NCTA Athletes Shine on America’s Got Talent

(June 8, 2021 – Pasadena, CA) Past National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) USA National Collegiate Team members Long Nguyen, Kelsey Ha and Sean Wallace find themselves representing taekwondo to a world-wide audience this June on one of the world’s biggest stages for entertainment – NBC’s America’s Got Talent (AGT). They, along with their teammates Cassidy Wallace, Sharlene Duong and Piper Kindle, joined the World Taekwondo Demonstration team, performing in front of judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in front of a live audience. While the episode of their audition hasn’t aired yet, we know that the NCTA community will be rooting for them!

Six USA athletes, including 3 former NCTA Team members, compete in this season’s America’s Got Talent

Nguyen represented the USA NCTA at world events on the 2011 USA Collegiate Team (Shenzhen, China) and 2012 USA Collegiate Team (Pocheon, S. Korea) as an athlete and as a coach of the 2015 Collegiate Poomsae Team (Gwangju, S. Korea) and 2017 USA Collegiate Team (Taipei). Ha represented USA on the 2015 (Gwangju) and 2017 (Taipei) teams, and Sean Wallace represented on the 2019 (Naples, Italy) team.

Nguyen (top left), Ha (top right) and S. Wallace (bottom right) representing USA at various Summer World University Games

We had a chance to ask some questions of the team as they shared aspects of the journey:

Q: How did the opportunity to be on America’s Got Talent come about?
Nguyen: The World Taekwondo organization reached out to us and asked if we would be interested in competing with the World Taekwondo Demonstration Team for AGT season 16.

Q: It appears from the promotional videos that you collaborated with a Korean demonstration team. Which team was that and did you know the athletes or coaches of that team ahead of time?
All: The World Taekwondo (WT) Demonstration Team, and we knew only the coaches ahead of time.

Q: What was the process of collaborating with that team for your performance?
All: We would meet with the AGT producer and the WT Demo Team coaches via Zoom or phone calls weekly to discuss the performance strategy and logistics. The WT Demonstration Team also sent video assignments every 2-3 weeks and we would need to submit our videos back to the WT Coach within 3 days.

Q: Did you have to overcome language barriers?
Ha: While it was difficult to communicate with the WT Demo Team throughout the time that we were working them, luckily we knew enough Korean to bond with everyone and the WT Team Captains were able to translate most of the drills to English for our group.

Q: How does it feel to represent taekwondo to the USA and to a larger audience?
S. Wallace: It was definitely an honor to be part of this opportunity and we’re very happy for Taekwondo to be showcased on mainstream media.

Q: Were there any ways that your time as a collegiate athlete or coach reflected on this experience?
Ha: Being a collegiate athlete and coach in the past helped me connect more with the WT Demo Team members on a personal level because most of them are in college, balancing assignments and exams while training everyday at a high level.

Q: What was it like to be on stage in front of the judges? Were you nervous, and how did you overcome the nerves?
S. Wallace: Being on the stage being interviewed by the judges was actually the most nerve wracking. What really helped all of us overcome the nerves was thanks to the non-stop rehearsals that the head coach had us go through everyday during training. It felt like clock work by the time the audition started.

Q: As a current/former US national collegiate team athlete, how did your competition experience (collegiate or otherwise) prepare you for your televised performance?
Ha: Competing as a US National Collegiate Team member in the past has put us on some of the biggest stage at many international events, which really helped us prepare for our televised performance.