On Saturday, April 26 students from Master Kim’s Black Belt Academy, in Bechtelsville traveled to Salisbury High School to compete in the 35th Annual Keystone State Invitational Championships.
The competition was hosted by Grand Master Jon Chung Kim, from Allentown. Over 400 competitors from all over the East Coast were on hand to show case their skills in four events. The events included weapons forms, board breaking, empty hand forms, and free sparring. The competitors were divided into divisions according to age and belt levels. Ages ranged from 4 to over 50 years of age, and the levels of experience ranged from white belt beginners to fourth degree black belts.
There were seven students from Master Kim’s who made the trip to compete. They were Clayton Stauffer, Jake Mc Cann, Matthew Pavelko-Fox, Korina Zambrano, Jillian Meitzler, Matthew Hook and Nick Gehringer. Trophies were awarded for first place through fourth place in each division, and medals of participation were earned by everyone who placed below fourth place.
Students from Master Kim’s who finished in the winners circle included Korina Zambrano, who took third place in the 13 to 16 year old girls Black Belt sparring division. Nicholas Gehringer earned third place in 13 to 16 year old Black Belt boys sparring. Jake Mc Cann won 3rd place in the 13 to 16 year old Red Belt sparring division. Jillian Meitzler captured second place in 13 to 16 year old Green Belt forms, and third place in girls sparring. Matthew Hook nailed a first place trophy in 13 to 16 year old forms and third place in guys sparring in the Gold Belt Division.
Clayton Stauffer and Matthew Pavelko-Fox also made the trip to compete. Both of the guys represented Master Kim’s in grand fashion, but did not win a trophy.
Master Kurt G. Miller, owner of Master Kim’s commented ‘I was proud of each and every one of my students. Whether they earned trophies or not, they all represented The Academy, in a very positive way. They worked hard to prepare for this competition and put forth their best effort. When you win, it’s easy to keep you head up and display good sportsmanship. But when you don’t win, you have to suck it up and move forward with a positive attitude and improve on the things that will help you to become successful. It’s a valuable life skill that we teach in our classes and needs to be applied in everyday life.’
