February 2024 marks Sidney Tendokan Taekwondo’s 40th Anniversary. Back in 1984, some instructors came from Williston to Sidney to teach the martial arts and the school has been here ever since.
Over its 40 years of existence, Sidney Tendokan Taekwondo has been blessed to have various attentive instructors. Paul Speck and Patsy Harlan were the first two. They came to bring the martial art to eastern Montana. Mike Berg, Sidney Tendokan Taekwondo’s current owner, joined the school in 1984. He had started to learn Taekwondo in 1977 under Moo Yung Yun, while living in Fargo. He moved to Sidney in 1981 before he attained a black belt. In 1986, he finally earned it. Now, Berg is a 7th Dan.
Jerrold Baxter, a 3rd Dan instructor who has been helping Berg at the school since 2013, started learning taekwondo in 1986 at the age of eight, while in 3rd grade. Baxter was not able to earn one before graduating high school. He had earned a high brown before he finished college and returned to Sidney where he earned his black belt in 2014. Both Berg and Baxter have successfully competed for years before beginning to teach at Sidney Tendokan and have gone to numerous nationals. Gary Tescher was a 5th Dan who helped Berg and Baxtor for several years with testing, judging, and tournaments. For the past two years he has not been able to attend for medical reasons.
During its 40 years, the instructors have graduated at least 1,200 students to yellow belt, the second belt in the student program, and over 100 different students to black belt. The black belt, or 1st Dan, is the highest belt color a student can achieve but they can continue on to higher degrees of black belt. Berg used to teach Judo as a separate class but it is a very physical technique and he had to stop because of the toll it was taking on his body. He has not stopped completely and mixes some of the techniques in with the taekwondo. Sidney Tendo continues to be successful on the national scene, medaling students at the national level in four out of the last five years and even having one student crowned National Champion. Every couple of years or so they will have students willing and able to go to competitions, but they mostly do duels since 2020.
Sidney Tendokan Taekwondo is tentatively planning to host a competition on Feb. 10 in celebration of their anniversary. For more information visit Sidney Tendokan Taekwondo on Facebook.
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