Brookfield Martial Arts School Wins Big at National Championship

BROOKFIELD, CT — Local martial arts school World Champion Taekwondo loomed large at the national championships held this summer in Minneapolis, MN.

The sprawling dojo, which has 15 Connecticut locations, sent 61 students overall to the nationals in July, and brought home 81 medals. The local school, on 317 Federal Road, was represented by 8 students, ranging in age from 7 to 12 and belts from yellow to red, scored 11 medals.

"People are starting to recognize Brookfield as a serious taekwondo school," said Master Kris Hyun, who founded it two-and-a-half years ago.

Winning a bunch of national championships certainly helps in the marketing category.

Hyun, 39, who has been practicing his martial art since he was three-years-old, says another advantage his school offers is its affiliation with the World Taekwondo Federation, which governs the martial art in the Olympics and Paralympics. Alternate styles and approaches to taekwondo are many, Hyun says, and are governed by different bodies and splinter organizations. The fighting styles and poomsae (forms) taught at World Champion Taekwondo in Brookfield are the originals as developed in Korea, and black belt certification earned there is recognized around the world.

"The kids who compete with the Brookfield school are on track to competing in the Olympics," he said.

Some of those kids may be among the students who brought home the precious metal to Brookfield this summer at the Nationals:

• Ethan Hyun - Gold (breaking) and Silver (poomsae)
• Matthew Phung - Silver (breaking) and Bronze (poomsae)
• Timothy Phung - Gold (breaking) and Gold (poomsae)
• Oliver Hook - Bronze (breaking)
• Matthew Pacheco - Gold (breaking)
• Yena Hyun - Gold (breaking)
• Kayla Rooney - Gold (breaking)
• Jack Cahill - Silver (breaking)