NCTA Championships Postponement/FISU America Games Update

5 years
by in Uncategorized

(as of 12:00p EST, March 10, 2020)
(update: 12:00p EST, March 16, 2020)

Yesterday, Mar. 9, the University of California, Berkeley canceled all campus-sponsored events with plans for more then 150 attendees, and suspended most in-person classes, joining over 40 colleges and universities adopting similar policies over the past several days. Also, many schools are severely restricting travel for students and staff. Schools with these policies include several of our NCTA member schools.

Due to the many barriers to both hosting the championships and to our members’ ability to travel, as well as in consideration of the safety of all participants, the NCTA is postponing the 2020 NCTA Championships to the fall. While we do not yet have a date or location, we would expect the championships to be in October or November. We hope that this future event will be something that the athletes can look forward to during this time of uncertainty.

Also, FISU has stated that the FISU America Games (May 29-June 5) are moving forwards as planned, and the USA Team delegation plans on continuing with their participation. NCTA is requesting that those who remain interested in being a part of the FISU America Games email 2020ncta@gmail.com with an expression of your interest as well what event you are interested in participating in (weight class or poomsae event), so that we can gauge whether a selection process can still be considered to choose a team.

Be aware that due to the financial constraints of not having revenue from this year’s event, NCTA may not be able to offer the same level of financial support to athletes as in the past, with the maximum cost per athlete being approximately $1950 to attend the FISU America Games (including lodging, food and apparel, excluding airfare).

UPDATE (March 16, 2020): The FISU America Games have been postponed as of March 16, 2020. No new date or location have been announced yet. One the Games have a new date, the NCTA will publish required steps to apply for the team.

We thank everyone for their understanding and are grateful for all of your very hard work at campuses and dojangs all around the country. We look forward to a successful championships in the fall!

NCTA Update Regarding COVID-19

5 years
by in Uncategorized

(as of 12:00p EST, March 6, 2020)

The past week has seen rapid development regarding the status of the spread of the COVID-19 virus, as well as university administration responses to address the risk of transmission of the virus. As such, there is increased uncertainty regarding the 2020 NCTA Championships. The NCTA is taking the situation very seriously and continuing to monitor events closely.

At this time, the University of California, Berkeley has not stated any modification to sporting events or large gatherings. One case of COVID-19 has been identified in the City of Berkeley; the university states that there is no obvious connection with the school: https://uhs.berkeley.edu/coronavirus-covid-19-information.

Below please find answers to some commonly asked questions:

Will the 2020 NCTA Championships still be held?

We do currently plan to hold the championships. However, we also recognize that the situation is changing on a daily basis, and we will reassess early next week based on WHO and CDC recommendations, as well as national trends in university event travel policies.

What precautions will be taken at the NCTA Championships to prevent the spread of COVID-19?

The NCTA will regularly clean commonly touched surfaces with disinfectant between use, including:

  • Laptop computers
  • Door handles
  • Scoring system controllers
  • Electronic body and head protectors
Additionally, the following precautions will be taken:

  • Pre-Event Questionnaire for all participants screening for recent travel and flu-like symptoms
  • Hand sanitizer located around the facility
  • Disinfectant wipes located around the facility
  • “No handshake” policy: bowing or elbow bumps rather than hand shaking between competitors/coaches/officials
  • Limited or no spectators allowed
  • Posted reminders on personal hygiene:  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention-treatment.html
  • Distributed athlete holding areas reducing athlete contact

What contingency plans can athletes and coaches make?

The following airlines have change fee forgiveness policies:

We recommend checking an airline’s change policy or travel insurance policies of your credit cards before booking on that airline.

Additionally, we do recommend booking accommodations with free cancellation policies.

We are seeking clarity on the refund policy for registrations and will update you as soon as we know more. You can always register and select the pay later option – just be sure to pay by the early registration deadline (3/19).

Check the CDC travel recommendations at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html to inform your decisions.

We know how hard our high school and collegiate communities have worked, and we are exploring every resource possible to host this event with the safety of our athletes and coaches being our foremost concern.  We thank you for your support.

NCTA to Select USA Team for the 2020 FISU America Games

5 years
by in Uncategorized
The NCTA is pleased to announce that it will be selecting a team for the 2020 FISU America Games to be held May 31-June 10 in Merida, Mexico. The team will be selected at the 2020 National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships in Berkeley, CA. Sparring Team Trials for the event will be held on Friday, April 3, Poomsae Team Trials will be held on Saturday, April 4, and both will be separate from the NCTA Championships divisions for sparring and poomsae.

A sparring team consisting of 4 women and 4 men in combined weight classes will be selected, and individual, mixed pair and male and female teams will be selected for poomsae. Poomsae will follow current FISU rules and will require athletes to prepare both recognized and freestyle poomsae.

NCTA President Dan Chuang remarked, “This year is the second year that the FISU America Games have been held. With over 3,000 athletes from 17 countries expected to attend, these multi-sport games are like the Pan Am Games for collegiate taekwondo. The FISU America Games will be a fantastic opportunity for our collegiate athletes to represent USA and gain international experience in a unique environment.”

Schedule information for the event can be found at this link, and more information will become available soon.

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2020 NCTA Championships To Be Held at the University of California, Berkeley

5 years
by in Announcements, Championships

The NCTA is pleased to announce that the 45th National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships will be held on April 3-5, 2020 at the University of California, Berkeley. The NCTA is also pleased to host the 7th NCTA High School Championships, which includes black belt Sparring and black belt poomsae (Individual, Pairs and Teams) as part of the same event. Additional information will be available soon.

USA Team Taekwondo Closes World University Games With Bronze in Women’s Team Sparring, Finishes with 3 Medals

5 years
by in Uncategorized

Naples, Italy – (July 13, 2019)  USA Team closed out the final 3 days of taekwondo competition with an historic bronze medal in women’s team sparring at the Summer World University Games, bringing the team’s total medal count to one gold, one silver and one bronze. Representing USA in the bronze-medal winning women’s sparring team were Makayla Gorka, Cheyenne Lewis, Lizette Salas and Logan Weber. It was the first medal for USA team in the team sparring divsion at the Games since the division’s inception in 2015. Gold and silver medals were earned earlier in the week by Adalis “AJ” Munoz and Edward Jeong in women’s and men’s individual poomsae, respectively.

Also competing over the final three days were Amanda Bluford, George El-Chemali, Makayla Gorka, Matthew Klein, Abdul Rahman and Logan Weber in the individual divisions, as well as Alejandro Bravo, Charles Buset, El-Chemali and Connor Wilson in the male team sparring division.

Head of Team and USA National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) president Dan Chuang noted, “I’m grateful for the efforts our staff and so impressed by the cohesiveness and drive of our athletes at this incredibly high level event. Their team-first approach enabled them to weather the highs and lows of competition and finish on a strong note. Thank you also to all of the USA Team staff as well as the Games organizing committee for creating a first rate expereince for our team.”

Added Head Sparring Coach Richard Lee, “It was a honor and a pleasure to coach the USA Team. This was a special group of selfless athletes and staff who watched out and cheered for one another. The results are some of the best we’ve ever had at a SWUG event for taekwondo, but the bonds and friendships that were made will continue to live on. Personally, I’m truly grateful for this opportunity.”

The aforementioned women’s team of Gorka, Lewis, Salas and Weber had an outstanding run to the medal rounds on the final day of competition, July 13. Led with contributions from all four athletes but especially heavy minutes from Lewis, the team advanced over Chile 24-8 in the round of 16 and Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals 35-11 before losing a tightly contested match to powerhouse Korea in the semifinals by the score of 15-19 in the mostly tag-team format. The men’s team of Bravo, Buset, El-Chemali and Wilson also had a strong run, advancing over Kazakhstan 28-16 in the round of 16 before falling to Malaysia 13-35, just one round short of the medals.

One day prior on July 12, the sixth day of competition, George El-Chemali (-63kg) fought Jack Francois (NZL) in the round of 16, winning 11-2, before falling to Mertcan Dolmaci (TUR) 7-11 in the quarterfinals at his second Games. Abdul Rahman fell 12-25 to Mikolaj Szaferski (POL), and Logan Weber (-53kg) lost 3-23 to Viktoriia Sabko (UKR).

On July 11, the fifth day of taekwondo competition, Amanda Bluford (-62kg) clashed with Sofia Cruz (POR) in her initial round.  After allowing the first two points, Bluford scored 10 unanswered, to earn the 10-2 win. Bluford’s Round of 16 contest against Jiwon Kim (KOR) had her ahead 3-2 after the 1st round. She was unable to hold the lead and finished 5-9. Makayla Gorka (-73kg) sparred Franchesca Avaria Ramirez (CHI). The match concluded with Gorka down 17-22 in a tight match that came down to the final seconds. Matthew Klein’s (-74kg) draw had him sparring Uladzislau Halizin (BLR). He was able to score an early head kick and exhibited great determination, but lost 4-22.

Supporting the athletes throughout the compeition were NCTA President and Head of Team, Dan Chuang (Cambridge, MA), Director, Sung C. Kim (Rochester, NY), Manager, Justin Faiferlick (Fort Dodge, Iowa), Doctor, Sherri Lashomb (Buffalo, NY), Head Poomsae Coach, Huy Nguyen (San Jose, CA), Poomsae Coach, Haksung Kim (Irvine, CA), Head Sparring Coach, Richard Lee (Los Angeles, CA), Sparring Coach, Dongyoung Kim (Newark, CA), Sparring Coach, Toby Oliver (Fort Myers, FL) and Sparring Coach, Adrian Zambrano (Sylmar, CA).

Over 9,000 athletes and staff representing over 160 countries were represented at the 30th Universiade. The US was the second largest delegation with 420 participants competing in 18 sports. Full results can be found at: https://www.fisu.net/sport-events/summer-universiades-events/30th-summer-universiade.

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