2022 NCTA Championships to be Held in Marlborough, MA

The NCTA is so pleased to announce that the 2022 National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships will be held April 1-3, 2022 in Marlborough, MA, just outside Boston. More information can be found on the Championships page.

This year, we will be focusing on our core constituency, collegiate athletes, and will not hold the NCTA High School Championships. We look forward to serving high school athletes again next year when we have fewer space and time constraints.

The NCTA Championships will serve as the qualifier for the 2022 FISU America Games on Oct. 16-18 in Merida, Mexico, the Pan American continental collegiate multi-sport Games. This event will be the time that the FISU America Games have been contested. Winners in the Black Belt sparring and Team Trials Poomsae divisions at the NCTA Championships will earn a spot on the team.

2022 Summer World University Games Team Trials Conclude

The 2022 Summer World University Games Taekwondo Team Trials were held by the NCTA on Feb 18, 2022 at the USA Taekwondo Center for Excellence in Colorado Springs, CO. Congratulations to the winners!

Poomsae Divisions
Individual Male – Andrew Hurd (Northeastern)
Individual Female – Adalis Munoz (Texas A&M)
Mixed Pairs – Kyra Chan (Mass Coll. Pharmacy) & Andrew Hurd (Northeastern)
Male Team – Jake DeGuzman (Morris Co. CC), David Lee (Emory) & William Shin (Georgia State)
Female Team – Adalis Munoz (Texas A&M), Zoie Munoz (Texas Christian) & Titania Thao (Gustavus Adolphus)

Sparring Divisions
Female Fin – Caliana Fonseca (San Joaquin Delta College)
Female Fly – Karla Perea (Scottsdale CC)
Female Feather – Logan Weber (Johnson County CC)
Female Light – Britney Morales (FIU)
Female Welter – Skylar Farrell (Saddleback Coll.)
Female Middle – Alena Viana (UCo Colorado Springs)
Female Heavy- Hannah Keck (Collin Coll.)
Male Fin – Juancarlos Norzagaray-Garcia (Pikes Peak CC)
Male Fly – Jehoon Seo (U Mich)
Male Bantam – Andrew Medina (U of Santo Tomas)
Male Feather – Adan Rivas (U Texas Austin)
Male Light – Joshua Liu (Penn State)
Male Welter – Farhang Mousavizadeh (Santiago CC)
Male Middle – Michael Rodriguez (Houston CC)
Male Heavy – Noah Kim (Saddleback Coll.)

Results can also be found on the team trials page.

Summer World University Games Team Trials to Be Held at USA Taekwondo Center for Excellence

The NCTA is pleased to announce that the sparring and poomsae team trials for the 2022 Summer World University Games (Universiade) will take place on Feb. 18-20, 2022 (dates updated 12/22/2021) at the USA Taekwondo Center for Excellence in Colorado Springs, CO. Sixteen sparring athletes and up to ten poomsae athlete spots will be filled by the winners at the trials.

The Summer World University Games (officially still called the 2021 Summer world University Games, which were delayed by 1 year), will take place from June 26-July 7, 2022 in Chengdu, China, with taekwondo events taking place from Jun 27-28, 2022 (poomsae), and June 29-July 3, 2022 (sparring).

More information to follow on the team trials page (updated 12/22/2021, schedule and format information has been posted).

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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!
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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.

11062705_1203975799628268_8180921419757469540_o67276629_1208168089366592_248121274302201856_nNguyen (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.

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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.

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Q: Were any of the Korean athletes current or former collegiate athletes, and if so were you able to relate to them?

Nguyen: Some of them were former collegiate national team members so it was really fun being able to talk about past events and what everyone is up to now with their careers.

Q: What does it mean to you to represent taekwondo to a national television audience?
S. Wallace: It was an opportunity of a lifetime! Some of us still can’t believe how fortunate we are for this opportunity and we’re very happy for Taekwondo to have chance to be showcased on national television.

Q: Any chance you’ll continue to pursue a career in media or entertainment on a larger scale after this experience?
All: As much as it was lifetime opportunity, we prefer to enjoy the experience the way it is as we don’t see ourselves pursuing a career in media or entertainment. However if our team makes it to the live rounds, we will do our best to pursue the final round!

Q: Anything else you’d like to share?
S. Wallace: Our group and the WT Demo Team were in our own bubble throughout the 10 days for the audition.
Nguyen: The WT Demo Team Head Coach was very accommodating of our work and school schedule so he had all daily team trainings take place from 2:30pm-5:30pm and 6:30pm-9:30pm.
Ha: The WT Demo Team took care of our dinners and we would returned the favor by buying everyone boba milk tea and dessert everyday.
All: If we make it to the live rounds, please remember to vote for the World Taekwondo Demonstration Team! Thank you.

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Sad News – Past NCTA Coach Hyunsik Jung Passes Away

The NCTA officers would like to express their sadness as they learned that Hyunsik Jung, who served as both manager and coach of the 2010 USA National Collegiate Taekwondo Team, as well as an NCTA referee, passed away this week. The 2010 team traveled to Vigo, Spain for the World University Taekwondo Championships. Dan Chuang, NCTA President, said, “as head coach on the 2010 team, I remember Coach Jung as a humble individual whose quiet demeanor hid a deep excellence – indeed, he coached one of the two USA sparring medalists for those championship, Wardell Samotshozo. He later dedicated his time to helping the NCTA as a referee and in other ways. We will always remember his contributions to collegiate taekwondo.”
Coach Jung ran a successful school and also served as a World Taekwondo International Referee, refereeing at NCTA events as well, and was extremely well-regarded by his colleagues and students. We hop you can all join us in grieving with his family and celebrating his contributions to the NCTA. You can leave a message for Master Jung’s family, as well as learn details about his service here:
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