Welcome

The official website for Region 20 of the World Tang Soo Do Association located in beautiful Southern California!

Special Region 20 Announcements!

Region 20 April Sit-Up Challenge!

Congratulations to our amazing warriors participating in this month’s sit up challenge. We had participants from all of our studios! Here are some highlights!

M.A.S. Tang Soo Do: Students from M.A.S. Tang Soo Do participated in over 4,000 sit ups throughout the month of April!

Allied Gardens TSD: One Minute Sit Up Challenge Winners!

Arianna Soto 49

Yonal Wickramarachchi 48

Leonel Luzi 46

Kailee Purnell 44

2024 US Master’s Clinic

On March 21st masters from all over the world gathered in Florence, Alabama to train and get together for a weekend full of learning, advancement, and laughter. Region 20 is incredibly blessed to have many outstanding masters and instructors!

Our masters spent the weekend learning from masters around the globe, refining their craft, listening to lectures on advancing their studios, testing for their next ranks, and enjoying time with their World Tang Soo Do Association family!

  • Top Row: SBN William Glenn, SBN Ricardo Hassan, Master Robert Nelson, BSBN Efrain Perez, Master Paul Noriega, Master Miguel Soto, BSBN Laura Barrera

    Bottom Row: Master Kenney Purnell, Master Larry D’Ercole, Master Clare Marsch, KCN Strong, BKCN Stine, Master Patrick Marsch, SBN Barbara Bellini, Master Kelly Goodwin

  • Region 20: Mr. Efrain Perez (Tang Soo Do Karate Institute), Ms. Laura Barrera (M.A.S. Tang Soo Do), Master Paul Noriega (Fathom Martial Arts), Master Miguel Soto (M.A.S. Tang Soo Do)

  • Region 20 Candidates: Mr. Efrain Perez (Tang Soo Do Karate Institute), Ms. Laura Barrera (M.A.S. Tang Soo Do)

  • Region 20: Master Clare Marsch (Allied Gardens Tang Soo Do), Master Patrick Marsch (Allied Gardens Tang Soo Do)

Master Clare Marsch

First Female 6th Dan Master!

Join us in congratulating our very own Master Clare Marsch on being the first female 6th Dan Master! We are incredibly blessed to have Master Clare in our region. We encourage everyone who can to join us at the 2023 U.S. National Championships to watch Master Clare be promoted to 6th Dan. Below is Master Clare’s reflection on her upcoming Yuk Dan promotion and her time training: ‘

“Master Kwon moved to the San Diego area and opened two schools – this Miramar location and his original dojang in Chula Vista with assistant instructor E-Dan Larry Dercole.  We signed up for some trial classes and decided to stay - starting over as white belts as Tang Soo Do was a style new to both of us.

The day came and we tested in the Miramar dojang in front of a small panel comprised of Master Hong Koo Baek, Master Moon Koo Baek, and another Korean Master we did not know.  The test was conducted by Master Han.  We were prepared! The following week we were awarded our Black Belts.  That day in 1983 I will never forget.  I never dreamed of a black belt around my waist, but here it was.

We registered our dojangs together as two locations of one studio – UC-Tech Tang Soo Do.  World Tang Soo Do Studio # 481.  I proudly hung up the WTSDA flag on the wall of my new martial arts home where I taught for the next 20 years – the San Diego Tech Center Tang Soo Do.  

Of course – the most memorable part of the 1992 Championship for me was winning the WSTDA World Championship Female Grand Champion Cup.  My San Diego teammate Michael Pereira won the Men’s Grand Champion Cup.  It was an all-San Diego day.

I was promoted to Sah Dan Master at the 1996 World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada.  I was happy that it was close enough to San Diego that several of my students could come to witness the ceremony.  It seems so long ago and far away in time, but the memory is still clear in my mind as I swore my lifelong allegiance to the World Tang Soo Do Association and to Grandmaster Shin.  I did not know then in how many ways I would be called to serve the Association.

It was truly an honor to be awarded my Oh Dan Rank by Grandmaster Beaudoin at the 2015 Region 20 Championship. This is my “home turf”, and it meant so much to me to be promoted in the presence of so many of my fellow Tang Soo Do practitioners and their families.

It was an honor to test for Yuk Dan.  With this step I will be the senior-ranking female in the World Tang Soo Do Association. I am humbled by this thought because there are so many fellow women who are also so deserving – and I know their time will also come.”

Read more about Master Clare’s journey using the link below!