Over the weekend of October 24-25, Milpitas’ own Blue Dragon Taekwondo Academy dominated at 2020’s Taekwondo Virtual National Championships.
The Academy, under the tutelage of Grandmaster Thac Nguyen, has placed among the nation’s top 3 schools for its participation in the event. Team Blue Dragon was headed up there by Masters Caitlin Nguyen, Derek Nguyen, and Tyler Nguyen, each of whom took home a Grand Champion Title for their respective age groups (14-15, 16-17, 18-32).
All told, Blue Dragon’s 40 competitor students took home a whopping 136 medals: 70 gold, 31 silver, and 35 bronze. Meanwhile, whereas for the school’s East Coast competitors, the competition didn’t start until 9am, in a noteworthy disadvantage the West Coast participants had to start at 6am—the crack of dawn.
As an added aspect of the championships, AAU Taekwondo gave out 22 Grand Champion Jackets worth $200 apiece to the athletes with the highest point totals across all competitions. Eight of the 22 special jackets went to Blue Dragon’s team.
