2014 National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships held at the University of California, Berkeley, US National Collegiate Team selected for World University Taekwondo Championships

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The National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) held the 39th National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships on April 4-6, 2014 in Berkeley, California at the University of California, Berkeley. The tournament was hosted by tournament director and NCTA founder Ken Min, and presided over by NCTA president Russell Ahn.  Over 400 athletes participated from over 100 different colleges and universities.  At the conclusion of the tournament, 26 athletes were selected to represent the United States at the World University Taekwondo Championships in Hohhot, China on June 8-14, 2014.

Nine athletes were selected to represent the United States in the poomsae divisions.  Kody Han (University of California, Berkeley) won the men’s individual division, and Thanh-Van Huynh (Kennesaw State University) won the women’s individual division.  Carissa Fu (Boston University) and David Chan (MGH Institute) won the mixed pair division.  Albert Jong (San Jose State University), Alvin Jong (University of California, Davis), and Lance Supnet (California State University, East Bay) earned the men’s team division spot, and Margaret Kim (University of California, San Diego), Stephany Kim (University of California, Los Angeles) and Saejin Yi (California State University) won the female team spot. However, because the team of Kim, Kim and Yi cannot attend the team trip, they will be replaced by first alternates, Carissa Fu, Miyako Yerick (University of Texas at Austin), and Michelle Chen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Fu is a six time collegiate poomsae team member and earned a bronze medal at the 2010 World University Taekwondo Championships in women’s team poomsae. Yerick and Alvin Jong are three time collegiate poomsae team members, and Supnet and Chen are returning for their second national collegiate poomsae team.

The sparring divisions were contested in a single elimination bracket, with double elimination beginning at the semifinal rounds. In the women’s sparring divisions, this year’s team members are Samery Moras (46 kg, University of Utah), Yessica Wiryawan  (49 kg, University of California, Berkeley), Carissa Fu (53 kg, Boston University), Devon Lewis (57 kg, Germanna Community College), Emilia Morrow (62 kg, University of Miami), Blanca “Jenny” Quezada (67 kg, Arizona State University), Jacqueline Galloway (73 kg, Collin College), and Danielle Harrison (over 73 kg, Johnson and Wales University). Quezada and Harrison are three time US collegiate team members. Moras and Galloway are both returning for their second team berth.

In the men’s divisions, the winners were Joseph Aguon III (54 kg, Tarrant County College), Justin Bretz (58 kg, Sinclair Community College), Chase Graham (63 kg, Golden West College), Abraham Lee (68 kg, Duke University), Jaysen Ishida (74 kg, University of Hawaii at Manoa), Jared Reed (80 kg, Laney College), William Connick (87 kg, University of California, Berkeley), and Jonathan Price (over 87 kg, SUNY Cortland).  On the team, Reed is a two time member of the US collegiate team.

The female athlete of the year was Carissa Fu. Fu qualfied for the poomsae team for the sixth consecutive year in addition to clinching her first sparring team berth at bantamweight. She is the first female athlete to qualify for both the poomsae and sparring collegiate teams.The male athlete of the year was William Connick. Connick won the 87 kg division and was the runner up in the 87kg division at the 2014 US National Team Trials in Colorado Springs. The freshman athlete of the year was Joseph Aguon III, who won the male finweight division during his first year of collegiate eligibility.

The coach of the year was Sophia Chung of the University of California, Berkeley, who coached both Wiryawan and Connick to national team spots in the sparring divisions and coached Berkeley to first place in the Championship division.  The referees of the year were Melissa Johnson (female) and Samir Zerbouh (male).

In the team standings, the championship (black belt) division was won by the University of California, Berkeley, with Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles tying for the second place spot. The overall (combined) division was won by Brown University, with Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley, tying for second place. The novice (color belt) division was won by Brown University, with Princeton University placing second and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology placing third.

Dr. Russell Ahn reappointed as Vice Chairman of Youth and Collegiate Committee of WTF

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The UC Martial Arts Program Endowed Director, Dr. Russell Ahn has been reappointed as the Vice Chairman of Youth and Collegiate Committee of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).  The founding director of the UC Martial Arts Program, Dr. Ken Min served as the Collegiate Committee Chair from 1981 until 2008.  Dr. Ahn has served as the Chairman of Collegiate Committee of the WTF from 2009 until 2010.  After taekwondo became a core sport of the Youth Olympics, the committee expanded to become the “Youth and Collegiate Committee” and Dr. Ahn has continued to serve as the Vice Chairman of the committee. Thus, Dr. Ahn has succeeded Dr. Min’s mission of university taekwondo development in the international community through WTF. Currently, Dr. Ahn is also serving as the president of the US National Collegiate Taekwondo Association and serves on the board of directors for USA Taekwondo, the national governing body for taekwondo in the United States.

Dr. Ahn will continue to pursue his goals and visions on the educational values of taekwondo and the academic development of taekwondo.  As the director of the University of California Martial Arts Program (UCMAP), he has been working hard to promote UCMAP’s mission through his involvement with the campus, community, national governing bodies and international organizations of taekwondo.

“It is the purpose of the Martial Arts Program to preserve the philosophy, techniques, and traditions of martial arts and to develop a scientific understanding of the physical and spiritual implications of human performance.”

2014 NCTA Championships Results

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Results for the 2014 NCTA Championships are now available on the results page.

Keynote at FISU

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http://fisu.net/medias/images/frum2.jpg

U.S. National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) President Dr. Russell Ahn delivered a keynote speech
at the 12th FISU Forum at Gwangju, South Korea. He gave a keynote speech on behalf of World Taekwondo
Federation (WTF) to talk about the history and development of UC Martial Arts Program as well as the
educational programs of WTF. During his talk, many people got interested in how taekwondo can be used
as an educational tool and leadership training purposes for various groups of participants. It was such
a great honor for Dr. Ahn and the UC Martial Arts Program to promote UC Berkeley and its martial arts
program in front of hundreds of university sports leaders and students.

About FISU

The FISU (International University Sports Federation) was formed within university institutions in
order to promote sports values and encourage sports practice in harmony with and complementary
to the university spirit. Promoting sports values means encouraging friendship, fraternity, fair-
play, perseverance, integrity, cooperation and application amongst students, who one day will have
responsibilities and even key positions in politics, the economy, culture and industry. As allies or
competitors, perhaps even as antagonists, these men and women will have learned how to collaborate and
deal with every eventuality, whilst respecting the ethical code enshrined in these values. Promoting sports
values and sports practice also implies giving a new dimension to the university spirit in study, research,
and discipline, through the strong affirmation of the full humanist development of the individual and of
society at large. This development is not just intellectual, but also moral and physical.

Source

2014 NCTA Championships

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The event site for the 2014 NCTA championships is now live at ncta-nationals.org!

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