BA Eighth Grader Wins Gold at National Taekwondo Championships

RYE BEACH/
SOUTH BERWICK, ME—
Berwick Academy 8th grade student Kenny Berger, son of Trish and Ken Berger of Rye Beach, NH recently won two gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze medal at the Black Belt National Championships in Dallas, Texas. He will be competing in the Taekwondo World Championships in Little Rock, Arkansas, this June.
Beginning his martial arts training when he was only 3½ years old, Kenny has been training with Master Kenneth Church, a 7th degree black belt and World Champion, and Mrs. Trish Church, a 4th degree black belt and World Champion for the past six years. Church’s Martial Arts is in Carmel Valley and Encinitas, California and is affiliated with the American Taekwondo Association. While in New Hampshire, he also takes lessons from Mr. Robert Roy, 5th degree Black Belt and World Champion in Amherst, NH.
Currently, Kenny is a 3rd degree black belt and World Champion. In 2009, he earned four California State Champion Titles and won the gold medal in Traditional Weapons and the silver medal in Traditional Forms at the Taekwondo World Championships. Last year, Kenny won four California State Champion Titles and 3 bronze medals at the World Championships. Throughout the year, Kenny travels around the country competing, balancing his schoolwork, school sports, and training into his busy schedule. He has consistently won gold medals at the National Championships held in Orlando, Florida; Dallas, Texas; and Las Vegas Nevada. Most recently, Kenny won two gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze medal at the Black Belt National Championships in Dallas, Texas.
This June, Kenny will be competing in 7 different events at the World Championships: Traditional Forms, Traditional Weapons, Sparring, Extreme Martial Arts Forms, Extreme Martial Arts Weapons, Creative Forms, and Creative Weapons. To be eligible to compete at the World Championships, participants must qualify in the top ten in their country in each event. Kenny is only 12 years old and will compete in the Boys 11-13 year old 3rd degree black belt division.
In addition to his Taekwondo training, Kenny also competes in cross country, wrestling, cycling, chorus, and was the lead in this year’s Berwick Academy Middle School production of Aladdin. Kenny is also an active participant in Mixed Martial Arts classes as part of his training and is a certified level two instructor with the American Taekwondo Association, where he teaches both group and private lessons. His hobbies include surfing, reading, and science.
For more information on the American Taekwondo Association visit www.ataonline.com. For more information on Church’s Martial Arts visit www.churchsmartialarts.com.
Photo caption: NH resident Kenny Berger recently medaled at the National Taekwondo Championships in Dallas, Texas. (Courtesy photo)

Critical Piece in Great Bay Conservation Puzzle Put into Place

DOVER—
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership, acquired a conservation easement on 33 acres in Dover at the mouth of the Bellamy River where it enters Little Bay.
“We’re proud to partner with TNC and the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership to conserve this important section of the Great Bay shoreline,” said Forest Society President/Forester Jane Difley. “This area of the state has been recognized as an estuarine ecosystem of local, regional, and national importance.”
This property adds nearly 800 feet of protected shoreline, extending an unbroken string of protected Bellamy Riverfront properties that begins not far from downtown Dover. On the other side of the conservation easement, only another 800 feet separates this conserved area from the Madbury town line and other lands under easement with the Forest Society. From there the string of protected shoreline continues all the way to the Durham town line, with its cluster of conserved land around Wagon Hill Farm.
In addition to its importance to the estuary as a buffer, the property includes an unusual salt panne, a pond that sits a few feet above sea level but just a few steps from the bay. The pond’s impervious clay bottom retains the water, which very slowly seeps away through a small outlet. The pond is replenished whenever an unusually high tide brings water up over its banks.
The easement has a system of zones to ensure that the management of the land continues to protect the bay. The property is managed to maintain a protective vegetated buffer of forest and scrubland along the shore.
Great Bay has been a focus of New Hampshire’s conservation planning and management since the 1940s. The Bellamy River, along with four other rivers flowing into Great Bay, draws a tidal flush of salt water from the Atlantic Ocean nearly five miles east of the estuary itself. The mixing of fresh and salt water creates a rich aquatic habitat. The estuary’s healthy salt and brackish marsh, eelgrass beds, and mud flats provide feeding, breeding, and nursery grounds for finfish, oysters, shellfish, waterfowl, wading birds, and shorebirds.
The Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership is a group of organizations committed to protecting the important habitats of the Great Bay Region. Since 1994, the Partnership has conserved more than 5,500 acres within the watershed.
“The Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership could never have achieved over 5,500 acres of conserved land around Great Bay without the willingness of landowners to work with us on conservation opportunities for their property,” said Duane Hyde, director of protection for The Nature Conservancy.
The Partnership’s conservation efforts include science and research based decision making for land conservation actions, collaborative landscape scale stewardship and management, and providing recreation and education opportunities. For more information, visit www.greatbaypartnership.org.
Photo caption: The recently conserved land includes this salt panne, a pond that sits a few feet above sea level. The pond’s clay bottom holds water, which slowly seeps away through a small outlet. (Photo by Dea Brickner-Wood)

The Music Hall Presents Ladysmith Black Mambazo

“Sheer joy and love emanates from their beings.” – Paul Simon

PORTSMOUTH—
The Music Hall, the landmark Victorian theatre in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire will be welcoming South African musical group Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the stage on Friday, March 4, 2011 at 8 p.m. For more than 40 years, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has married the intricate rhythms and harmonies of their native South African musical traditions to the sounds and sentiments of Christian gospel music. The result is a musical and spiritual alchemy that has touched a worldwide audience representing every corner of the religious, cultural and ethnic landscape. Their musical efforts have garnered praise within the recording industry, but also solidified their identity as a cultural force to be reckoned with.
Assembled in the early 1960s in South Africa by Joseph Shabalala – then a young farmboy turned factory worker – the group took the name Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Ladysmith being the name of Shabalala’s rural hometown; Black being a reference to oxen, the strongest of all farm animals; and Mambazo being the Zulu word for axe, a symbol of the group’s vocal ability to “chop down” all things in their path. Their collective voices were so tight and their harmonies so polished that they were eventually banned from competitions – although they were welcome to participate strictly as entertainers.
According to Therese LaGamma, Programming Manager and Curatorial Associate, “Ladysmith Black Mambazo is back by popular demand - their live performances do not disappoint and will have you wanting to kick off your shoes and dance!”
Ladysmith Black Mambazo will perform at The Music Hall on Friday, March 4, 2011 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $38; $26. FMI: 603-436-2400 or www.themusichall.org.
Photo caption: South African musical group Ladysmith Black Mambazo comes to The Music Hall on Friday, March 4. (Photo by Lulis Leal, courtesy www.mambazo.com)