Michigan State Qualifier Sat 3/14/09

[Miles]

If you are a USAT athlete member and are interested in participating in a sanctioned State Qualifier, please consider competing Saturday, 3/14 at the Michigan State Championships to be held on the campus of Michigan State University.

You can register for this event on the USAT website (www.usa-taekwondo.us) through the Hangastar system.

We are open to any athlete from any State though you must be a Michigan Sport Taekwondo member to participate. The annual membership is $10. For more info on Michigan Sport Taekwondo, Inc., please visit our website (www.michigantaekwondo.org).

If you have some spare change and want to make a tax-deductible donation, Michigan Sport TKD is a IRS-recognized 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation.

Thanks!

Miles

 

[terryl965]

Miles this should be a great event, will Master Southwick be there?

 

[Miles]

Yes, M. Southwick/MSUTKD will be there-we'll be setting up the mats and electronic scoring the night before. I anticipate he will also be competing.

 

[Miles]

To all interested athletes, coaches, referees, instructors and parents:

Due to the tremendous interest, Michigan Sport TKD will have onsite registration. If interested contact me and I'll get you the registration form. Please share with your athletes and bring the completed form, along with the necessary documentation of USAT membership, citizenship, and cash payment to the Championships.

There was a typographical error in the packet on the page entitled "Sparring Competition Details". To clarify, divisions for ages 8-9, 10-11, 12-13 of ALL ranks will qualify for World Class entry at the USAT Jr. Olympics.

Referees, please remember to wear black slacks, white shirt, and red tie.

Thank you for your interest in and support of Michigan Taekwondo athletes!

Peter Miles
MST

 

[mango.man]

I hope this doesn't cme out wrong, but where is the "tremendous interest" coming from? Looking at the list of athletes registered in Hang-A-Star, registration closed 3 days ago and there are 14 Females and 25 Males.

Arguably the most important sparring groups at a National Qualifying event are 14-17BB and 14-32BB. For Female competitors there is 1 girl only registered in each of those. Not 1 per weight division. Just 1 period. And Males is n't much better with just 3 entries in the 14-17 divisions and 4 in the 14-32 divisions and everyone in those divisions is uncontested and will automatically be promoted to World Class for Nationals, for the sole effort of walking through your doors on Saturday morning.

States are a complete waste as National Qualifiers.

 

[Red Menace]

I agree. Ohio was like that as well. I was disappointed because I was the only male over the age of 32 competing, but even the younger divisions had very little competition.

I didn't know there was a way to look in Hang-A-Star at who had registered into different divisions! I could've saved myself the trip. Winning default medals is no fun. (Then again I did get to meet some fellow Taekwondoans.)

 

[terryl965]

Miles how did it go? I hope it was a great one for you guys up there.

 

[Miles]

The event went fine, thanks for asking. By the time registration ended, we had 34 males, 25 females who pre-registered through Hangastar. I think we had another 40 entries at the door.

The context of the event is that currently there are 2 USAT-recognized organizations in Michigan (most states only have one). Both organizations held qualifiers in successive weekends. This pretty much guaranteed small turn-outs to both (the other organization, at whose event I volunteered as a referee, had about 120 competitors). But the good news is that there is some movement toward working together.

I agree with Mangoman that the black belt divisions are important. However, the raison d'etre of the State Associations is to create grassroots interest in Taekwondo. This means that the Association should foster and encourage under-belts even if they are not in qualifying divisions. We have to create a pipeline for Taekwondo athletes in order to get them to international-level competency. Yesterday we took another step towards that goal.

BTW, MSUTKD's volunteer corp did a wonderful job throughout the entire day.

 

[MasterWright]

I am glad to hear that it went well, Master Miles.

You know that if we were U.S. residents , there would have been a team from my club attending. That Michigan Sport Taekwondo is a first rate organization and we would not have missed it for the world.

 

[Miles]

Thank you Master Wright! We'd love to train with you guys again. We didn't have a board meeting after the Qualifier to set our workout schedule. But, when we do, I'll call or email you.