Anyone studied with Myong Mayes?

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 7/04/2009 3:49pm

Is she a good instructor or does she have her higher black belts train students? And what exactly is the "ouch stick" I've heard about?

Anybody have video of her in action?

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 8/26/2009 5:19pm

Seriously has no one here studied with her? I thought she had taught in Calif and NC at different times, was assistant coach at Seoul Olympics and had over 350 students currently? Yet no one here has experience with her? Anyone seen her spar in her younger years as a Korean National champion?

I just want to know if she's the real deal as I'm contemplating moving to the Southeast to be closer to family as parents are getting up in years. I want to study with a Korean grandmaster who is good and debating GM Mayes as a possibility or whether I should go back to my old GM. I just hate area where my old GM lives.

**korean dragon** · Posted On: 8/26/2009 6:37pm

My instructor has been in NC since 92" so I'll see what she knows about her tomorrow.
I do believe my instructor did in fact mention the name before though I'm not sure

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 8/26/2009 10:37pm

Hey cool thanks Korean Dragon. I can't remember where Durham is in relationship to Spring Lake, but are you familiar with that area? I've read online that the whole general Spring Lake/Hope Mills/Fort Bragg/Fayetteville area is like ghetto or something and a bad place to live. What do you know about the area? I am free for first time in my life to move about anywhere I want so long as I can be closer to my family as they are starting to need my help on occasion and I'm over 1500 miles away.

Do you know what areas have a decent Korean population? lol One of the things I miss living out here is lack of Asian community ie: traditional Korean martial arts, restaurants (though we do have some good Mandarin places in town but the Korean restaurant closed down) and there's no Asian grocery store/markets. No I'm not Korean but I miss the huge population where I used to live, made life interesting and a lot of my friends were Korean back home. I totally do not fit into the culture out here and I hate the weather!

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 8/26/2009 10:49pm

There is next to no Korean American population in those areas. If you're looking for that on the central East Coast, you need to be looking at the corridor from Annandale, VA to Baltimore, MD.

And you should probably stop stereotyping areas people live as being ghetto. I realize you're young, so just some advice. Not everyone may be have the fortune of being as financially well off as you, and the term ghetto can be perjoratively offensive, especially if you've actually never lived in those areas.

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 8/26/2009 11:08pm

Originally Posted by DerAuslander108

There is next to no Korean American population in those areas. If you're looking for that on the central East Coast, you need to be looking at the corridor from Annandale, VA to Baltimore, MD.

And you should probably stop stereotyping areas people live as being ghetto. I realize you're young, so just some advice. Not everyone may be have the fortune of being as financially well off as you, and the term ghetto can be perjoratively offensive, especially if you've actually never lived in those areas.

Who said I was financially well off? I'm just free of all commitments now. I'm just going by what I read on another forum that the place is "ghetto" which another poster had called it ie: super high crime with assaults and thefts galore. Actually there are places further South with a good size Korean population. Atlanta, Knoxville and Charlotte to name a few and supposedly more Koreans living up in NJ/NY area are moving to South because the cost of living has skyrocketed up there. And I'm sure its not only more Koreans moving South, but others as well. I just read statistics on various Asian populations in the US because that's the kind of community I'm interested in.

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 8/27/2009 12:03am

If that's what you're interested, there's a Korean Buddhist temple in Baltimore that teaches KMA.

**korean dragon** · Posted On: 8/27/2009 8:37pm

Grand Master Myong Mayes is the highest ranking female tkd instructor in the world (9th dan) she has a school near Spring Lake in Fayetteville. My instructor has met Grand Master Mayes on a few occassions most notable when Grand Master Mayes hosted States. My senior classmates have fought against her students at numerous state competitions, and say it's a tough school to beat, but sadly that was all before I joined the school in 2003.

So instead of listing the all of her awards, and honors here's the link to her school site:
http://www.ncustc.com/

And her page:
http://www.ncustc.com/aboutus.htm

About the whole Korean population and ghetto thing as far as those areas are concerned. Yeah they have more than a few rough areas, but there like most cities it mainly depends on what part of town you're in, AND on the korean population point I can only speak for Durham, but we have a pretty decent korean population with a korean church, like six other taekwondo schools, to prominent korean owned korean restaurants, and a korean supermarket.

Hope this helps.

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 8/28/2009 1:47am

"A" Korean church?

Do you know how many Korean churches are within a 5 mile radius of where I live?

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 8/28/2009 2:43am

Thanks Korean Dragon. Did you hear of anyone that has seen her actually kicking/sparring? Just curious. Her website like so many other sites basically only shows teaching kids ie: all the YouTube vids on it and looks to me like the classes are not taught by her but by other instructors. I just think it would be cool to learn directly from a female GM if they are any good. I kinda had my fill of male run schools where women were not taught the same techniques or not allowed to attend advanced classes.