Members of the King Yen Taekwondo School train at the Preparation trainings on Thursday afternoons in the of the Hillside Christian School gymnasium in St. Peters.
ST. PETERS—Team St. Maarten from the King Yen Taekwondo School is heading to North Carolina to compete in the 2023 Global Open Kukkiwon Cup International Taekwondo Championship. The team is set to leave the Friendly Island Wednesday and start compete Friday and Saturday. Some 36 diferent countries have been invited to field teams at the championship. Team St. Maarten will compete in Sparring, Forms called Poomsee’s and break tests. “It is with great honour and pride that our selection of several talented students defend our country's colours and our school name,” said Grand Master Theo Liu. The grandmaster explained this particular tournament is very special as it is organized by Grandmaster Jun Lee. He is the director of the Blackbelt World Taekwondo School and the spokesman for International Affairs of Kukkiwon, the headquarters of World Taekwondo in Seoul, South Korea. Team St. Maarten consists of young athletes ranging in age from 11 to 24. Three team officials, several parents and a sports therapist will travel with the group. Assisting Grandmaster Liu in preparing the team were Lee-Ann Liu a Black Belt 2nd Dan and Jonathan Samuel a Black Belt 1st Dan. “Once again we give our St. Maarten students the opportunity to acquire international experience in a one of kind event where only the best athletes meet.” The sparring is scored electronically with the athletes wearing electronic sensors along with chest, head and feet protectors.
