third-place (bronze medals).

The following students from Y.H. Park Tae Kwon Do in Williston Park, under the watchful eyes of Master Jeon and Mr. Cho, placed in one of the top three positions in one or two categories and received medals: Michelle Ban, Sienna Brancato, Al Brito, Tarik Carney, Julianna Carron, Nicholas Carron, Andrei Castelblanco, James Chun, Cezar DaSilva, Tiago Fernandes, David Fischer, Henrique Freitas, Stephen Gallo, Jared Harbour, Jessica Makowski, Loren Moon, Ryan Moon, Jack Phair, Marvin Rodriguez, Jordan Sandler and Robert Shea.

This tournament was sponsored by Grandmaster Y.H. Park and was a huge success. Attendees enjoyed a demonstration by local students on Y.H. Park Tae Kwon Do's Dream Team and were treated to a lovely performance by Nina Park, the grandmaster's daughter, a rising pop star in Korea.

A week later, students from Y.H. Park Tae Kwon Do were tested for their next belt by Grandmaster Y.H. Park himself. The students had fun at the test, learned many things from the grandmaster that day and then celebrated with many different dishes that were brought in.