(Aurora, CO) – The Colorado Elementary School Taekwondo League held its fall championships on November 9th at the Korean Academy of Taekwondo. The event featured several schools competing in five events (Forms, Sparring, Grappling, Breaking, and Short Demo) Students who earned gold medals received 3 points for their schools, students who earned silver received 2 points for their schools, and students who earned bronze received one point for their schools. Students who earned 4th place and higher got 0.5 points for participation. In some events two students both received bronze and thus both received a point for their teams.
A student prepares for forms competition
The league has grown in popularity and competitiveness, especially among the top 3 teams. The points from the fall championships are added to those earned at the Lone Wolf Classic in the spring to determine the league champion. The 2011-2012 champion was Aurora Quest, and the 2012-2013 champion was Global Village Academy (GVA). Currently, Crescent View Academy (CVA) leads the pack with 83 points. There are only 0.5 points ahead of Aurora Quest who has 82.5. The results show a big jump over last year’s champioinships, where GVA took the lead with 44 points. Leading the league this year is almost twice as hard as it was last year. For comparison see the Fall 2012 Championships results.
CVA Coach Kamil Latipov with his daughter Laila, who earned gold in breaking in a very competitive division. It was her first tournament.
Master Bill Pottle believes that the way the league is set up encourages the teams to be strategic with how they train and allocate their resources. Although each school has adult instructors, team captains (usually older or higher ranked students) can play a big role in preparing their respective schools. “It’s a little bit like Ender’s Game, although on a much smaller scale, and without worrying about the future of the universe. A good martial artist should understand strategy, and there is no teacher like experience.” Adam Mohammed, CVA Team captain stated: “Our team trains hard and we sacrifice a lot of our time for the sport of Taekwondo.”
With 83 points from 50 medals, Crescent View Academy has to be excited about how they started off the season and about their potential for the future. This was the first time that they have come out on top in a league championship. With 27 points in sparring, they also had the most dominant performance of any team in any one event. At 82.5 points on 35 medals, Aurora Quest has to feel pretty good about their chances as well. They defeated CVA in all their head to head matches in forms, grappling, and sparring and are nearly in first despite entering 15 fewer events. 3rd place Global Village Academy has to be disappointed with only taking away only 38 points, although they demonstrated some great skill. Taylor Altman‘s Koryo form wowed the
CVA students celebrate their first place finish at a promotion test the week after the tournament.
judges and spectators, and it was easy to see why she placed third in the 2013 US National Championships. High Point Academy emerged with 26 points. The Huskeys have been a solid forth place in the league over the years, winning numerous medals but unable to catch the top three teams.
The demo team competition was close, with GVA’s Bullies vs Heroes skit barely losing out to Quest’s Zombies vs Heroes skit. Quest had good costumes and correography and ended the event by taking the 15 first place points.
With the top teams so close, it is hard to predict how the league will finish this year, besides the likelihood that CVA and Quest will both battle for first and second. It’s not over for the other teams, but the top two will be very hard to catch.
The league has the feel of being more important than just a tournament, bringing so many different families and cultures together. Despite fierce competition, it is clear that everyone there is a martial artist first and they put their honor, discipline, and respect above winning and losing.
Full standings and breakdown of medals between CVA and Quest.