Establishing a winning athletic program from scratch can take
years, but UCLA coach Randy Chambliss does not want to wait.
Last year around this time, the Tae Kwon Do team was a new
student organization looking for members and a place to practice.
Today, they are a nationally-recognized club sport, talking about
becoming one of the top collegiate teams in the country.
At the Ventura Open Tae Kwon Do Championships Nov. 2 in Ventura,
the UCLA team took first place, finishing with 172 medal points.
The next closest team had 99.
It was their first competition as a club sport, and it was good
enough to put UCLA on the map in the Tae Kwon Do community.
“It’s great to be recognized by the university and
to be able to use the UCLA name and logo,” said sophomore
team captain Kevin Stephanoff. “Now everyone knows who we are
when we go to tournaments.”
More surprising than the team’s early success is that they
have become a club sport so soon. At the beginning of last year,
Chambliss and Stephanoff approached USAC, hoping to form a Tae Kwon
Do student organization. Chambliss advertised the program by paying
for ads in the Daily Bruin and putting up signs on Bruin Walk.
Once able to find students interested in joining, the next task
was to find training space. Even with numerous activities, limited
space and a limited budget at the Wooden Center, plans were made to
make Tae Kwon Do into a club sport.
“I’m surprised it happened so quickly,” said
Stephanoff. “There was lots of paperwork to fill out, but we
got a lot of help.”
The Ventura Championships was just the first of what will likely
be a long tradition of success for UCLA Tae Kwon Do. In
Chambliss’ first year as head coach at Colorado University,
he guided the team to a No. 5 national ranking, yet he feels the
talent pool here is even stronger.
Sixteen of the 23 athletes on the UCLA roster are black belts,
and several have experience at high-level tournaments. For
instance, James Trinh, who placed first in the light-weight Black
Belt sparring division and third overall in the Grand Championship
Black Belt sparring competition finals at Ventura, has six years of
experience and participated in the Junior Olympics throughout high
school. Carsten Ryttersgaard is on the Denmark national team.
“My goal is to finish in the top three in the next couple
years,” Chambliss said.
Although the team was unable to compete in the National
Collegiate Tae Kwon Do Championship in November, they will head to
Las Vegas in February to compete in the United States Open. This
event features competitors from over 80 countries, many of whom are
Olympic team members.
Additionally, Chambliss hopes a Pac-10 tournament division will
form next year, which would give UCLA a chance to compete against
schools such as defending national champion UC Berkeley.
“We want our athletes to compete against the world class
elites,” Chambliss said. “It will help them gauge the
level they’re at and inspire them to train harder.”
Many team members have Olympic aspirations themselves.
“The competition has redefined my view of what it takes to
make the Olympic team,” said first-year Sean Yee, who placed
silver in sparring and gold in forms at the Ventura Championships.
“It’s a goal of mine to make the Olympic team, and
training here has helped me realize what I would need to
do.”
With a core of such young, ambitious and talented athletes,
Chambliss is very excited about the future of UCLA Tae Kwon Do.
“I think the notoriety we will bring UCLA will make us a
leader within the club sports department,” said
Chambliss.