The NY AAU State Championships

This past weekend was the first time me or any of my students ever competed in an AAU Taekwondo competition. Not only that, but this was the first of three tournaments to compete in order to qualify for the Taekwondo Nationals which will be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I am happy to say that the six of us who competed did qualify for the nationals!

What I liked about this competition was that the older crowd got to go first. In all the previous tournaments I have ever done, the younger students go first from 5 on and later the older competitors. For us (and I was always one of the older competitors) would be at a tournament from 8 AM and not go on until 5PM and not leave until 8PM. Those were such long days for us. But this time the 14-17 year olds and 18 and older went first!

Briana is turning 14 this month and competed with the 14-17 year olds. I remember when she was younger she was so great and intense with her forms and I always asked her why she never competed! But I can go even farther back when she first started at THREE and was so shy and it took a lot to get her to just stand in front of 5 other kids to recite her address and phone number for Stranger Danger. Now, here we were at a state tournament and she is competing with her form for nationals! I couldn't have been prouder of her. And she did AWESOME! Briana came home with the bronze medal!

Sam also did her kickass form which I remember when she was a little girl, took me FOREVER to teach her! I must have been like 16 years old. Now, to see her compete with it and see the phenomenal improvement. But she also got into the point sparring and she really did a great job and has the potential to get even better in this new style of sparring. She has a great attitude and has phenomenal spirit. Sam came home with the double bronze medals!

Robert has been working SO hard for months. Not only for his level test and for competitions, but just in general, he has really taken his training to heart and the hard work has really been paying off unbelievably. And it was great to see him perform his new form which he only learned 2 weeks ago with me, and win a gold medal with it! The medal was deservedly so, and I know he will be great at nationals. Robert was also coaching with me on the floor, and he was such a big help at the competition. To know I can count on him when I need him is priceless.

Robert also happened to be in the ring that my mentor, Master Balon, was officiating in. I was proud to have my personal mentor there to judge my own student and even give him a few pointers after he was done competing. I am really happy my students get to be exposed to these awesome martial artists and be a part of these awesome events!

Little William was also in the ring Master Balon officiated in. William has a great gift and a lot of potential. He did an amazing job and got a bronze medal and is so excited to be going to nationals! He is still young and it's all a game to him. He really can be one of those gold medal all the time winners, but it needs to remain fun at this age still. But as he grows, so does his love for the sport. Even Master Balon asked what his name was. I think he was impressed with William's ability. How awesome is that!?

And of course, my junior Black Belt Owen Hagmaier competed as well! Owen was the only nine year old in his division and would have done his form and automatically win the gold medal. But that would not have been acceptable for Owen. So he went up and competed with the ten year olds instead! What an amazing attitude and such a grown up decision. I am so proud of his Black Belt decision, and the older kids division was indeed much larger as well. You have to place in the top 8 in order to qualify for nationals and Owen made it! He represented so well.

And yes, I competed earlier in the day as well. It was the first time I ever competed with my new 3rd Degree Black Belt form, Choi Yong. I also competed with an old fellow test candidate from Master Balon's school. We both tested for 3rd Degree together back in 2009, and it looks like we'll be testing for 4th together in June! I watched him and another competitor do another 3rd Dan form, Yoo Sin, which I competed with back in October. Watching them, I began to get the jitters. The doubting of whether my style is as good as theirs, seeing some things they did well and wondering if my style would suffice and be as acceptable as theirs. You know how it goes, the last minute doubting we go through minutes before we go on.

Then when I went up, I did my form, making all the corrections Master Balon made only that Sunday before. I stayed focused, I took my time, I made every stance count, I stuck my kicks like I have done all my years training, I kia-ed and good Kia, and I remained in the final back stance until the judge told us to come back. And I stayed there for a good amount of time both times I performed the form (you perform your form several times at these competitions). I was so proud to have won the Gold medal. It's been a while. And it felt great to hear compliments from the judges afterward. "I loved your Choi Yong! " "The chamber in your kicks was great!" "Wow, what awesome stances!" My thank yous weren't enough because it has been years since I heard such compliments about my forms from such professionals. Then again, I haven't showed my forms to people for a few years. I felt like I was accepted and that I still got it.

But I wasn't done yet. I still had sparring. I was a little more nervous for the sparring. We had our newly blended Warrior 3 nearby, and I mediated and prayed. Oh how I wanted to do so well with this competition. I have never done an AAU sparring event, and I wanted to put to the test some of the new drills and strategies Master Bardatsos has trained me with. The first match, my competitor did not give up. He pushed on until the very last minute and I was thrilled to have that kind of match. I won the quarter finals. It was a great match.

Then my second match I won in the first round with a seven point gap. Made it through the semi finals. I was so proud, and I really used a few smart kicks the way Master Bardatsos had instructed me, and Robert was a great coach, he knew exactly when and where I should be doing them all. Then in the finals, I had an awesome fight! His name was Kyle, and Kyle was very agile and smart. He hurt my rib (the one I cracked a while ago) and  I got a standing eight count which gave him two points. We went back and forth then he racked up the points, and then I came back a little, then I ended the match with him winning by two points. It was a great match! I won the silver medal for my first AAU sparring event! I couldn't have been happier.

It was a great day. It was great seeing Master Balon, it was great having Lisa accompany us and taking pictures, it was great watching my students do so well, it was great meeting new people and watching so many different styles, and it was great having all our families stay together supporting each other and enjoying each other's company so much. It was a wonderful experience. Congratulations to all! Ft. Lauderdale, here we come!

Yours in service,
ANDREW TRENTO