08/27/2026
Remember that first tournament we told you about last week?
It led here. 🌎🥋
In March 2024, a small group of Phoenix students stepped onto a competition floor for the first time.
No competition team.
No national experience.
Just some kids willing to be nervous, step onto the mat anyway, and see what they could do.
A few months later, the Phoenix Competition Team was born.
They trained.
They competed.
They won some.
They lost some.
They got better.
And then in July 2025, Phoenix did something that would have seemed pretty crazy when those first students competed just 16 months earlier:
We went to AAU Taekwondo Nationals.
For the first time, Phoenix athletes competed against some of the best martial artists from across the country.
And they came home with three National Championships. 🥇🥇🥇
A year later, we went back.
This time to Fort Lauderdale for the 2026 AAU Nationals.
And Phoenix athletes added two more National Championships. 🥇🥇
Five National Championships in two years.
We're incredibly proud of that.
But when we look back at these pictures, the medals aren't really our favorite part.
It's remembering where they started.
The nervous first tournament.
The first competition practices.
The losses that hurt.
The extra rounds after everyone else went home.
The corrections.
The conditioning.
The travel.
The teammates pushing one another to get better.
National Champions weren't created at Nationals.
They were created in all those ordinary practices when nobody was watching.
Three years ago, Phoenix didn't have a competition team.
Today, five National Championship titles have come home with members of the Phoenix Fam.
And it all started with a few kids willing to step onto the floor for the first time. 🧡🔥
Never underestimate where a first step can take you.
