Duque Institute of Martial Arts Brings Home
"Top School" Honors

Twenty-nine students, ranging in age from 4 to 40, from the Duque Institute of Martial Arts competed at Master Joshua Sharp's Midwest Open TaeKwonDo Championship in Decatur on November 17, 2007. Over twenty-five different Martial Arts Schools brought more than 350 competitors from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
 
Tae Kwon Do is a Korean Martial Art known for its explosive kicks. The tournament invited martial artists to compete in four different aspects of Martial Arts: forms and sparring on Saturday, breaking and weapons on Sunday.
 
In the weeks leading up to the tournament, students "turn it up" during workouts, come in for extra practice, and work very hard to master their techniques. Participating in tournaments is a positive experience for students, even if they don't win. They are taught wonderful life lessons such as: practice makes perfect, how to conquer your nerves and perform under pressure, displaying good sportsmanship (as sparring competitors are deducted points for not following strict rules), and being a gracious winner/loser. Many students have an "Aha" moment, finally understanding Master Duque's instruction or strategy.
 
Forms has always been a strong category for DIMA. A form is a series of 20 to over 50 movements that get increasingly more difficult at each new level. To perform a winning form, a student must dedicate many hours of practice to refine their technique, speed, and intensity. Extra focus and concentration is required in the tournament ring because of all of the distractions of other rings, spectators, and judges. After competing in specific categories divided by sex, age, and rank, the winners are then invited to compete for Grand Champion. Eleven DIMA students were invited to compete for Grand Champion honors, with two, Cory Lundy (White/Yellow/Orange Belt Adults) and Kim Stevens (Red/Brown Belt Adults) placing first and taking home six-foot trophies.
 
Jenica Sullivan, who participated in her first tournament, marveled at the intensity of the forms competition. All the hours of extra practice and analyzing each technique paid off. She got butterflies in her stomach, but was able to overcome her nerves and win her category.
 
For many of DIMA's students, this was their first Sparring Tournament. Tae Kwon Do Sparring is an Olympic sport where competitors don protective gear and use primarily kicking techniques to score points. At this level of competition, each match has two rounds of one minute each. Although one minute might seem like a very short period of time, competitors finish exhausted and drenched in perspiration. And, they might have to spar two or three matches!
 
Overall, DIMA brought home "Top School" honors. Students earned the following trophies: 

 FORMS/POOMSE
WHITE/YELLOW/ORANGE   3 & 4 year olds: Andrew Dresen (2nd place); 5 & 6 year olds: RJ Cherry (3rd place), Jamie Boe (4th place), Kekoa Gross (2nd place), Sam Johnson (1st place), Nolan Salaz (1st place); 7 & 8 year olds: Shane Dresen (2nd place), Noah Fabris (2nd place), Sydney Johnson (1st place), Bradley Seits (3rd place), Jack Stevenson (1st place), Brad Ruger (2nd place), Joey Trupiano (4th place); 33-39 year olds: Cory Lundy (Grand Champion)
 
GREEN/BLUE/PURPLE  7 & 8 year olds: Grace Lundy (3rd place), Andrew Felty (1st place), Brendan Ameday (4th place); 9 & 10 year olds: Wren Ameday (2nd place), Summer Hoagland-Abernathy (1st place), Wyatt Workman (4th place); 11 & 12 year olds: Kristopher Felty (1st place), Gabby Lundy (1st place)
 
RED/BROWN  9 & 10 year olds: Patrick Sullivan (4th place), Tristan Cunha (3rd place); 11 & 12 year olds: Leah Borland (4th place); 13 & 14 year olds: Jenica Sullivan (1st place); 17-32 year olds: Kim Stevens (Grand Champion)

SPARRING
WHITE/YELLOW/ORANGE 5 & 6 year olds: RJ Cherry (4th place), 7 & 8 year olds: Shane Dresen (1st place), Jack Stevenson (2nd place), Joey Trupiano (4th place)
 
GREEN/BLUE/PURPLE  7 & 8 year olds: Andrew Felty (3rd place), Brendan Ameday (1st place); 9 & 10 year olds: Wren Ameday (3rd place), Summer Hoagland-Abernathy (2nd place), Wyatt Workman (4th place); 11 & 12 year olds: Kristopher Felty (1st place), Gabby Lundy (1st place); 33-39 year olds: Russ Edmon (4th place)
 
RED/BROWN  9 & 10 year olds: Patrick Sullivan (2nd place), Tristan Cunha (2nd place); 11 & 12 year olds: Leah Borland (2nd place) Angelica Gutierrez (3rd place); 13 & 14 year olds: Jenica Sullivan (1st place)

Congratulations to our Champions!

Seven students from the Duque Institute of Martial Arts competed at Walker's Tournament of Champions in Bloomington on June 9, 2007. Twenty different Martial Arts Schools brought over 170 competitors from around the Midwest. Our students brought home the following trophies:

Forms Divisions -- R.J. Cherry (6 years old, yellow belt, first place), Shane Dresen (seven years old, yellow belt, first place), Noah Fabris (seven years old, yellow belt, second place), Brendan Ameday (9 years old, orange belt, third place), Brent Sancken (nine years old, purple belt, second place), Kim Stevens (17 years old, brown belt, first place).

Sparring Divisions -- Jakob Hiland (nine years old, green belt, second place), Kim Stevens (17 years old, brown belt, first place).