Some local martial arts students have returned from a tournament victorious, bringing back several trophies and plaques.
Six lower belt level taekwondo students at Starkville Tae Kwon Do placed in the Southern Martial Arts Championship (SMAC) Enter the Champions Tournament held in Greenwood on March 24. The students, ages 7 to 12, are: Devon March, Gabriel Corrigan, Zachary Martin, Hayden Smith, Jacob Moesley and Juan Diego Corrigan.
“They all competed in a standard martial arts tournament,” said lead instructor Ryan May. “They compete in forms. They compete in sparring competitions and they compete in weapons demonstration.”
May said in the weapons demonstration, students do a planned routine with a staff or other weapon on an open mat. For the forms competition, students demonstrate their forms before a panel of judges
.“They all score them on how well they perform the techniques and conduct themselves throughout the competition” May said.
In sparring, students are judged based on where they hit on the body and whether it is a hand or foot hit.
“Some of it is a competition for myself, too, because I get to see my students against other instructors’ students,” May said.
Jacob Moseley, 12, took home a first place trophy in forms and a second place in sparring for his division.
“I’m extremely competitive, and I’ll do anything to win,” Jacob said. “That day I was really tired, so I put everything I had into that. It feels really good to win.”
Jacob said he would practice his forms for an hour every day leading up to the competition. He said he had participated in taekwondo for two years, but had only attended Starkville Tae Kwon Do for a few months after moving to Starkville from South Dakota.
Jacob said participating in martial arts also helped him deal with anger.
“They have to basically put forth the effort,” May said. “Four out of six of them are white belts, which means they’ve only been with me for a few months, but they have put in the work and determination to do it.”
May said his teaching emphasized discipline and respect.
“It gives them a way to focus it,” May said. “It trains their bodies, trains their minds to focus that energy. We’re heavy on teaching kids respect, integrity, perseverance."
May gave a brief history of taekwondo, saying it was invented in South Korea in the 1950s as a combination of several Korean martial arts. The name “taekwondo” translates to English as “hand foot way,” and the style emphasizes kicks.
“I’m extremely proud of my students,” May said. “They all performed admirably.”