(Ft. Collins, CO) – The Community College of Aurora Taekwondo team had a strong showing in the 2014 Rocky Mountain Collegiate Taekwondo League Spring Championships, held April 12th at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. This tournament was the second in the league year, and the final standings were created by adding the results from both tournaments together.
The first event was the poomsae event, where athletes competed by performing memorized patterns. Students were scored based on how close they came to the ideal technical standard. In the Women’s Yellow Belt division, Kristen Holz earned a BRONZE medal. In the Men’s Green Belt Division, Damien Brown earned BRONZE and in the Women’s Green Belt Division, Satya Wimbish also took BRONZE. It was good to get some points on the board, but dissappointing not to earn any golds or silvers.
In the second event, sparring, it was a much different story. Athletes try to kick and punch their opponents in order to earn points. The C team (Developmental) divisions have no head contact. Kristen pulled out a close victory against UNC in the finals to take the GOLD for Women’s C Team Heavyweight. Damien made great use of slide back roundhouse to defeat a player from Auraria Campus Taekwondo (ACT) by a comfortable margin to earn the GOLD in Men’s C Team Welterweight. Satya kept up the good work with GOLD for Women’s B team (Junior Varsity – Light head contact) Flyweight. That meant each of the students ended up with one GOLD and one BRONZE.
Satya W is one of the key members of CCA Taekwondo
Team points are awarded based on the medal and weighted based on the skill division. Because the CCA Taekwondo class is only in its third semester, they did not yet have anyone in the high point bearing A (Varsity) divisions. Still, the students were able to earn a total of 25 points, which put them ahead of CU Boulder (16) and Capella University (11). They were only 4 points shy of UNC (29). CCA is still far away from the two powerhouse teams Auraria Campus Taekwondo (169 points) and CSU (167 points) but has earned their respect. Paloma Gonzalez, ACT club president and USA Collegiate Team Alternate called CCA “A team to watch out for in the future” and Master Cameron Weber stated that “CCA had great skills and team camaraderie for a small team and were extremely courteous. We are thrilled to have them in the RMCTL.” Master Cam is the coach of CSU Taekwondo, also USA Collegiate Team Alternate, and the 2013-2014 RMCTL League MVP.
It was a surprise for CCA to defeat CU Boulder, because CU Boulder Taekwondo has a strong team and storied history, and won 2nd overall in both the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons. The CU Team was missing several of their key players, which was the main reason that the competition was close.
Master Bill Pottle, CCA Taekwondo faculty member, was safisfied with the team’s progress. “We have a long way to go, especially as far as getting some students ready for the varsity divisions. However, the students have improved tremendously over the course of the season. I want to thank the PE Department at CCA for their support in making this a for-credit class. I hope other CCA students will consider training for the Fall 2015 semester so that we can build for the future.”
Other news coverage of this event will be linked here when available.