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My name is Gabriel Zaragoza and
have been practicing the art of Tae Kwon Do for 20 years. I started at the
age of 9 with a serious interest and dedication to the art. With natural
talent but minimal practice, I soon transferred to Yong Kim's Tae Kwon Do
out of Albuequerque, NM at the age of 14. Grandmaster Kim (then Master) took
me under his wing and made me fall in love with the sport even more.
I
learned more of the art within 6 months than I did in all of the 5 years. By
going to practice everyday for my summer vacations and every other weekend
during the school year, I earned my first Dan with full certification at the
age of 16. The following year, at age 17, I competed as a black belt for the
first time at my 2nd Junior Olympics. I fought all the way to the top using
every technique and coaching from the long hard practices with Master Kim.
Every fight I fought practically with ease, until my semi-finals where I was
matched up with a ranked known national team member, now Olympic Gold
Medalist, Mark Lopez, (Steven Lopez's brother (Olympic Gold Medalist)). It
was a difficult fight thru and thru, but in the end, I won the victory. From
then on, I continued my practices and competitions, with the techniques and
basics that Master Kim had bestowed upon me and went on to compete with the
U. S. Army team. I competed with them on several state, national and
international levels. I used to hold rankings and records that are still
hung today with the U.S. Army team at the Olympic Training Center (OTC).
I
owe every single heart and soul of Tae Kwon Do to Grandmaster Kim and his
teachings. And now that he has permanantly moved to El Paso to open schools
across the city, I again, have par-taken under Grandmaster Kim and still use
the practices and teachings that he has shown me since the very beginning
and STILL coaches me to this very day. I do not question his teachings or
teaching methods, they have worked for me and taken me to places most dream
of. I seriously, seriously recommend joining and staying with Yong Kim's Tae
Kwon Do and who knows, your little one may become the next National
Champion. Thank you.
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