WEST HILLS : A Humble Win in Martial Arts

Even with their many victories at the Taekwondo U.S. Junior Olympic Championships in Chicago, David Howell, head instructor at Twin Dragon Martial Arts in West Hills, was just as proud at the humility they showed in winning.

“We teach our kids to be gracious winners as well as gracious losers,” said Howell. But with the way they won, Howell’s kids needed a lot of humility.

The club came home from the championship a week ago with 13 gold medals, seven silver and four bronze. Two of the students were double gold medal winners, and all but three of the students in the national competition came home with a medal.

They did better than any other school at the championships, Howell said.

Kwon Sung Choi, president of the California Taekwondo Assn., is master of the Palos Verdes Taekwondo club, where his students won just as many gold and silver medals, and two fewer bronze. Only by combining that medal count with his students from his other club in Torrance had they done better in a medal count, said Choi, whose students also included a national black belt champion.

The sweetest taste of victory for the Twin Dragon students came when they were allowed to dig into soda, ice cream, and candy--all of which had been banned for the past five months under a strict training regimen. Such artificial treats give an unnatural rush of energy during a workout and eliminating sweets gave the kids a better chance at building endurance, Howell said.

“I missed Snickers,” said Lauren Radel, 11, a Twin Dragon silver medal winner, who headed for the candy machine as soon as the competition was over. “I had to have my Snickers bar.”

Heather Larsen, 10, who won two gold medals in the competition, did not miss the soda because she likes drinking juices anyway. “I celebrated with a big, king-sized Hershey’s bar right after I won,” she said.

“It felt pretty good,” Larsen said of her win. “Actually, it was really tough.”

Pushed for further superlatives, Larsen described her first national win as “fun . . . good . . . cool.” Although she and Radel said they were just trying to do their best and not worry about winning or losing. Larsen said she wants to compete in the Olympics someday.

“They were humble in their reactions to people,” Howell said. “But inside you could tell they were very proud. You could see the impact it had on these kids.”

Tae kwon do, a form of martial arts started in Korea 2,500 years ago, has been in the Junior Olympics for 14 years and recently became an Olympic sport. In the Junior Olympics, kids age 7 to 16 compete within their age, weight and experience categories.

The Twin Dragon students were among 450 competitors from California, which, as a state, had the largest number of gold medal winners at the championships, Junior Olympic officials said.