2024 Elizabeth Perez Azerad's Essay
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4th Dan Candidate
May 2024 marked my 10th year as a TKD student. I never imagined that I would have walked this amazing journey. My two sons began together in February of 2014 and I only joined after trying out a free family class on Mother’s Day. This choice to Never Give Up has offered me many benefits not the least of which is better health, wellbeing, agility, mental sharpness and the opportunity to meet a multi-generational community of people from all walks of life, all of us sharing the goal of improving our skills in TKD. Most importantly however, it has offered me the opportunity to share a common goal with my 2 sons, Raphael and Zachary. I am forever grateful to them.
In 2018 I made the commitment to compete at the State and National level. This opened an entirely new door of opportunities to train, meet and compete with martial artists from all over the USA. Among my many titles I am a multi-time medalist at the national level in board breaking, sport poomsae, traditional poomsae, and weaponry. In 2022 I added Pairs and Team Sport Poomsae, collaborating with top poomsae athletes on USA TKD Team USA. Since then I have earned a Gold medal at the Pan American Presidents Cup, and was proud to be a member of Team USA’s first ever O50 Women’s Sport Poomsae Team. I had the privilege of competing on Team USA at the Korean Open last July as well as meeting President Lee Dong-Sup at Kukkiwon. In addition to being as Associate Coach for USAT I am also a member of the USAT Academy, the training ground for Team USA Sport Poomsae, a position that I won by attending local and national Talent ID camps.
In the past 2 years I have been developing my skills with AAU also, winning a spot on the first ever National Traditional Forms Team. I regained my title for the 2024 year as well. As my opportunities as an athlete have increased, I decided it was also time to give back to the community so in 2022 I became an AAU referee. While I do not spar in competition, being a referee has offered me an opportunity to understand the complexities of the sparring discipline and assist at tournaments.
None of my competitive and referee progress would have been possible without the assistance of numerous experts in the martial arts world. In the AAU realm I would like to thank: GMs Bobby Stone & Katherine Wieczerza, Sensei Larry Kooyman, Masters Andrew Trento, Alex Segura, Jen Heerema, Deb Foutch, Instructors Francia Kherkher and Zarate Like Karate.
Major thanks to my head fitness Coach Bob Maves whose guidance keeps me healthy and fit to be at my best.
In the USAT realm I would like to thank: Masters Dan Chuang, Barbara Brand, and GM Jung Jin.
My deepest gratitude goes to Grand Master James Park. When the boys and I arrived at Park’s Martial Arts we were all diamonds-in-the-rough. In the past 2 years, however, he has pushed and supported us to refine our Sport Poomsae skills, presentation and introduced us to the world of weaponry. Thank you Kwanjangnim Park; we look forward to training and learning from you for a long time.
May 2024 marked my 10th year as a TKD student. I never imagined that I would have walked this amazing journey. My two sons began together in February of 2014 and I only joined after trying out a free family class on Mother’s Day. This choice to Never Give Up has offered me many benefits not the least of which is better health, wellbeing, agility, mental sharpness and the opportunity to meet a multi-generational community of people from all walks of life, all of us sharing the goal of improving our skills in TKD. Most importantly however, it has offered me the opportunity to share a common goal with my 2 sons, Raphael and Zachary. I am forever grateful to them.
In 2018 I made the commitment to compete at the State and National level. This opened an entirely new door of opportunities to train, meet and compete with martial artists from all over the USA. Among my many titles I am a multi-time medalist at the national level in board breaking, sport poomsae, traditional poomsae, and weaponry. In 2022 I added Pairs and Team Sport Poomsae, collaborating with top poomsae athletes on USA TKD Team USA. Since then I have earned a Gold medal at the Pan American Presidents Cup, and was proud to be a member of Team USA’s first ever O50 Women’s Sport Poomsae Team. I had the privilege of competing on Team USA at the Korean Open last July as well as meeting President Lee Dong-Sup at Kukkiwon. In addition to being as Associate Coach for USAT I am also a member of the USAT Academy, the training ground for Team USA Sport Poomsae, a position that I won by attending local and national Talent ID camps.
In the past 2 years I have been developing my skills with AAU also, winning a spot on the first ever National Traditional Forms Team. I regained my title for the 2024 year as well. As my opportunities as an athlete have increased, I decided it was also time to give back to the community so in 2022 I became an AAU referee. While I do not spar in competition, being a referee has offered me an opportunity to understand the complexities of the sparring discipline and assist at tournaments.
None of my competitive and referee progress would have been possible without the assistance of numerous experts in the martial arts world. In the AAU realm I would like to thank: GMs Bobby Stone & Katherine Wieczerza, Sensei Larry Kooyman, Masters Andrew Trento, Alex Segura, Jen Heerema, Deb Foutch, Instructors Francia Kherkher and Zarate Like Karate.
Major thanks to my head fitness Coach Bob Maves whose guidance keeps me healthy and fit to be at my best.
In the USAT realm I would like to thank: Masters Dan Chuang, Barbara Brand, and GM Jung Jin.
My deepest gratitude goes to Grand Master James Park. When the boys and I arrived at Park’s Martial Arts we were all diamonds-in-the-rough. In the past 2 years, however, he has pushed and supported us to refine our Sport Poomsae skills, presentation and introduced us to the world of weaponry. Thank you Kwanjangnim Park; we look forward to training and learning from you for a long time.
