The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Six students from Outlaw Martial Arts Taekwondo School in Sisters competed last month in the 2013 USA Taekwondo National Championships in Chicago, Illinios.

Under the guidence and coaching of their teacher and founder of Outlaw Martial Arts, Master Marty Kaczmarek, the group traveled to Chicago last month for the week-long competition. The martial artists, Sherri Hermens, Tate Kaczmarek, Brendan Sickau, Kim Manley, Nick Manley, Julie Stotts and Anessa Stotts trained for months to prepare.

They competed against hundreds of martial artists from all over the country in poomsae, creative weapons and board breaking. Poomsae, or form, is a series of defensive actions and counter-attacks involving blocks, punches, kicks, stances, etc. performed in an intricate and specific pattern. Creative weapons is similar to poomsae with the competitor using some form of weapon such as a bowstaff or sword. For board-breaking the competitors break several boards, one or more at a time in series, with strikes using hands, fists, elbows and kicks at stations where helpers hold the boards.

"This was a huge event," said Master K. "It's a big deal for a family. They have to really take it seriously. It takes lots of practice, expense and time to prepare for something like this. This is an amazing group. It takes lots of courage to travel across the country and compete on a national level. And I'm very proud to have this many from our small school. There was only one competitor there from the rest of Central Oregon."

They returned as proud and travel-weary competitors with very proud families who accompanied them. Among them were several medal winners and a newly crowned national champion. Kim Manley, Nick's mom and a high red belt, took first place in her division in the poomsae competition.

"She's very calm and mild-mannered," said Master K, "but she didn't go to the national championships just to compete. Kim went to win!"

For the poomsae competition, the competitors didn't know which form they were going to be performing until a week before the tournament, so to prepare, they had to practice all their forms. Then, when they were notified which forms they would be called to do, they emersed themselves in practicing those forms for the last week prior to traveling to Chicago.

"We all had been practicing a lot," said Manley. "I was happy when I found out which forms I'd be doing because one of them was number six, my favorite and the one I had been practicing the most. When we got there, they had a huge training room where all the competitors were practicing. We practiced there with Master K doing lots of coaching and tweaking little things in our forms."

The youth competition was held during the first few days of the tournament.

Anessa Stott, a 10-year-old high blue belt, performed two different poomsae, finishing in fifth place in her division. "She was fighting a case of strep throat the whole week," said mom and fellow competitor Julie Stotts. "I'm very proud of her. This was a wonderful experience to share with a child." Julie started taekwondo along with her mother before Anessa was born. She won a medal by finishing third in the adult blue belt division.

Tate Kaczmarek, an eight-year-old first-degree black belt, entered three different competitions: poomsae, board breaking and creative weapons. Tate won a medal by placing third in board-breaking. "As a dad it's real special to watch your kid do something like that," said Master K, Tate's father. "Tate had a really good board-breaking routine. He broke 15 boards using 14 stations. He used a different breaking technique for each station. I was sitting on pins and needles waiting for the results from the judges. As a parent I'm very proud, and as an instructor I'm very proud of the school."

11-year-old brown belt Brendan Sickau finished eighth in his division in poomsae.

"I was glad to be done after the second day," he said. "I was able to just relax and enjoy the rest of the time."

Nick Manley, a nine-year-old high red belt, was in the poomsoe competition. He finished 20th out of the 60 competitors in his age and belt rank division.

"I liked watching all the action," he said. "There's so much going on all at the same time."

The competition was held at McCormick Place in the Hyatt Regency Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's largest convention center. In the giant room 18 rings were set up with simultaneous action in each ring.

"There was a big TV screen leader-board behind each ring," said Kim. "After each competitor finished, his or her score was posted there. To see my name climb the leaderboard and end up on top was kind of cool. The podium was just like at the Olympics. You stand up there and lean forward to get your medal."

Sherri Hermens, a third-degree black belt and instructor at Outlaw Martial Arts didn't medal in her division.

"I went to win, too, but it didn't work out that way," she said. "It was a great experience and I'm very proud to be part of the team from Sisters and Outlaw Martial Arts."

To enter the national championships, all had to qualify by finishing in the top three of their division at a state championship. The eight competitors qualified in state championships held in Oregon, Washington and Nevada.

"It was a great week," said Teresa Sickau, Brendan's mom. "It was a real character-builder for everyone."