These are the competitors from Ridgewood-based Taekwondo All In to win medals at the Big East Taekwondo Championships XXI. FRONT ROW, from left: Holly Soper, Connor Rojas, Lucas Woods, Alex Han and Liam Woods. BACK ROW, from left: Master Youngmin Kim, Master Seongki Kim, Matthew Lee, Connor Park, Jongyun An, Kevin Park and Jiyoung An.
Ridgewood athletes earn tae kwon do medals
AUGUST 15, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014, 12:31 AM
Ten students from Taekwondo All In of Ridgewood participated in the Big East Taekwondo Championships XXI at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge earlier this year, where more than 500 athletes gathered to compete.
The Ridgewood entrants made an outstanding showing, earning 10 gold, nine silver and seven bronze medals in three different divisions — Poomsae (Form), Breaking and Sparring.
* Lucas Woods, 5, earned a gold medal in the Poomsae division and a silver medal in the Breaking division. Woods was influenced by his older brother, Liam, and performed well in his first-ever championship tournament.
* Also in the Poomsae division, Alex Han showed great progress in his technique and performed as well as he did in the New Jersey State Taekwondo Championships, where he won a gold medal in Sparring this past March.
* Despite a short training period, Kevin Park earned a gold medal in the Poomsae division.
* Matthew Lee earned a gold medal in the Poomsae and Sparring divisions. Of note, he won against his opponent with a significant point advantage in the Sparring division.
* Jongyun An performed exceptionally well and won three gold medals from the Poomsae, Breaking and Sparring divisions. She executed a special turn and high-kick technique, which helped her earn a gold medal with a significant point difference from the silver medalist.
* Jiyoung An captured a gold medal, earning two points with the jump-and-back-kick technique. This technique is very difficult to perform.
* Connor Park advanced all the way to the final round in the Sparring division and earned a gold medal.
* Liam Woods reached the final round in the Sparring division, winning his semifinal bout by a score of 24-4 before finishing as runner-up.
* Holly Soper earned a silver medal from the Poomsae and Breaking divisions. She also received a silver medal from the State Championship.
* This was the first championship tournament in which Connor Rojas participated, and he earned a bronze medal in both the Poomsae and Breaking divisions.
Master Young Min Kim, the head instructor of Taekwondo All In, noted that the Big East Championships were good preparation for his students that participated in the recent USA National Taekwondo Championships in San Jose, Calif.
Han, Jiyoung An, Jongyun An and Liam Woods received special training in advance of that event. The competition in California was the first National Championship that the Ridgewood students attended.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/village-athletes-earn-tae-kwon-do-medals-1.1067945#sthash.6kUVxADh.dpuf
