Grateful for a silver medal at the Croatia Open today. I felt pretty awful all day, so I’m grateful to make it out safe and for the one last tune-up before next month’s Grand Prix Final. It was a tough one, and some times you have to scratch and claw for every point.
2016 Olympic team
Its official! I qualified for the 2016 Olympic team after taking silver at the qualification event in Mexico, last week!
As the number 3 seed in the event, I entered the bracket with a bye. My first match, I posted close win over Ecuador in quarter-finals, with a score of 3-2. My semifinal match was another close round against the Canadian Grand Prix team member. Going scoreless the first two round, I was able to close out the game with a score of 3-1.
I can’t believe how blessed I am. God has helped me take the next step in my ultimate goal of an Olympic gold medal. God is good!
USOC Contest Categories
In late December, USA-Taekwondo and the USOC announced that they would contest the Male Welter and Heavyweight categories at the upcoming Pan American Continental Qualifier, in March.
2015 Ice Man Experience
It’s been a long time since my last update? I know. I’m a bad person.
I came back from an incredible experience in Poland, at Wim “Iceman” Hoff’s Innerfire Winter Xperience training camp, a few days ago. You’ve more than likely seen the photos I’ve been posting. Since I was sent a load of emails, texts, and messages asking me about them, I figured I would blog to hit as many birds with a single stone as possible. Continue reading “2015 Ice Man Experience”
Day 2 in Chelyabinsk
Well, I’m officially a zombie. Five airports, two days, and a handful of time-zones later we arrived yesterday morning at 4:30am. Including the layovers, it might be the most travel I’ve had to do for a tournament. Judging by a few of the conversations I had with Logan once when we got to the room, I’m guessing we were all delirious from the sleep deprivation.
Yesterday was spent trying to stay awake all day. It was rough since we are supposed to stay in the hotel. From what we’ve been told, it’s fairly “anti-american” out in these parts. Being stuck in the hotel only meant one thing: I definitely took some naps yesterday after practice.
The hotel is not too shabby. Although I’m not a fan of twin beds, its clean and I’ve stayed in worse places around the globe. For lunch yesterday the menu had items like rabbit and a soup that looked pretty radioactive. They made up for it at dinner, with a buffet that was fairly respectable. Would I move here? No, but I can say I’m blessed to be seeing a part of the world that was strictly off-limits even a few years ago. I’ll always have a special spot for Taekwondo after it has taken me to so many amazing places!
Its day two here and Russia, and Team USA is starting to get into the swing of things. Two training sessions on deck, and only a few days till Worlds kicks off with Drew and Kelsey up first. Everyone is working hard to cut weight, but I’m just working hard to find a reasonable meal.