By Staff
CASSOPOLIS – In Atlanta, local martial arts students from Elite TaeKwonDo II in Cassopolis, competed in the US National Junior Olympics July 5-10.
The Junior Olympics is held once a year. It includes competitors from all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico. This year the competition was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. There were over 5,000 athletes in competition.
At the Junior Olympics, competitors competed in forms and sparring. Forms is the technical aspect of TaeKwonDo. During the forms competition, the athlete demonstrates their form and techniques for the judges and receive scores from 6-10, 10 being the highest score. Sparring is the physical aspect of TKD. The sparring competition pits two competitors against each other and they have to use the kicks and blocking techniques they've learned to score points and defend from being scored on. Sparring is three, one minute rounds with the winner being the competitor with the most points after three rounds.
The athletes can score points by kicking to the torso or the head of the other competitor. Head contact is only allowed in the 13-years-old and older division.
Elite TaeKwonDo II had three of their members medal. Ericka Stephenson received a bronze medal in sparring for the 10-11 year-old Red Belt division as well as tying for third in the forms competition. Timothy Born received a bronze in sparring for the 10-11 year-old Red Belt division. Mark Sutherland also received a bronze in sparring for the 12-13 year-old Green Belt division. Ryan Hawkins reached the Quarterfinals of the 12-13 year-old Black Belt division in sparring. All of the athletes were coached by Cliff Hawkins.