To say that this past week has been successful would be a great understatement. The Trinity team came to Nationals with the goal of bringing home gold medals and we will be doing just that! For the past 6 months we have all trained hard and I have come to regard 4 awesome ladies and 1 awesome coach as my “gymily”– my family away from home.  I never thought that I would have had the opportunity to compete in a sporting event at the National level and I definitely wouldn’t have made it here without Erika, Stacy, Susie, Rachael, and Nathan.

Ashley Nationals 2010

In January I started out knowing the bare essentials of competitive fighting and now, in June, I have watched myself grow into *ahem* a bit of a badass. Whereas I would have never considered myself an aggressive, competitive, or athletic person in the past, I see myself growing into someone who is gradually gaining more confidence and realizing that I can be whoever I want to be with some hard work and focus. I knew that joining the Trinity TKD team would push me further physically than I have ever been pushed before and even though I might have been nervous or afraid (especially given some of my team mates more athletic backgrounds) I knew it would be a great test to find out  just what I could do.

In competing at Nationals this week with my team mates I have accomplished just what I have set out to do by becoming a fighter. I had two fights this week and even though the  girls I fought were bigger than I was and may have had more experience,  I never backed down. Although I still have a lot to learn I am noticing big changes in my skill level with each fight.  I am becoming less nervous, more skilled in my movements, and more aggressive.  I am proud to be bringing home two silver medals  for the Trinity team and I feel they truly represent how far I’ve come in the last 6 months. I know they are just a jumping off point for the person I hope to become in the future. I have come to love my team mates as sisters and Nathan as a great friend and supporter. I  could not have made it this far without their love and support.

The last week has been an amazing experience and I’m looking forward to watching Nathan compete tomorrow (you’re going to be awesome by the way) and celebrating with the rest of the Trinity family when we return home.

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It’s hard to believe that my first Nationals are over.  I wasn’t able to accomplish everything I wanted, but my time here has been memorable and is still hard to put into words.  I am proud of my accomplishments and improvements over the past six months.  I had one of my best fights yet at AAU, so being just a couple kicks away from the win has been slightly disappointing.  However, it was a tough fight, and I had a lot of fun trying to rise to the challenge of a great competitor.  Ashley and I didn’t have any competitors in our division to fight at USAT, but managed to find a heavyweight as eager for practice as we were and got some experience with electronic chest protectors.  I will still bring back a new bronze and gold for team Trinity to add to the collection.

Rachael 2010 Nationals

One of the biggest goals I had for myself when I joined the team was to get back to a healthy weight.  I have lost 30lbs since January and am now fitting into clothes I haven’t worn since college.  Being slimmer has helped my speed and endurance in the ring.  In these last two fights at Nationals, I also was able to get in several kicks to the head on taller girls, something that we’ve worked very hard on in practice.  Additionally, I feel like things have finally begun to slow down in the ring.  Being mostly an endurance athlete, I have had a hard time adjusting to the frenzy of 1 or 1:30 minute rounds and getting the most out of every second.  In my fights here at Nationals I felt the most control over seeing the fights unfold and the strategy behind each particular match.  Finally, the hours of training and practice leading up to Nationals have taught me about focus, intensity, setting goals, and pushing towards something you decide is worth accomplishing.  There will always be new fights and new goals, so I now look forward to the journey ahead.

I am thankful for all the hard work my coach and teammates have put into these last several months and am proud of everyone’s successes here at Nationals.  This is an amazing group of ladies and they make spending long hours in the gym just a little easier.  Thank you to everyone at Trinity who has helped us along the way, many of you encouraging us on our most tired days.  We return with medals, stories, camaraderie, and even a few seashells.

It’s been a busy week here in Florida, and after Nathan’s big day tomorrow, we look forward to getting home and back to all the things we’ve been neglecting during the last few weeks of training… maybe getting a few extra hours of sleep as well.  But the one thing we quickly learned about this group of ladies is that we don’t sit still for long and coach has a hard time keeping us out of the gym.  We look forward to seeing all our friends back in at the gym very soon!

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I’ve been having an amazing time with the girls and boy (coach)! Nathan fights tomorrow and we all wish him the very best luck ever. He has been a wonderful coach to us 5 girls and we have learned so much and improved tremendously over the past 6 months. I don’t think any of us can say we are the same people that we were before we joined the Trinity TKD team. We have all grown as individuals and as a family. Thanks to Nathan we are bringing home a butt-load of shiny medals and a myriad of great and hilarious memories. It has been an enjoyable journey all along, but surely not an easy one. We have all trained very hard and have pushed ourselves past preconceived limits and doubts. We have all had good and bad days and have helped each other work through them all. We truly have become  a family and I care for them all tremendously. I am very grateful to have had them on my side to hold me up along the way. A funny secret too, I think we all kick in our sleep now and wake ourselves up periodically through the night.

National Champs!

Rachel is the brain of the group and a solid rock to lean on, Stace is the glue and kinda team mom, Susie is kind of a momma herself and she definitely adds a lot of color and excitement to the group. Ashley is a brain too and she comes out of nowhere with the most hilarious comments….good timing and delivery, just like her kicks! Nathan is obviously our coach and gets to boss us around and keep us in line as we expect him to.  He can also get pretty silly with us and be a fabulous buddy. God knows the boy loves pizza. These guys have become a second fam. and I regard them all very highly. I hope that I get to to it all again with them next year!

We did get a little time to relax, a little beach and a little pool, but I will definitely be ready to celebrate tomorrow night after we are all done fighting. I am looking forward to pizza and a couple of beers for sure!

Thanks N for taking us on a great journey and I am very happy to bring home two gold medals to add to the Trinity collection!!

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This week has been an unbelievable experience.  The past 6 months of intense training has culminated in a spectacular showing of focus, perseverance, and dominance from all the ladies on the team. The first few days in Fort Lauderdale were filled with nerves and excitement for the fights to come.

AAU + USAT TKD National Gold Medal Champions!

After learning of the lack of participants in my division at AAU, I was faced with the decision to either accept a guaranteed Gold medal handed to me just for showing up as the only fighter in the Flyweight division, or forfeit my Gold, and join the heavy weight division, which was the only other red belt division with participants, and try my skills against ladies 55-90 pounds heavier than myself.  After reflecting on all the hard work and training that I had put in, and with Nathan’s support, I quickly decided that I had come to fight, and simply being handed the Gold would not have been a satisfying victory.

I must admit the night before the fight was filled with a rage of nerves which were slightly subsided by strategically planning for the fights.  I knew that I would have to fight defensively and capitalize on my advantages of speed and endurance to get me through the power and height advantages of my opponents.  Fortunately, this worked in my favor. My first fight was against a very large 200 lb female, who was much slower than me, and I was able to get in and score without her countering and won the fight 10-3.

The second fight was a much tougher experience. The girl had a significant height advantage, and after watching my first match, she was going for my head every time.  I knew she was coming, so I mostly stayed on the defense, and tried countering her kicks to the backside, however I wasn’t getting points for my efforts.  After she landed 2 head kicks on me (2 pts each), I was down 4-0, and getting extremely frustrated.  Nathan yelled to me that I only had 30 seconds left in the match, and I knew that I had to go big.  Realizing that fighting defensively wasn’t working, I decided to go in and attack, and leave it all on the mat.  I was either going to lose standing there trying to evade her kicks or lose fighting with everything I had.  The next 20 seconds of the fight was a whirl wind, I threw as many kicks as I could, and finally peeked at the score to see a score of 8-5, it was such a significant change in score from the last time I looked when it was 4-0, for a second I couldn’t remember what color I was fighting to know who was winning, and if I should go back in and keep kicking.  Luckily I quickly realized I was miraculously ahead, and I just needed to  ride out the last 5 seconds for the Gold. I don’t think my opponent knew what had just happened, she thought she had the Gold in her pocket, my attack was completely unexpected and she was too exhausted to defend.  Needless to say the victory was exhilarating.

With only a day of rest between AAU and USAT, we were all a little sore and bruised going into USAT.  After my AAU experience, I was excited to fight an opponent my own size. At USAT they use electronic chest protectors for scoring, which we had never used before, so I was a little nervous about the new equipment.  My opponent was from Alaska, and she was a few inches shorter than me, so my plan was to go for the head.  The fight was a much faster pace than the AAU fights, however I was able maintain my endurance and speed, and came out with a victory of 9-2, landing 2 head kicks to help get me the win.

The entire trip has been an amazing experience, something I will cherish forever.  The support from Nathan and my teammates has been remarkable, they will always be apart of me. We  now look forward to watching Nathan bring home a Gold, accompanied by a seat at the Olympic Trials, tomorrow!

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After another long day, the Trinity team again attacked the competition winning 3 Gold and a Silver to complete their run at two National Championships in 2010.

To compete at the national level in Tae Kwon Do is not something that everyone can or will attempt to accomplish.

This is the first time in the teams history that we had the team compete in two Nationals. For those competitions to be back to back made the task even more challenging. If there was ever a team that was up for the challange it was Trinity’s 2010 TKD Team!

These ladies came to fight and fight they did!

Our final medal count.

6 Gold

2 Silver

1 Bronze

Posted under Trinity TKD Team

After an eventful morning, the Trinity Tae Kwon Do team destroyed the competition at the AAU National Championships with 3 National Champions, a Silver and Bronze medal.

2010 AAU Nationals

Susie was up first to lead the team to it’s first Gold medal. She had 5 pounds to drop the day before weigh-ins. That’s a pretty big deal since she had already cut a significant amount of weight. She weighed in at 128! Susie used  a great strategy of setting her opponent up, getting her to move in for a kick and countering her attack. Susie dominated her fight with a crushing win of 8-0 in the first 49 seconds of the first round to stop the fight by point gap. (point gap is a 7 point spread over your opponent) The computer was supposed to shut off before the 8th point scored, but Susie was racking up points 6,7 and 8 so fast that she was able to score again before the computer could register.

Erika was up next and fought two tough matches but clearly showed dominance by staying ahead of each opponent throughout the fights. Her Gold medal match was decided by a TKO. Erika’s opponent gave up after being kicked repeatedly to the chest. (If you’ve ever seen Erika kick or felt the pain she inflicts you’d want to run too) Erika’s win brought Trinity it’s second Gold medal of the day!

Third in the line up were Rachael and Ashley. They were in the same division.

Rachael fought hard and was able to keep the score really close. She moved up in the score after she kicked her opponent in the head with an awesome back leg round kick that made the crowd gasp in awe. Rachael and I formulated an simple but effective game plan of pushing the action. She was able to score effectively and keep her opponent from scoring. Her opponent came back to win by two points. Although she didn’t win her fight, she brought home a Bronze medal.

Ashley was up next and took the fight to her opponent for the entire match. She set up her kicks with great checks and was also able to keep her score close. We kept to a basic fight plan because it worked well in the first round. She was faster than her opponent and Ashley was scoring well with a right leg round kick. Her opponent, being a little taller used her longer reach to fight off the kicks. Ashley brings home a Silver medal.

The big match up today was in Stacy’s division. After weighing in at 109, we were told by officals that there were no fighters any where near her weight for her to compete with. Our only two options were walk home with a Gold, but no fights or forfeit our gauranteed win and fight in the heavy weight division!

The 3 girls that made up the heavy weights were 152, 165 and 200 pounds. Remember, Stacy weighed in at 109.

Her first fight was against the 200 pound girl. Stacy used her speed and quick reflexes to avoid any damage from the heavy kicks and score quick. She point gapped the first opponent in the second round 10-3. Her gold medal match was with a strong 165 pound fighter from Colorado. (her coach was an Olympian from the 2000 Olympics) After watching Stacy’s first fight, they came up with a very effective plan to shut down Stacy’s speed and kick her so hard it would prevent her from scoring. The plan (from their perpsective) was working. Stacy sat at the end of the first round and a minute into the second round down 4-0. However, we had a plan of our own. It was to move and make them kick so much that they’d out kick themselves. With only 30 seconds left in the match, Stacy scored 8 points, finishing the match 8-5. The opposing coach and player had no idea what happen and had no game plan for what they saw coming at them. (remember, it’s not over until it’s over!) Stacy brought back Trinity’s 3rd National Championship Gold.

2010 Trinity Tae Kwon Do Team

I am super satisified with how the team trained troughout the last six months leading up to this event and it was awesome having a ringside seat watching these ladies compete and put it all on the line!

But, it’s not over…we leave tomorrow (Friday) morning for Orlando. Saturday, the girls fight again to add more medals to our count and then Sunday I will competing for a spot at the Olympic trials for the 2012 team. Stay tuned for more facebook and blog posts as the weekend unfolds.

It’s after 12am, I’m tired and going to bed!

Good night!

Posted under Trinity TKD Team