[ P u b l i c a t i o n s ]

by Lisa Thurness
Daily Staff Writer

The Iowa State University Karate Club took home one first place finish and two second place finishes this past August in Mexico City, Mexico for the second annual Collegiate Goodwill Games.

In the TaeKwonDo bantam division, Lily Rosa placed first, and in the light division Trevor Martin placed second, while Debra Leslie also placed second in the welter weight division.

The ISU Karate Club has placed among the top three teams at the National Collegiate TaeKwonDo Association (NCTA) championships for the past 10 years, and was first in 1985,1988, and 1989. The club is led by Master Yong Chin Pak, who has a seventh degree black belt in TaeKwonDo a sixth degree black belt in Hapkido and Judo.

Rosa, Martin and Leslie all placed in the top three in their division at this year's NCTA championships held at Berkley College. They then moved on to the Goodwill Games in Mexico City which was hosted by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. There were 16 total athletes chosen from the U.S. to compete in the games.

"It was really exciting because it was not only a competition, but also an exchange of our cultures," Rosa said. "We went on outings with our contenders before the final competition. This helped to better relations between the two countries."

Future Tournaments Planned: The ISU Karate Club plans on competing again this Oct. 20 in Louisiana. The club wants to take more than 20 of its members to compete for a first through third placing for a chance to contend in the World University TaeKwonDo Championships in Teipi, Taiwan. Rosa, Martin and Leslie are all working hard for the chance to go to Taiwan.

The ISU Karate Club is now fundraising for their trip to Louisiana and any donations can be sent to the ISU Karate Club 214A Beyer Hall.

Also planned this semester is the 13th Annual ISU TaeKwonDoKarate Championship, which is scheduled for Sept. 18. The tournament will be directed by Pak, the president of the NCTA, and Sc-ott Haines, president of the ISU Karate Club.

"lt was really exciting because it was not only competition, but also an exchange of our cultures."
Lily Floss, ISU karate club member

The tournament will be sanctioned by the United States TaeKwonDo Union (USTU) and will consist of internationally accepted forms of competition as well as Olympic-style free sparring. All ages and ranks will be participating, and ISU is expecting 300 competitors, 50 officials and over 200 spectators.

This is the second largest tournament in Iowa, behind the annual Iowa Games TaeKwonDo Tournament, which was held this summer and was also directed by Master Pak.

Also, this year marks the 20th anniversary for Pak as Martial Arts Instructor at ISU.