“I won’t settle for anything but gold,” said Marissa Wright, an eleven year old Tang Soo Do green belt preparing to compete with her Bo staff in the weapons category. She and the over 400 participants in the World Championships tournament, ranging from White to Ninth Degree Black Belts, generated intense energy, magnified by the thousand plus spectators, mostly anxious parents unable to breathe, wondering if their child would win and most importantly not get hurt.
Students from the United States were joined from other countries such as Wales, Germany, Canada and Korea to compete in categories such as board breaking, forms and sparring. Swords and knives flew through the air in rhythm with bodies preparing to catch them as traditional and non-traditional weapon competitions kicked off Friday evening.
Opening ceremonies commenced on March 26th under the direction of Grand Master Byrne, founder of the United Tang Soo Do Congress and the American Tang Soo Do Association (ATA), who was sponsoring the event. Byrnes is a Ninth Degree black belt, the highest in the World. He honored another Ninth Degree master and member of the ATA Grand Master Kim, originally from Korea. Kim gave a heartfelt speech over a sea of heads thanking all the participants for keeping the art of Tang Soo Do going and “hoping that more Masters will come out of it.”
Three to Five Masters (Fourth Degree Black Belts and above) were assigned to each of the 15 rings as participants were broken into groups according to belt level and age. Loud kyops! (Kiai in Korean) used to focus strength and will toward a singular point, broke the tense silence echoing in time with the targeted boards.
“I had some really tough judges this time,” said Ryman Grood, a 12 year old red belt. “I really thought I nailed it, but one judge was not happy with anyone it seems.”
Parents pacing and running slipped through the tiniest pathway of people trying to find good seats to see their son or daughter compete in what was the most anticipated competition of the year. Tense stares were followed by gasps after each loud crack of a board or boards assured parents that their child had made

By Cheryl Arrabito

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