By: Cara Latham
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP Every form and technique used by a person skilled in Moo Duk Kwan revolves around 26 basic movements consisting of blocks, punches and kicks.
These movements, along with brick-breaking and a bed of nails demonstration, will be part of what community members can expect to see at an open house scheduled to be held by Mike Lawrence’s American Tae Kwon Do Moo Duk Kwan Academy from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Master Mike Lawrence, the academy’s owner and instructor, said the open house at the academy’s new location on Route 206/130 North, in the Anthony’s Pizzatown shopping center, is open to anyone who wants to attend.
Community members will be able to watch as the academy’s students show how to break free when an attacker grabs them by their hands or throats.
Spectators will also be able to see how the students defend themselves against weapons attacks, and how to fight more than one attacker, Mr. Lawrence said.
"This day and age, you want the children to be aware of what’s going on around them, and protecting themselves as far as their environment," he said. Self-defense is the reason many people take karate and the reason tae kwon do attracts a lot of young children as students, he added.
Because self-defense is important, Mr. Lawrence said he is trying to get the Police Department to come and fingerprint those who attend the event, as one of the black belts in the academy is a police officer from Pemberton Township, he said.
"We’ll be able to fingerprint kids so they’re on file if anything becomes of a kidnapping," he said.
But many people don’t realize that practicing tae kwon do involves a lot of exercise to condition the body for the moves, he said.
"In order to do what your mind has been taught to do, your body has to be in somewhat good physical condition," Mr. Lawrence said.
Mr. Lawrence said there will be bricks and boards broken, and a demonstration of the bed of nails, which is a board usually about 4 feet long and 2.5 feet wide with nails on which the student lies. The bed of nails demonstrates the mental aspect of the martial art, he said.
"You lay on it, and you kind of remove that thought of what it is," he said.
"Plenty of black belts" will be available to answer any questions residents might have regarding their curiosity to how certain techniques work, he said.
Mr. Lawrence, who operated a business for 22 years in Eastampton before opening in Bordentown in May, said the community members who have recently joined seemed to be doing well.
Mr. Lawrence said he was holding the open house to "give (residents) a little bit of knowledge of what’s out there to be learned." He said people are often apprehensive about taking classes because they fear they’ll be the only ones who are not experts, when in fact, that is not the case.
"I still continue to learn," he said. "It’s a mindset. You have to leave your mind open to learn."

