Total Taekwondo’s Skyelar Ross, right competes in Olympic sparring.
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It’s been a big summer for the martial artists at Total Taekwondo.
Athletes from Total Taekwondo won 12 gold, 13 silver and 23 bronze medals at the AAU Taekwondo Nationals in July in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Four locals were invited to the AAU Team Trials in Olympic Sparring.
In those Team Trials, in July in Des Moines, Iowa, Ethan Steinrock and Rendy Zhong each finished second in their respective divisions and took alternate national B team spots. Skyelar Ross took third in her division, and Catherine Yang was fourth in her division.
“If you go to nationals and compete in point sparring, and you win, you’re automatically on the national team,” Master Robert Kelley said. “In Forms, if you win enough at nationals, you’re automatically on the national team.”
Total Taekwondo’s Tatum Downing, right, scores a kick to the body in point sparring.
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Tatum Downing made the AAU Point Sparring team and Forms team. AAU Traditional Forms Competition consists of three major styles of taekwondo — WT (World Taekwondo), ITF (International Taekwondo Federation) and TSD (Tang soo do). Each style has a different systematic sequence of martial arts techniques performed in a specific pattern or form. The sequence of movements (kicks, punches, blocks and strikes) are performed in a specific order and are designed to simulate a fight against an imaginary opponent.
Olympic fighting (or Olympic sparring) is full contact, consisting of competitors scoring kicks to the torso and head and punches only to the body. AAU Point Sparring consists of competitors scoring controlled kicks and punches to the head and torso, and contact is required to be light to moderate and controlled.
“People who maybe are competitive, but don’t want to do the full Olympic sparring, it gives them the chance to compete in the more controlled environment,” Kelley said.
Total Taekwondo’s Grace Lodhi scores a kick in Olympic sparring.
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Meanwhile, 11-year-old Grace Lodhi made the national Olympic Point Sparring team. Lodhi is the No. 1-ranked athlete in the nation in the 10-11-year-old female black belt division for both AAU Taekwondo and USA Taekwondo. AAU Taekwondo is more of a grassroots organization, while USA Taekwondo is the governing body to get to the Olympics.
Lodhi won in Olympic Sparring at the USA Taekwondo Open in March in Las Vegas and the East Coast Grand Prix in May in Oaks, Pennsylvania. Two days after winning AAU Nationals in July in Fort Lauderdale, she won the USAT Nationals in Jacksonville, Florida.
Winners from the East Coast, West Coast and Central Grand Prix events qualified for the Grand Prix Final, which will be Sept. 22-24 in Fort Worth, Texas. If Lodhi wins there, she will have won all three of the USAT major events and will earn the title of “Domestic Dominant Athlete” for the blackbelt division in the country and will receive special invitations to training camps and USAT Team Trials.
“People have done it, but nobody in Indiana or our region has done something like that,” Kelley said. “I’m really impressed with Grace this year. She did really good. Everything she’s gone to, she’s won this year. She’s incredible.”
Several members of Total Taekwondo competed in the AAU Nationals in July in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pictured are, front row, from left, Ava Mull, Brett Hastings, Tohko Matsumura, Harin Choi, Aarini Zope, Arash Thokade; second row, Rendy Zhong, Ana Puente, Aditi Zope, Izabella Ross, Nayeli Arteaga, Hailey Harper, Catherine Yang, Isabella Valerdi; third row, Skyelar Ross, Tatum Downing, Anon Okutani, Prixa Arteaga, Felix Valerdi, Grace Lodhi, Ruhana Goyal, Anji Okutani; and back row, Grandmaster Randy Wilson, Luis Valerdi, Wendy Zhong, Ana Sofia Martinez, Ethan Steinrock, Ritisha Rashmil, Abigail Lodhi, Lukas Hoehn and Master Robert Kelley.
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Total Taekwondo took about 40 kids to AAU Taekwondo Nationals, many of which went for the first time. Among the 12 gold medal winners were Ana Puente (WT Traditional Forms and Open Traditional Forms Junior female novice belt), Harin Choi (WT Traditional Forms and Open Traditional Forms 8-9 female advanced belt), Tokho Matsumura (ITF Traditional Forms 8-9 female intermediate belt), Downing (ITF Traditional Forms, TSD Traditional Forms and Point Sparring Adult female black belt), Lodhi (TSD and Point Sparring Youth female black belt) and Anon Okutani (Olympic Sparring Cadet female intermediate belt).
Only blackbelts are eligible to make the national team.
“We had some pretty strong underbelts,” Kelley said. “We had a girl by the name of Anon Okutani who was competing for the first time. She had a really tough division, and she won in Olympic Fighting, which is really hard to do.”
