| Marla began her study of Taekwondo with Mike Johnson's Martial Arts PE class at the University of Texas at Arlington in January of 1993. I followed her in this endeavor in May of 1993, joining the University Martial Arts Association at UTA. Little did we know how fortunate that we were in our choice of instructors or in the school affiliation. For both the UTA PE class and the UMAA club were outreach programs of the Roy Kurban's American Black Belt Academy. We could not have found a finer Martial Arts school had we tried. We began full time at the "Academy" in August of 1994, and we achieved our 1st degree Black Belts in October of 1996. Marla quickly made her mark upon the North Texas martial arts scene by winning a grand champion trophy in women's fighting. We both compete in tournaments (mostly those of the Traditional Karate League or TKL) in both forms and fighting. Our most recent accomplishment has been reaching 2nd degree Black Belt on September 26, 1998. |  photo by Greg Reed |
 2nd Dan candidates (left to right): Jody Riemers, Troy & Marla Hibbitts, John Childers, & Christina Erickson |
The following are a varity of photos of us at
our 2nd Dan exam (held at UTA's Lonestar Auditorium). All of the following pictures
were taken by Donna Rickert. The first four pictures demonstrate the various forms required for the 2nd Dan examination. Forms are a choreographed series of moves performed against multiple, imaginary opponents. Forms allow you to demonstrate balance, precision of technique, and focus. |
Above, we are demonstrating the final moves of the form, Pal Gae Pahl Chang. |
Here, I perform the final double jump front kick of Koryo One. |
Here, Marla demonstrates a very pretty front snap kick as part of the form Koryo Two. |
The two of us demonstrate moves of the very difficult form, Kum Kang. |
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Here, I demonstrate the finishing move of a one-step self-defense. "One-steps" are a bridge between traditional forms and free sparring. They allow you to practice timing and distance against an opponent and to orchestrate a series of natural responses to an attack. |
| Here, Marla demonstrates the finishing move for a self-defense against an attacker with a knife -- she has pinned and locked her attacker's elbow, forcing him to the ground, where she has disarmed him. |  |
This was a very enjoyable fight. I am on the right fighting Mr. Eddie Copeland on the right. |
As it turns out, breaking was fairly difficult for all testers on this exam. Any time you see a board break into 3 pieces (like above) instead of two, you know that the boards are harder than usual. Here Marla easily dispatches a board with a downward elbow. |
 Here are all of the testers from Roy Kurban's American Black Belt Academy's fall '98 Black Belt Exam: (standing, l to r) JoAnne Smith - 1st Dan, Andrea Rauch - 4th Dan, Kevan Johnson - 1st Dan, Bryan Bennett - 1st Dan, Troy Hibbitts - 2nd Dan, Raley Smith - 1st Dan, Marla Hibbitts - 2nd Dan, Kim Bennett - 1st Dan, Lane Hunnicut - 3rd Dan, Christina Erickson - 2nd Dan, Mike Johnson - 5th Dan, Jody Reimers - 2nd Dan, Nicholas Villalobos - 4th Dan, (seated) Master Ronny Clark - examiner, Grandmaster Won Chik Park - Chief Examiner, Master Roy Kurban - examiner/ABBA instructor, Master Ronny Ramsey - examiner, (kneeling) Beth Thomas - 1st Dan, Sharon Bostick - 1st Dan, Michael Collier - 1st Dan, Becky Reimers - 1st Dan, Neal Prevost - 1st Dan. |
 Finally, here is a picture of us . . . two brand new 2nd Degree Black Belts, with our proud instructor -- Master Roy Kurban (7th Dan). |
