Taekwondo tournament held
During one weekend in September, Deerlake Middle School was the safest place to be in Tallahassee. Killearn Lakes TaeKwonDo, located in north Tallahassee, was host to over 200 students from six martial arts schools from Florida and Georgia. The Fall 2015 TaeKwonDo tournament brought together children and adults competing against one another for a coveted gold medal.
Competitors from all walks of life competed in many different categories including traditional forms, sparring, board breaking, creative musical forms, weapons forms, and synchronized musical forms. Ten local businesses sponsored the tournament, including sponsoring the co-owner of the host school, Mr. Blaine Marky, and Mr. Terrell Bennett, a senior instructor and employee of Killearn Lakes TaeKwonDo.
The competition kicked off Friday afternoon with High Rank Testing, where black belt students testing for the rank of 4th degree or higher were put through their paces in front of the highest rank head instructors from each school. There were three students testing for high rank, including two students from Tallahassee: Mr. Geoff Amison and Mrs. Jean Amison, who tested for 4th degree black belt.
“The intensity of the preparation, the additional sparring rounds, breaking wood boards, and a more competitive environment really made this testing stand apart from others that I’ve been through,” said Mr. Amison. “But it was all worth it. And the support from our Killearn Lakes TaeKwonDo family really made the difference to help us persevere as we went through our requirements.”
For Mrs. Jean Amison, this particular testing was a turning point. “I had set my sights on this rank since 2010 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. After all the surgeries and reconstruction I thought my martial arts days were over.” She credits the support of her family and friends, and her martial arts training for helping her through. “And for the testing and awarding of my new rank to happen on the 5th anniversary of my diagnosis really brought home how far I’ve come. In preparing for this testing, I know I can accomplish anything.”
And if the high rank testing wasn’t exciting enough, the evening continued with the adult black belts competing against each other. The sparring rounds were particularly exciting, especially among the men.
Competition continued on Saturday with the junior black belts competing in the morning and then all lower ranks, adults and children, competing in the afternoon. Children as young as 4 competed in the various categories earning gold, silver or bronze medals. The board breaking event really tested each competitor’s accuracy. Each student competes against the boards with 5 breaks that each student must complete – they have to break all 5 to get gold.
The highlight of the weekend’s competition was the Team Sparring and Demo Team Events. The Team Sparring event features 13 students, 1 representative from each rank/age category, from each school. Each student on the team spars their counterpart from another school for 30 seconds or until one student gets 3 points. The school with the most wins moves to the next round. Killearn Lakes TaeKwonDo took home the trophy for the second time this year.
In the Demo Team event, each team picks a theme, and acts out the story to music using martial arts, gymnastics and weapons such as bo staffs. The host school brought home second place in this event, but that didn’t stop them from winning the Overall School trophy. This award is won by the school with the most points at the end of the tournament. Mr. Ray Marky, Owner and Head Instructor, said of the tournament, “the level of competition by all of the martial artists was outstanding and the tournament was a huge success thanks to all of the instructors, staff, volunteers and sponsors, especially the 26 instructors from Killearn Lakes TaeKwonDo”
About Killearn Lakes Taekwondo
Killearn Lakes TaeKwonDo is a family-owned business specializing in fitness programs such as TaeKwonDo, Jazzercise, Parkour, Yoga, Pilates and Cage Fitness in Northeast Tallahassee.