Stephen Decker with his medalists. (Contributed photo)

For the City-Times

On May 26th, the Wisconsin Taekwondo Association (WTA) hosted the Wisconsin State Taekwondo Championships in Madison, WI. 

This is the only tournament in Wisconsin to be sanctioned by the National Governing Body of Taekwondo – USA-Taekwondo.  It also serves as a national qualifying event for athletes seeking to participate in the USA-T National Championships which will be held in San Jose, CA later this summer.  Over 150 Athletes, Referees, and Coaches from around the nation participated in this State Championship.  Stephen Decker, owner of Five Rings Martial Arts in Stevens Point and the founder, President, and CEO of the WTA, was the Tournament Director and coordinated all aspects of making this event a success.

Five martial artists from the Five Rings Martial Arts program, located in historic Downtown Stevens Point, participated in the tournament and they brought home six golds and one silver medal. Stephon Freeman, Red Belt and Senior at UWSP, has Olympic aspirations and this tournament was a step toward achieving those dreams.  Stephon qualified for the National Championships in San Jose this summer and continues to train hard to be at his best.   White Belts Zach Zurawski and Cory Singer competed very well in the yellow belt sparring division.

Yellow belt Zack Petersen brought home half of the team’s gold medals as he competed in Forms, Sparring, and Board Breaking.  Cody Olski was also in attendance, this is his second State Championships and fought very hard in his match against a former national champion from Iowa.

“All the competitors from the Five Rings Team performed admirably,” said Decker.  “Their competitiveness was a testament to their hard work and their sportsmanship is a testament to their character, they all made me proud.”

For more information contact Decker at 715-347-5994 or go to fiveringsma.weebly.com.