By. Cherise Scrivner
(Littleton, CO) It’s always an inspirational moment when we as humans realize that our lives are more gratifying when we get to live life doing what makes us happy.
Laron Younger, 38, Instructor at CKTKD ( Championship Karate & Taekwondo), left his spot on the Colorado Wolverines semi-pro football team, to do just that, what makes him happy; teaching taekwondo.
His main goal, to save lives.
B.A.C.A
Younger is the founder of a non-profit organization called B.A.C.A [Black Belts against Child Abuse.] The program encourages businesses to support children that are victims of child abuse. Younger seeks funding to help the children learn self-defense at no cost to the Laron Younger
“I’m working on getting businesses to sponsor children in these situations,” said Younger.
The organization started as a community service project for his black belt tests.
Younger’s Story Younger is currently a 2nd dan black belt in taekwondo, as well as hapkito.
“The kicking is beautiful in taekwondo, it’s fast and powerful,” said Younger.
In the last three years he has won numerous state championships. He has won silver at Colorado State Championship in 2011 and double gold at Colorado State sparring and board breaking in 2012. Younger also took gold, silver and bronze at Nationals in Dallas, Texas.
Younger won double gold at Colorado State Championships in 2012. He even made it to the US OPEN in Las Vegas to win a silver medal in sparring.
This year Younger also received the title of Grand Champion at the Twin Dragons Tournament. He left the tournament with three silver and three gold medals.
Growing up Younger’s passion for martial arts developed from training with his father and uncle. They were both in the military and trained taekwondo under Grand Master Tiger Kim. Younger has spent his time learning numerous martial arts styles including judo, karate, and urban combat self defense. Although he has experience in a variety of martial arts forms, “I immediately fell in love with taekwondo,” said Younger.
Laron Younger; Currently 2nd Dan
In 1996, Younger began his taekwondo training with Master Gassahan at the Korean Academy of Taekwondo.
“Master Gassahan saw talent in me and started putting me in tournaments but only at black belt level. I started winning a lot. I even went against Charles Alexander who was on the US National team. I almost beat him.”
Younger is now an Instructor at Championship Karate and Taekwondo (CKTKD) in Littleton.
He said, “I love it when a student gets a move or a kick, or when they nail a form and they start to develop that same love I have for taekwondo.” Younger continues to pursue his passion of Taekwondo, competing and instructing others the beautiful techniques of sparring, grappling and forms. He says he will continue to teach others how to protect themselves. Younger strives to raise awareness of child abuse and to find financial support to teach young victims self-defense and self discipline.
Check out this quick video of Younger at the 2013 US OPEN in Las Vegas: