Day 2 and 3 of Nationals

Waking up today felt great as I knew I wouldn't be stuck at the convention center for a ridiculous amount of time. Today was Kevin Pilcher's day to put in work and I woke up the way I always do for events...on 3 hours sleep, coffee, and music! The day ended very quickly as Kevin was eliminated in the first fight by an opponent who could have been easily beaten had Kevin listened better. On a high note, he looked very fast and strong so I really believe he had a chance to advance. I am sure he will do better next year in San Jose!

Day 3! Our final day of competition we had our older gunners going for hardware and I was excited! Jobe, Kathy, and Gabby were set to compete and the day started off horribly! It started raining on the last day of competition so I couldn't even get to the venue without a ride. I was picked up late and I got a call from Kathy Lee's mom saying that she has been called to the holding area! Luckily, Master J.K. Kim from Yorba Linda was already at the tournament venue ready to fill in for me if I did not arrive on time. Good thing I was there on time for Kathy's first fight, she won...easily and she advanced to the semi-final round! Then Jobe was up and the intercom called for me to get to ring 12! I ran there as fast as I could and I see Jobe and her opponent getting ready to test their chest protectors. My heart dropped as I ran to the ring to see the girl that had beaten her by over 11 points at qualifiers sitting there, waiting for her turn. I told myself to focus and take it one fight at a time. Jobe destroyed her first opponent with kicks to the face and at one point, I saw the girl who destroyed Jobe at Qualifiers stare at her coach and give him the "Oh crap" look! Kathy fought at the same time under the guidance of Master Kim and both of our girls were in the FINALS!! Kathy's final went scoreless for 3 rounds causing them to go into sudden death. This was due to a technical problem as Kathy ripped the other girls body with kicks that failed to register. They went to sudden death which again points she earned failed to register. Then the fight went to the judges who decided the opponent won the fight. LoL, I love it when judges choose the winners of fights. It is always what you least expect. Then it was Jobe in the finals against a fierce fighter whom we had been preparing for since April. Honestly speaking we were unprepared for that fight. Jobe has been so used to dominating fights that I think I got complacent with her level of training. That day at Qualifiers I literally went into a state of panic because I was not used to watching what was happening and my coaching ability went to poop. For 3 months following that wretched day we drilled and drilled! Finally, the day of rematch had come. We went in knowing the score was 2-13 in their last match. Again...those dang electronic chest protectors denied Jobe of at least 2 points but registered her opponents 1!!! I was flipping out!!! I called out the plays we had been working on and still no points!!! Her opponent proceeded to score 2 more points making it 0-3...I called for a Back-Kick which landed making the score 2-3! We were back in the game! In the final round, Jobe's nerves got the best of her and her opponent ended up winning 2-4. I saw disappointment in Jobes face and I had to immediately reminded her to look at the score!! 2-4 as opposed to 2-13! All the hard work payed off and the PMAC family was very proud of both Kathy and Jobe for making it to the Finals!!! Last up was Gabby. She fought hard and never gave up! Although outclassed, she showed a true spirit of a fighter and for 3 rounds went toe to toe with her opponent.

Well thats a wrap! We took a total of 9 athletes and 8 of them place top 3 in the Nation! We fought some epic battles and I proved to myself again for the 3rd year in a row, I have what it takes to produce a National Champ. Thank you parents, and athletes for enduring your training sessions and allowing me to be the Coach that I need to be to produce these results. My promise to you is that I will continue to teach you how to win, my only request is that you follow. Don't look to me to be your friend or counselor. Ask me to teach you how to win...and I will. God bless you all!!!

TEAM PERFORMANCE!!! FOREVER!!!!!!!

Day 1 of the 2010 US National Championships!

YES!!! After a year of having roller coaster emotions about whether or not I was capable of bringing back another National Champ for a third consecutive year is officially....OVER!!! Team Performance was born 4 years ago in March of 2007. That Team, although in its infancy state, battled the toughest schools in the country and successfully brought home a National Champ, National Runner-up, 1 Semi Finalist, and 1 Quarter Finalist! The beautiful thing about that year was that it was my first time taking a Team to Nationals. And yes, I actually threw up because I was so nervous.

4 years prior to going to my first Nationals I was able to dominate the State circuit with a rag tag bunch of kids who were unable to afford going out of state for a competition. Man...those kids were so tough and talented. I still remember their names til this day:

Christian Franco

Christian Nieves

Geno Foster

David Silverman

Mark Belandres

Jobe an Belandres

Maeann Gulmatico

Kutch Gulmatico

Daniel Ethridge

Jonathan Wolf

This wolfpack would have done SO WELL at the National events of the past. But what can you do? If you can't afford to go, you can't afford to go! So we made our rounds at all the local tournaments and did our thing.

Fast forward to today...After taking a one year hiatus from elite level competition due to the expansion of the school we returned to our first competition in March 2009. Quite frankly, I ate a big piece of humble pie that day. I remember walking in to the venue saying to myself "Look whos back suckaaas!" I was so confident and cauky that I was laughing inside as the coaches whom I faced in the past were greeting me. Every single team one of my team member lost that day. Vincent Guerrero was the only one who medaled and I was very proud of his 2nd place finish out of 8 competitors. It was the first time in 6 years I have tasted defeat..and it was NASTY. Was it ring rust? Was it a lack of talent? Was it my fault for not pushing them hard enough during the training sessions because I had become so complacent? YES! ALL OF THE ABOVE. Til this day I still have nightmares of that wretched day.

Since then I haved stepped up the practice intensity back to borderline psychotic and we have done very well since then. The Team has became solid both physically and mentally and we returned to the winning ways we were once accustomed to. However, due to that day that still haunts me..I ended up losing a lot of sleep leading up to this years National Event. Would I be able to do it again? Was I still as good as I used to be? We don't have the new electronic chest protectors to practice with! Etc. These thoughts and many more would plague my mind when I would close my eyes at night. Some might say these are doubts of a Coach who is incapable, I say these are the thoughts that a coach must consider a reality to keep him sharp and on edge. These are the doubts that drove me to conduct the practices and not give any slack to the athletes because I might hurt their feelings. These thoughts kept my skin tough when I would see the athletes break down during practice, and gave me the ability to say AGAIN, as opposed to saying THATS ENOUGH. My doubt caused me to say to myself "I have to get this done!" It was caukiness that gave me the result of losing. Realizing that there was a possibilty that I may not bring back a medalist was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I went back to my first year of putting pressure on myself to deliver! Luckily for me...I didn't throw up this year :)

Here is a breakdown of what happened in Florida:

Aanayah kicked off the competition by facing a former US National Team Members student. Her opponent was very small, but for those of you who have been to tournaments...you know the small ones are some of the most vicious ones. Just goes to show...the world of coaching is completely different from the world of competing. There is a certain amount of self-sacrifice that coaches must make to raise champions that many athletes are unable to give. Aanayah mopped the floor with this girl and won her title with ease.

Sandeep went next. He too, fought a smaller opponent but after sizing the boy up I knew Sandeep would do well against the kid. Sandeep imposed his will for 3 straight rounds for an easy win, and he advanced to the Semi Finals. After a 20 minute wait he was up again against one of the top teams in the Nation. Sandeep fought very well but the effort was not enough to battle his opponent who looked very calm and composed in the ring. I could tell this wasn't his first time at a National Event. Sandeep lost in the semis earning himself a #3 ranking in the country. His opponent went on to win the whole division.

Next up was Simran! Simran has improved drastically in the last couple of months. She was once very passive and nice, now as aggressive as a gamer can be. She too won her first fight advancing to the semis where she fell against an opponent who did not throw a single kick! ALL PUNCHES!!! That to me is a sad display of what future TKD matches are going to look like. Its TKD not boxing...but rules are rules and I am figuring out a way to adapt to these changes. I am proud to say Simran also earned the right to be ranked #3 in the Nation. You go girl!

Now that our munchkins were done it was time to focus on my GUNNERS! First up was Jessica Rosales who almost did not even get to fight! The ring managers thought she didn't show up so they disqualified her very early on. I caught this mistake while sitting in another ring on the opposite side of the convention center. I ran over to the ring after noticing the mistake to bring it to their attention. They were trying to figure out how they were going to make this work as her division already fought and they were in the quarter finals. Their answer, have Jessica fight 3 fights back to back against the opponents who won their fights in the round of 8. Jessica battled her way into the finals and fell to an opponent who was much larger in size and literally looked like a 20 year old. Regardless, she fought like a champion and only fell by 3 points in the finals. Jessica is now ranked #2 in the Nation.

Now every competitor who fought earned themself a medal and I wonder if Christian had some added pressure. Christian is like a son to me and has been working very hard for this event. I spent a lot of time prepping him and now the time had come. He had 16 fighters in his division and he and I both knew the only way to get a National title was to battle 4 times. I did my usual scouting of the group and I only saw 2 potential threats. One of the boys whom I knew would give us trouble was a member of the Team Sandeep fell to and the other was from a school in which I could not figure out the name. All I saw was "Jesus is my Lord" on his back and I said, "GREAT!! JUST GREAT!! WE ARE PRAYING TO THE SAME GOD!" These two looked really good during the warmups. Agile, quick, and skilled. Well the first one got knocked off his first fight and although he was great at hitting the pads, he could not deliver during the match. Christian fought his round of 16 fight and won with ease. We had to face the 2nd threat in the round of 8 match and I can honestly say both Christian and I were both nervous. Actually everybody that was there to cheer was nervous. The boy was quicker than Christian and took it to him early on and scored two points by the 2nd round. As Christian ran back to get his instructions for the third and final round I sensed he was in a state of panic. So, I did what any great coach who was scared of losing would do...LIE! "Christian, you're only down by two...thats nothing. But listen to me carefully, you have to throw a nadaban and land it. It's our only chance! If you don't land this we are done. Can you do this for me?" He nods yes. So the round starts and he waits for me to signal for him to throw the kick. I waited and waited for the right time...which never came, so just like a quarter back throws a hail mary pass...I signaled for him to throw it and he did. BOOOOOOOOM! He landed it with just 15 seconds left in the fight giving him a tie score of 2-2. He then proceeded to throw another roundhouse that scored another point giving him a 1 point lead with less than 10 secs left!!! By now I was jumping up out of my chair and the crowd went wild. We escaped a loss because he listened so well and we were now in the Semi Finals! The semi-finals wasn't much of a semi-final because the kid was outclassed by Christian. However it was still a day of remdemption for me as I lost a quarter-final match to the same coach in 2007. Now we were in the Finals. His final opponent was a very awkward fighter who masterfully trapped all his opponents by having them chase him while he picked them apart running from them. He blew them away by point gaps in excess of 8 points. I honestly thought we would get this win however, Christian fell by a score of 5-8. The boy he fought in the finals was a boy that my yellow belt beat in 2007. Thats right, in 2007 Moussah, was a yellow belt and today...3 years later was a blue belt. Christian has been competing for about a year and a half. He was fantastic for his first time fighting at a National Event.

To wrap things up for day 1. I can easily point out all the mistakes that were made on our athletes part which caused them to lose, but its not about that. This was there very FIRST National event. I guess thats the difference between a coach who has been in the ring and a coach who has not. Aanayah, Sandeep, Simran, Jessica, and Christian...ENJOY YOUR GLORY :)

There is no reason to tell someone that they should or could have done better at a National Level event. Especially if they fought their heart out and listened to their coach. Enjoy it guys...I know what it felt like to be out there. I AM SO PROUD OF YOU GUYS!!!