Brazos Valley students ranked among top 10 in the world for taekwondo

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - Five students, ages 11 to 13, are ranked in the top 10 in the world in taekwondo for their age group, and this summer they are taking their shot at a world title in Phoenix, Arizona.

The team trains at Aggieland Martial Arts Academy as part of the Windy Sport & Fitness family in College Station. They call themselves the “Founding Five” and compete in sparring, combat sparring, weapons and extreme forms set to music.

The athletes train for hours every day, and some get out of school early to put in more time on the mat for P.E. credit. The team trains two hours a day now, though it used to be three.

“We’ve been working on everything that we’re about to compete in to win and get our titles,” Bella Chant said.

Building the academy together

The team members are Bella Chant, 13; Callen Parnell, 11; Stella Kilcrease, 12; Remi Siegert, 12; and Cullen House, 12. All live in College Station.

Some have been training together since they were 5, said Jessie Zarate, instructor and owner of Aggieland Martial Arts Academy. The students have been training for three to seven years.

“They came with us when we started this academy and they are on their way to earning some titles and doing lots of amazing things together,” Zarate said.

The students helped build the academy’s new dedicated training space, even painting stars on the walls.

“We are the founding five and there’s five of us. So I like to think the star makes five points, which is us,” Siegert said. “We helped paint those stars.”

The academy is a private space for Aggieland Martial Arts students, though the program still partners with Wendy’s Sport & Fitness.

Training around the clock

Each athlete competes in different events. Parnell competes in extreme forms, a performance discipline that combines martial arts with music.

“So extreme forms is extreme martial arts where you can do cool flips, cool kicks, cartwheels, round offs, stuff like that,” Siegert said. “And then most people sync music up to it like drops and most of the time some of their favorite songs. Anything can be ATA music really.”

Alex Rubio created Parnell’s music.

“My music starts off with Barbie Girl into a drop that goes into an Eminem song mixed with some other bits of other songs,” Parnell said. “I just thought the Barbie girl part would just sound funny so I just picked that.”

Siegert also competes in extreme forms using Star Wars music.

Kilcrease competes in combat sparring, which involves sparring with a padded stick. The objective is to score points by hitting the other person with the stick.

Chant competes in combat sparring as well, using a Song Do weapon with flags on it. The weapon is flowy and moves like a dance.

“We used to have a kick bag in our garage, and I would, we would kick it, and my mom would get really mad because it would echo in the garage and into the house,” Chant said. “But it was worth it.”

Kilcrease’s music includes Taylor Swift. Chant’s music is “Blow” by Kesha, with remixes and beats.

Cullen House competes in traditional sparring and in creative weapons, using a bo staff for the creative-weapons routine. House went to worlds last year and is back for his second year. This year, House is competing in the same three events.

“So for sparring, we basically put on gear and we just, in general taekwondo, you just like kicking and punching. And then if you score, then you get points and that’s how you win,” House said.

For creative weapons, House synced Star Wars music to his bo staff routine. House has mastered the triple spin with the bo staff, a feat that took him over a year to perfect.

“So creative weapons is where I do the bo staff and I make, it’s kind of like extreme forms, but you get to do it with weapons. And then for creative, you don’t get to do a lot of like tricks that involve like spinning too much. It’s more just like in general basics, but you also get to sync up music with it,” House said.

The training does not stop when they leave the gym.

“Sometimes I practice like my traditional forms, some sparring drills, like in my room and it’s really late at night, and they’ll be like, ‘Go to bed, stop training.’ But I just want to be as prepared as I can to compete and do as best as I can,” House said.

Traveling the country

The team has traveled to tournaments across the country, including Pittsburgh, St. Louis and locations in Louisiana, and has spent the year working toward the world championship.

“We’ve had to like work really hard and after every tournament, Mr. Josh and Miss Jessie, they would work us up and make us practice really hard after losing to get us up to win the next tournament, get us ready to compete,” Chant said.

The team competed at the Region 112 District Championship this past weekend. The District Championship included students from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

World championship in Phoenix

The ATA Songahm Taekwondo World Championship is in mid-July in Phoenix. The multi-day event runs from Wednesday through Saturday.

“When it comes to our world championship, we’ll have people from Chile, we’ll have people from England, from South Africa, from all over the world that are coming all to compete for the same things as them,” Zarate said.

Siegert told KBTX that the international competition is both nerve-wracking and exciting.

“I’m really nervous about it, but I’m also excited to meet all these new people and get the chance to compete against all these people. It’s going to be a really good experience and really good for learning opportunities,” Siegert said.

Kilcrease competed at worlds before and said it feels good to go back.

“It feels good and I’m excited to compete again with some people I haven’t seen in a while,” Kilcrease said.

Parnell said competing at that level is motivating.

“It makes me feel amazing that I’m just compared to these other people and they’re so good. That makes me feel like I am so good,” Parnell said.

A special bond

Zarate told KBTX that the team’s bond sets them apart.

“They have failed together. They’ve succeeded together. They’ve picked each other up when they’re down and brainstormed different ways to succeed. They’re special and we’re honored to be a part of that,” Zarate said.

Zarate said these students are like family.

“The most exciting part is that we truly believe that they can do it and they truly believe they can do it. They put the work in. They rely on each other and they know that they can count on each other to make it happen,” Zarate said.

As a team, the Founding Five are working toward district and world titles in both combat and traditional sparring.