US Open and Seattle Sparring Seminar

On Thursday, February 1st, I competed in the 54-kg category for Senior Male Sparring in the Taekwondo US Open. This competition I was ranked as the 17th seed out of the other 32 competitors. My first opponent was from Japan and ranked 16th seed. This athlete stands over 6 feet tall while I stand at about 5 feet 4 inches. I managed to pull a win using a strategy consisting primarily of punching. My opponent was not gauging his distance well and allowed me to get into his space easily for most of the match. Due to his size, he most likely had to cut a lot of weight and must have ended up weak on competition day. I came to this conclusion due to his quickness to fatigue and lack of strength in his kicks. the final score was 26-23.

My next opponent was the number 1 seed in the entire world for the 54-kg weight category: Cesar Rodriguez. He was probably my most difficult opponent I have ever faced in my life thus far. His distance management, presence in the ring, timing, and power were all things I am unaccustomed to. I have almost never sparred against someone of this caliber and faced an early defeat. However, this experience was invaluable and I will always remember that match. I now have a new goal to reach as well as aspirations to continue pushing and improving my game. 

After the US Open, I spent the weekend (February 2-4) in Seattle, Washington with the Stanford Taekwondo team to conduct a Sparring Seminar at the University of Washington. Stanford alumni and former Taekwondo athlete Viet Tran has taken over the Taekwondo program at UW and is in the process of revamping everything. To help with this, he requested that Stanford Taekwondo come over to introduce what is current in today's sport Poomsae and Kyoroogi (Sparring). The turnout comprised not only of UW Taekwondo practitioners, but also neighboring Taekwondo schools. It was a wonderful experience for me to branch out my teaching capabilities to Taekwondo athletes of all ages and manage such a large class in one day. These are memories I will treasure and remember for the rest of my life and hope to share with future students one day.

-Joseph Ong