Welcome COTKD.com
Welcome to the Website of the Colorado State Taekwondo Association (COSTA), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the development of all Taekwondo athletes in the state of Colorado.
Dojang owners - See the many benefits of joining COSTA today.
Referee Seminar - March 20th See Flyer
Collegiate Nationals - Volunteer Opportunities are now available. See the jobs list and email sbn@kattaekwondo.com if you are interested. All volunteers get free admission and lunch.
USAT March 6th & 7th National Qualifier
USAT hosted a National Qualifier providing high caliber competition to all Colorado athletes participating. The event was superbly run with the best facility provided by the Olympic Training Center. Lajust Electronic systems were in use and our athletes truly seem to be adjusting to the new equipment. Many Colorado athletes now advance to Nationals! Should qualified athletes also win the May 1st COSTA State Championship they will automatically receive a national seed and in the state the 2nd place winner will also qualify for nationals. This is a GREAT opportunity for those attending nationals! Congratulations go out to Mark Kaufmann and the entire USAT staff for running the event in a timely and super organized manner. COSTA also wishes to thank all of the volunteers from Colorado who helped the qualifier run smoothly. A special thank you goes out to: Academy of Life and Leadership, Tegura Taekwondo, and A-Team Taekwondo as they sent the most volunteers, we thank them all for their service.
Congratulations to Master Tiger Kim for a succesful event!
On Saturday Feb 27th at Tiger Kim's Headquarters Academy Grandmaster Kim and his son Master Sung Kim hosted a great Tournament providing a wonderful opportunity for Colorado athletes to compete in the spirit of true friendship and cooperation. Many schools were in attendance and had well over 150 competitors providing all participants with ample competition. There were many events from creative forms with weapons to Olympic Style Sparring. A special thank you goes out to Master Sun Kim from President Aranzamendi for his cooperation in scheduling this event well in advance and for his involvement in the Colorado State Association. We will be posting pictures soon on this web page; please send us some of your pictures from this event!
Monthly Olympic Sparring and Referee Clinics
On Feb 20th Colorado Masters and Athletes came together and trained at KAT Aurora, home of Master Billy Pottle. We had close to 70 athletes participate; it was a BLAST! A special thank you goes out to all of the Parents and EVERYONE that assisted throughout. Master Larry Cain and Master McKenna administered the 2nd session of the new referee certification program. New referees can now attend our monthly clinics and take the two hour referee training sessions and then participate in the later session training and practice their new referee skills! President Aranzamendi secured approval from the Head USAT National Referee Sieber and also from Master Bernard Robinson. We have close to 17 new referees in training and Master McKenna and Master Cain are GREAT mentors! There will also be an 8 hr referee seminar on March 20th in which new and existing referees can seek to advance in their levels. We are providing many avenues for new referees! Check out the pictures of this event and do not miss the next one on March 27th at Tri Lakes Taekwondo, information on the Google calendar.
2009 US Open Results:
The US Open was SPECTACULAR! There were active Olympians competing as well as World Champions from several countries. Many countries brought complete teams and the fighting was amazing. President Aranzamendi and his wife Dena had ringside seats as they volunteered along with many Colorado athletes! A special thank you goes out to Master Raul Gutierrez who had the most volunteers working all four days! Colorado was well represented by a well trained and coached state team, volunteers, and other athletes who gave their very best.
The only GOLD medal achieved belongs to Eliezer Muñoz from Tegura Taekwondo. Eliezer trains under Master Raul Gutierrez, and according to Master Gutierrez, Eleizer is one of his hardest training students with the highest of goals in Olympic Style Taekwondo.
Brian Gallagher from ESA won a silver medal in the Men's lightweight division! Brian, who is the reigning four time USA Bantam Team Member, fought two weight divisions up and did so in spectacular fashion winning six matches before valiantly losing in the final against a very tall and talented USA fighter. Brian used all of his skills to win in a division he normally does not compete in and he won one of his fights with three points scored on thunderous punches! We will have to see what Brian does next, Bantam, Feather, Light?
Alfonso Florez from Tegura Taekwondo won a Bronze medal in the 14 to 17 Blackbelt Juniors Division. Poncho fought a contested match to a very talented and tall fighter from the Chinese Taipei Team. The fight went into overtime after Poncho scored a spin kick with less than 5 seconds left in regulation! The overtime was decided by the referee who gave Poncho two kyongo's for barely stepping out of bounds! Rules were observed but everyone agreed that overtime should be decided by a kick or punch! Great job Poncho.
There were several other Colorado fighters who competed representing Colorado and as we gather their names and results we will post it here. Fighters like Ethan Tiburcio from Delgados Taekwondo - he had some phenomenal matches and displayed great skill in all of his matches. Ethan is sure to be one of Colorado's future champions. Also, Jose Luis Flores who in his first US Open and 1st Blackbelt Adults competition took the 2009 US National Champion Jermaine James past overtime and lost to a referee's choice! Junior and Poncho are both on the AAU National Team and will be competing in Spain this April! The competitive level of this tournament was really high and our fighters gained valuable experience!
Feb 6th COSTA Board of Governors Meeting
On Feb 6th at the COSTA Board of Governors Meeting two new positions were added to the COSTA elected board. These positions will be positions with a full vote and President Aranzamendi was given the authority to appoint the candidates to serve during his term. Cezar Nascimento has been appointed to the Marketing Vice President position created. And in only 3 weeks, Master Nascimento has already secured a sponsorship from the Tool Company Ryobi! Congrats Master Cezar.
President Aranzamendi has now appointed Mr. Jeff Tiburcio as the COSTA Parent Representative. The position requires that Mr. Tiburcio regularly attend most tournaments in Colorado, make his email available to everyone via the COSTA Web Page, and that he serve as the parents' voice on the COSTA board. A special THANK YOU goes out to Master Darin Carr and to Mr. Ron Broche for offering to assist with this position, you are both very involved with the development of COSTA and your efforts are highly appreciated!