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.
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.
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!
OK, this story about Stacy going up against those BIG women is just incredible! Like a modern day David against Goliath with a woman as the star! Nathan, you are obviously doing what you were born to do!