On April 12-14th, 2024 the Stanford Taekwondo Club competed at the 2024 NCTA National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships hosted at UC Berkeley. This tournament gathered over 700 collegiate athletes from across the US to compete in kyorugi (sparring), poomsae (forms), team demonstration, and breaking. Stanford Taekwondo found a lot of success at this year's competition in both the color and black belt divisions, with several members taking home medals.
POOMSAE MEDALS
Paw Mar Gay and Silva Stewart placed 3rd in the Women's Green Belt division.
KYORUGI MEDALS
Claudia Phillips placed 1st in the Women's Red Belt Welterweight division.
Jasmin Palmer placed 3rd in the Women's Red Belt Heavyweight division.
Alawab Aldulimy placed 1st in the Men's White/Yellow Belt Featherweight division.
TEAM DEMONSTRATION MEDALS
Our newly formed demo team (Rosa Son, Lenae Joe, Sabrina Ip, Silva Stewart, Paw Mar Gay, Liam Herndon, Megan King, Jordan Mattox, and Lour Drick Valsote), placed 2nd.
Additionally, our very own Coach Cristian Acevedo (MS '13 PhD '18) was honored with the NCTA Male Referee of the Year Award.
Our athletes trained hard all year in preparation for the NCTA Championships. For many club members, this was their very first time competing at the national level. We are immensely proud of all our athletes, and we look forward to seeing their growth in the future! Thank you to all of the friends and family who came to the event to cheer for our team, and thank you to those who have supported Stanford Taekwondo throughout the year. Next stop, PacWest Finals at UCLA on May 4th!
IN MEMORIAM
Despite the excitement of the NCTA Championships, we were saddened to learn that one of our longtime members and supporters, Master Vincent Lo, had passed away. We want to take a moment to celebrate and remember Master Lo, who contributed greatly to the sport of Taekwondo at Stanford University and beyond. While attending Stanford, he served as President of the Stanford Taekwondo Club and Stanford Martial Arts Program, and he continued to support the team and coaching staff for 25 years. Beyond Stanford, he was very active as a leader and referee in the California Unified Taekwondo Association (CUTA), the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA), USA Taekwondo, Taekwondo Referees United for Excellence, and the PacWest Collegiate Taekwondo Conference. We will miss his vibrant personality, concern for others, and sense of commitment and responsibility. Our sincere condolences to his friends and family. May he rest in peace.
