Taekwondo master hopes to compete at Olympics
Ariia Pike
Anthony Nguyen walked onto MCC’s campus in 2006 with an idea and three years later his idea transformed into a Taekwondo class that boasts an enrollment of 18 students, with three of them medaling at a recent championship in Tucson.Since then, Nguyen, 24, has moved to South Korea to teach English at a sports college, but his younger brother Johnny Nguyen, 23, has taken the reigns and now instructs the Taekwondo class on campus.
Johnny Nguyen is a full-time student at ASU and will graduate in May 2010 with a degree in Kinesiology.
“I started by force by my parents,” Nguyen said. “But I realized I had the talent for it and grew more passionate after competing and winning gold medals.”
Johnny Nguyen is a three-time representative for the U.S. National Taekwondo team.
The sport became an Olympic event for the 2000 games in Sydney and Nguyen trains at the only school in the Valley that teaches Olympic-style Taekwondo, which remains the lone route to the games.
Nguyen is pursuing his own route to the Olympics and hopes to compete in the 2012 Olympics if his weight class is chosen to fight.
“In 2008 I was an Olympic hopeful; however the USOC (US Olympic Committee) only allows two weight classes per country to fight at the Olympic Games. So for the Athens Olympic Games, they chose Feather and Welter weight which is 147 pounds and 171 pounds. This year I have been racking up world rank points for my weight class, and currently rank number nine in the world, so that the USOC can pick my weight class.”
A subtler focus is taught in his class on campus where Nguyen exposes the students to the basic elements of Taekwondo as well as the physical fitness and health aspects of the sport.
At the school he teaches at in Chandler, he helps many kids with Attention Deficit Disorder learn discipline and focus.
He also sees kids in high school that get picked on that want to learn self-defense.
The ages and intention behind joining Taekwondo are diverse with enrollment ages varying between 3 and 69 years.
Back at MCC students seem to truly enjoy the challenges that Taekwondo brings.
The class starts with warm-ups to release fluids in the joints followed by drills, stretching, push-ups, sit-ups, form and basic Taekwondo technique.
This practice can enable students to earn belt rankings, a black belt being the eighth and highest rank.
Each semester students can promote one rank and they are tested as their final exam.
Also an option for students is competing in local Taekwondo championships.
Nguyen and some of his students recently participated in the Wildcat Taekwondo Championships in Tucson.
MCC student James Enos earned a bronze in forms and sparring, Brendan O’Halloran earned a bronze in sparring and silver in forms and Quoc Tran earned gold in forms and a bronze in sparring.
Each competed within their respective weight class and went up against other Taekwondo students from the Southwest region as well as the Mexican National Team.
Johnny is proud of his students and hopes they continue to pursue the sport.
“I believe persistence is key to life in any situation. No matter what the challenge is, anything is possible. Taekwondo is my life, and life comes within it,” Johnny said.
His class is held on Saturdays from 12:30 p.m. to 2:10 p.m. in PE1W for a one credit elective.
