Students from several local martial arts schools in the Southern Maryland region will be competing Saturday, May 19th, 2012 at the 2012 All Star Championship to be held at Patuxent High School in Lusby. This annual tournament, open to the public and sponsored by the US Black Belt Academy Association (USBBAA), is a precursor to the Maryland State Junior Olympic Championship which is held in Baltimore. In the past, many local students have gone on the compete at the state level, and several from the Southern Maryland Black Belt Academy Association have gone on to compete and win at the national level.
The USBBAA was founded by Grand Master Kyu J. Shim, owner of Master Shim’s Black Belt Academy in California and Leonardtown. There are 6 Tae Kwon Do schools throughout Southern Maryland located in California, Leonardtown, Prince Frederick, Dunkirk, Waldorf and La Plata who will be represented by students competing at this tournament.
Tae Kwon Do, which loosely translated means “the way of the foot and fist” is the national sport of South Korea and the most popular martial art in the world. Currently, Tae Kwon Do is practiced in 123 countries, with over 30 million practitioners and 3 million individuals with black belts throughout the world. It is now one of only two Asian martial arts that are included in the Olympic Games – it became a demonstration event starting with the 1988 games in Seoul, and became an official medal event starting with the 2000 games in Sydney.
Tae Kwon Do competition involves sparring, breaking boards, and forms. Trophies are awarded in each category for correlating age and belt levels. Competition begins at 9am for all age categories, and will be followed by exhibitions of advanced skills by the various school Demo Teams.
More information on Master Shim’s Black Belt Academy is available at www.blackbeltacademy.us.com.
