E.B. taekwondo students shine at national tourney
Youngsters take seven national medals at
New Orleans event
When 8-year-old Charles Ferrone was first learning Taekwondo a few years back, his class in East Brunswick included a young boy who had just earned his first gold medal in the Amateur Athletic Union National Taekwondo Championships.
Charles turned to his stepfather Kevin Balon, who also happened to be his instructor, and said that he wanted to win one of those medals some day. Apparently, Charles meant what he said.
Charles, a student at the East Brunswick Taekwondo Center on Harts Lane, was one of five students from the school to win a national medal at this year’s AAU 2000 National Taekwondo Championships in New Orleans.
The four-day tournament took place over the July Fourth weekend, drawing taekwondo students from across the nation in what has become an increasingly difficult tournament to win.
According to Balon, who is entering his 10th year as the state chairman of the AAU’s taekwondo faction, his stepson has become one of the top amateur taekwondo students in the nation.
"This is his second year in a row winning three medals, and he continues to improve dramatically each year," Balon said. "Charles takes tremendous pride in his abilities, and it shows."
At this year’s tournament, Charles earned his fourth straight National Forms Championship. He also won three gold medals for forms, point sparring and Olympic sparring events in back-to-back national tournaments.
However, Balon points out that Charles is only one of his successful students. Charles’ older sister, Danielle Ferrone, 13, also won a gold medal in forms competition, keeping her gold medal winning streak alive.
"Just as that youngster was Charles’ inspiration years ago, he became the inspiration for his sister," Balon said. "And she has become very successful in her own right."
The Ferrone brother and sister combination were joined by another pair of siblings, 9-year-old Carolyn Chu, who won her third straight national gold medal in point sparring, and her brother, 10-year-old Kenneth Chu, who earned a silver in point sparring.
In addition, 10-year-old Stephen Gendlek earned a bronze in point sparring.
Balon said that he is very pleased with his students’ success at the tournament this year, and points to their dedication as the reason for their improvement.
"I don’t like to brag, but every year we’ve managed to do well at the National Tournament," he said. "We’ve had over 26 national champs in the last five years, and we really pride ourselves on that."
Balon explained that each year the East Brunswick Taekwondo Center selects a certain number of children who are willing to compete in the national tournament. In addition to the national tournament, students enter competitions at the local, state and regional levels in order to prepare themselves.
Much of the competitions are found throughout the East Coast, meaning that the students have to be willing to do a lot of traveling in a short period of time.
"We select our participants based on their willingness to dedicate themselves to train for the nationals," Balon said. "And just as important is their parents’ willingness to be supportive and find sponsors to pay for their children’s trips. Everyone involved must be committed."
Balon added that a good percentage of the center’s students choose to compete in the local competitions. However, only a handful make it to the nationals each year. They join about 50 other students from across the state at the National Tournament.
In order to successfully prepare for the larger tournaments, the students spend the majority of their time training.
"They basically live at the center," Balon said. "If their parents would let them bring their sleeping bags, they would. They train five to six days religiously, and they love it. It’s like a second home to them."
However, Balon added that all of their hard work is worth it when they meet with success at the national level.
"To take a child to a national competition is exciting," he said, "and for them to become national champions is a very special thing. And I think the parents recognize that, and that’s why they’re so supportive."
Balon also said that he feels the popularity of sports such as taekwondo is growing, particularly because it is now an official Olympic sport.
"I think now that taekwondo is an Olympic sport for the first time there’s more excitement being generated," he said. "Before it was simply a demonstration sport, but now it really has an Olympic feeling about it."
With the success that Balon and his associates have had over the last few years, he is likely to continue to help the sport’s popularity grow as his students continue to rack up national titles.