ATA Spring Nationals a Success!
ATA Spring Nationals a Success!
Last week saw our annual ATA Spring Nationals in Dallas Texas. It was a huge success! Competitors travelled from all over the globe to attend training seminars and competition. Saturday alone saw over 2100 competitors, even though the surrounding area had tornado warnings early in the week. Which hampered some travel plans and wiped out one competitor families home!
The week started off at ATA Spring Nationals with Mastership Training on Wednesday. Several Grand Masters lead by Presiding Grand Master M.K. Lee trained over 60 6th, 7th, & 8th Degree Black Belts toward their next mastership title. The workouts were intense but much was learned and good times all around.
Thursday was a day of seminars for instructors and colour belts in weapons, judging and taekwondo. ATA Spring Nationals was a time of recertification training for instructors and tournament staff.
Friday morning, early, was international testing. Testers checked in at 7:15am to start at 8:00. Almost 200 1st through 7th Degrees performed testings and mid-term examinations in 6 pods. Each pod had about 14 high ranking judges watching over and scoring the students. Intensity and nerves ran high but everyone showed their Black Belt Attitude and performed well.
Friday afternoon was the first of the competition with XMA (extreme martial arts) and team competitions. Over 60 teams competed in sparring and combat weapons sparring.
Saturday was the traditional tournament with coloured belts all the way to 8th Degree Black Belts competing in forms, weapons, combat sparring and point sparring. Some of the younger students also competed in creative and extreme.
Our next regional tournament is April 15th and will be held in Abbotsford. We encourage all our Newton Black Belt Academy students to pre-register for this exciting event!
Submitted by
Chief Master Nominee Scott Karpiuk
8th Degree Black Belt
Newton ATA Academy Director
