Simpsonville, SC — The American Taekwondo Association (ATA) held its annual World Championships Tournament of Champions on July 12-13 in Little Rock, Ark. and Brandon Young of Simpsonville earned the World Champion title in his division.
Brandon, a 2nd Degree Black Belt, competed among the Top 10 competitors from around the world in the boys 8 and under, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Degree ring at the Little Rock Statehouse Convention Center. He competed in 8 categories during the Tournament of Champions – Traditional Form, Traditional Weapon Form, Sparring, Combat Weapon Sparring, Creative Form, Creative Weapon Form, Xtreme Form and Xtreme Weapon Form.
After a year of hard work and strenuous competition on the local, regional and national levels, Brandon earned the gold medal and World Champion title in Xtreme Form with a perfect score of 9.9 from all three judges. He also earned a silver medal in Xtreme Weapon Form and bronze medals in Creative Form and Creative Weapon Form. Since he began competing, Brandon has captured 29 State Champion titles and 9 District Championships.
“Taekwondo is very important to me. It is a sport that I started when I was super young and it taught me a lot of discipline and life skills,” Young said. “It is super fun and the xtreme forms is my favorite because I get to do tricks and flips. I feel free when I do them.”
Brandon trains at Black Belt Attitude School (Five Forks) in Simpsonville under the instruction of Master Daniel Madriaga. He started karate at the age of 3 under instructor Mrs. Lorena Ausa. Black Belt Attitude School has 4 locations in the Greenville area – Five Forks, Pelham Road, Fairview Road and Woodruff Road.
The ATA World Championships is the largest annual convention in the city of Little Rock. This year’s event drew more than 21,000 martial art students, instructors and fans from nearly 20 countries for specialty training seminars, high rank belt testing and World Champion competition. ♦
