LOCAL MARTIAL ARTS STUDIO BRINGS HOME CHAMPIONS

On Saturday, April 16, 100 students from Kuk Sool Won™ of Menlo Park competed in the WKSA Pacific Coast Championship. The team placed second out of over 25 schools, with 5 Black Belts winning Grand Champion.

"I am extremely proud of my team," Master Kristin Quintana said. "They trained hard, and their hard work paid off."

The tournament, sponsored by the World Kuk Sool Association, is a chance for students to test their skills against students from other WKSA schools around the region, including schools from Vancouver, Canada. Competition is open to ages 4 through adult, and is split by both age and rank.

"Everyone on the team contributed to the standings in the school," we even had a pre-K white belt take Gold in her forms division.

A first grade Yellow Belt, Ben Salceda, told us, "I loved everything about it," when we asked him what his favorite part was. Another first grader, red belt Emma Loose, said, "Tournament is as much fun as a play date with my BEST friend."

Nishant Relan won Youth (13-17) Second Degree Grand Champion for the third time in two years. We asked him what he thought of the competition this year, and he told us, "What I felt was special about this year was that all day, I was running into people from the school, both kids and adults, and getting to talk with them and cheer them on." He also said, “The best part of winning Grand Champion this year was being cheered on by all the Menlo Park people as I ran up to the front. Our team spirit blew me away.”

Annika Peterson won Youth (15-17) Women's First Degree Grand Champion. "I love tournament. Everyone's together for the whole day, and all they're doing is Kuk Sool. It's so much fun!"

Charlie Smith, Youth (15-17) Men's First Degree Grand champion said, "It was really fun to see everyone from our school competing and having a good time with new people from other schools. Winning grand champion was awesome and having everyone there who trained with me there made that experience even better."

For Christopher diSibio, it was a truly special day. Not only did he win Youth (13-14) Men's First Degree Grand Champion, but he was also promoted to 2nd Degree Black Belt at the end of the night. He is only the third student from the school to be promoted to this rank. "It feels weird to be second degree now especially since I've been first degree for so long. It's also rewarding after having worked for four years leading up to this promotion."

Christopher wasn't the only person promoted on Saturday. Two students were awarded the rank of First Degree Black Belt as well: Gabe Riedel and Elizabeth Rau.

Master Quintana concluded, "These kids are so good. They understand how to prepare and how to compete. They even managed to help all the younger kids prepare while they got ready for competition. I am in awe. Last year we broke into the top three for the first time, and already we've moved up to second. There's only one more goal to set... and I want to do everything I can to help my team make it to First Place."