FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- When 17-year-old Sean Latham and his Family arrived at the Amateur Athletic Union's Tae Kwon Do Junior Olympic Games at Chesapeake, Va., last month, he didn't think he had much of a chance at beating out the more than 20 other national competitors.
The young black belt qualified with a gold medal during the AAU district competition in Troy, regionals in Albany, and at the AAU nationals at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., this year. Beating out more than 20 others during the grand championships was one of the toughest things he has had to face, as it is the final amateur step before the U.S. Olympic trials.
"It was a tight competition in my division, 5- to 18-year-olds," the "Army brat" recalled. "Their skills were astonishing."
Latham, now a senior at General Brown High School in Brownville, competed in both traditional Tae Kwon Do form and point sparring during his competitions. The latter, he confessed, was the weaker of the two. Going up against what he and the others in the audience thought were much more "skilled" freestyle competitors who create their own forms, he said he was stunned when he won.
The tournaments are voluntary, and the parents most likely are the ones who incur the costs associated with competing, but the experience was something Latham's parents said they wanted for him.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I knew we'd regret it if we didn't do it," said Latham's father, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Thomas Latham, a UH-64 Black Hawk helicopter pilot now stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.
Thomas Latham said he knew his son would do well during the AAU Junior Olympics, but he could not have guessed he would do as well as he did.
"I thought he would do well. … I was 100 percent determined that he'd medal, but not the gold medal, because it was the best of the best kids out there," he said. "I mean, who would think your kid would make it that far?"
The Lathams, who have built roots in the North Country since getting stationed at Fort Drum almost 10 years ago, decided to enter their son into Grand Master Thomas Tehonica's Tae Kwon Do and Hap Ki Do. Tehonica, a Department of the Army Civilian and Army veteran, started his first school in Watertown in 1989, with military Family Members making up a majority of his classes. Through the years, he and his instructors have had a pretty good run of students who have won at nearly all levels of competition, but only a handful of his students take it to the next level like Sean Latham.
"Sean is a perfectionist, and he gets mad at himself when he doesn't do well at something," he said.
Tehonica, who runs classes in Pulaski and at Fort Drum's Youth Center, runs what he calls a "family-oriented" school where the parents are heavily involved in coaching their students and where the students are taught life lessons that spill over into their home and school life as well.
"We check their report cards," he said. "They have to earn their next levels here by also showing respect at home at all times."
Those lessons have changed lives for students like 17-year-old Robin Lindsay, a junior at Watertown High School. She started at Tehonica's school two years ago and has quickly shot up to black belt status.
Lindsay began Tae Kwon Do when she was younger and decided to stop, but it was something she always wanted to finish. Although the beginning was difficult for the seemingly shy teenager, she broke from her shell and has emerged as one of the best at the school.
During last year's AAU regional competition, she won a gold medal in sparring, a silver medal for forms, and a bronze for board breaking. As a green belt then, she wanted to simply "try" going to tournaments to see what they were like. She said she was instantly hooked.
Going into this year's tournaments, she won the gold medal in sparring at the regional level and silver medals in both forms and board breaking. When she traveled to Florida for the national competition, she won the gold medal in forms and a bronze in sparring.
Yet, what she has really won didn't come in the form of a medal, according to her father, Chadd Lindsay, a retired Soldier.
"She's just become a confident young lady," he said. "This has given her inner confidence because of what (Tehonica) has been teaching -- those life lessons."
As junior instructors, both Lindsay and Latham pass on what they have learned to the newer students in Watertown and Fort Drum.
"It's good to give back … especially with the little kids, because they are so adorable," Robin Lindsay said. "It also helps us to get better as well because, as a black belt, you have to continue to work on all the lower forms and techniques."
During tournament season, the instructors and students who don't travel to compete will track the ones who do by following them online, said Amy Glathar, head instructor at Tehonica's school in Watertown.
"The kids get really excited about it, and it motivates them," she said. "It helps them want to practice more because they can see that they can do it as well."
For those few such as Sean Latham, Robin Lindsay and 10-year-olds Layla Craig and Karla Rosario-Santos who competed this year, they have been offering both their experience and those very life lessons they've learned on and off the mat.
Through his experience this year, Sean Latham learned a few things. First, he will have to come back and work harder in his sparring. Second, he wants to work hard in school and get into the college he has chosen. Most of all, it has solidified his passion for Tae Kwon Do.
"I really want to make Tae Kwon Do my career; that would be my dream job -- to compete and teach," he said.
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