Meet Brando Ivey the first Heavyweight Black Belt Taekwondo Champion from America since 1986.
Brando Ivey is the first Heavyweight Black Belt Taekwondo Champion from America since 1986. He is a junior at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Virginia.
Here he is with his coach, Master Dennis Kim, from the USTigers WTF School of Taekwondo, Haymarket, VA. Last week Brando Ivey represented the USA in the World WTF Taekwondo Championship Tournament in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. He defeated FIVE heavy weight black belt fighters from various countries around the World. It was a single elimination tournament and Brandon went undefeated. All of his fights were razor-edge close. The final match was a sudden death overtime match against Hamza Kattan of Jordan. Brandon won the match 5-4. His opponents were champions from the republic of the Philippines, Azerbaijzan, Spain, Russia, and Jordan. CONGRATULATIONs to Brandon. He is only 16 years old and a “master of his game”.
Listen to the Brandon Ivey interview after winning the championship http://vimeo.com/89990145
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4VsQFy7en4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2R4i05t0T8
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152043623422671&set=vb.91230807670&type=2&theater
The number one athlete in the world has always been recognized as the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World. Every other major sport is a team sport. In basketball there are five men on a team who can play at one time. Baseball has nine players, football has eleven players, and soccer has eleven players on the field competing at one time. In boxing there is only one. It is one against one, head to head and toe to toe; and may the best man win. Boxers fight with their fists, but Taekwondo fighters use both their hands and feet. Full contact Taekwondo fighting is closer to boxing than any other sport in the world. Taekwondo tournament fighters are amateurs and do not get paid, whereas professional boxers are professionals and make large sums of money. Beyond that they are similar in many respects.
Brandon was successful because of his mental approach to his sport, Taekwondo. He is a fierce competitor and has mastered a winner’s mindset, which he began to develop at a very young age with the help of his long time coach, Master Dennis Kim.
Brandon had a compelling reason for continuously working hard and sacrificing on a daily basis. When Brandon was only 7 years old, Master Dennis taught him to set and write down his specific goals. He said he wanted to be the Champion of the World.
Master Dennis tells all of his fighters at the USTigers Taekwondo School that there is absolutely no substitute for consistent, daily, hard work! You can’t just work hard whenever you feel like it. It can’t be a sometimes thing! It has to be an every day thing. This is true in all sports, but especially so in combative sports, like Taekwondo. To become a champion you have to train yourself to continuously step outside of your comfort zone, physically, mentally and emotionally. Brandon Ivey was able to do this. Whenever he trained, he didn’t just mindlessly go through the motions. He focused on making sure his kicking and punching techniques were precise. Master Dennis believes that one must perform a technique ,at least, one thousand times to learn it, and ten thousand times to perfect it. Only then can you say that you have mastered it.
Master Dennis says that part of the reason for Brandon’s success is that he has ice water in his veins and he thoroughly believes in himself. One thing that separates really great athletes from everyone else is that no matter what happens and no matter how many failures or setbacks they suffer, they never stop believing in themselves.
It is impossible for a fighter to fight his best when it counts the most if he or she gets too nervous before the fight. Anything more than a case of minor butterflies in the stomach is not good. One can be the best coached, the best conditioned, the strongest, fastest and most talented fighter in the match, but if you cannot control the pre-fight nervousness, you are not going to win. Brandon has never suffered from pre-fight juitters. He has learned to maintain his composure under pressure. In a few of his fights when he was behind on points and the time clock was running out, Brandon remained as cool as a cucumber, and he managed to win the fight.
Brandon Ivey
USA Taekwondo
Height: 6-0
Weight: 168 lbs.
High School: Briar Woods High School (Ashburn, Va.)
Year of Graduation: 2015
Coach: Dennis Kim
AWARDS:
2013 USAT Junior Male Athlete of the Year
Other Sports Played in High School: football
Hobbies: computers
MAJOR COMPETITION RESULTS:
2014 USA Taekwondo Junior National Team Trials (men’s heavy): FIRST
2014 U.S. Junior National Team member (Heavy)
2013 USAT National Championships (Jr. Heavy): GOLD
2013 USAT Junior National Team Member (Heavy)
2012 World Junior Championships (Jr. Lt. Heavy): Round of 16
-lost to Nikos Karamangiolis (GER), 5-2, in Round of 16
2012 U.S. Open (Jr. Lt. Heavy): SILVER
-def. Zeph Putnam (USA), 3-2, in quarterfinals
-def. Jacob Bolanos (USA), 9-4, in semifinals
-lost to Misael Lopez Jaramillo (MEX), 7-4, in finals
2012 Junior World Championships Team Member (Jr. Lt. Heavy)
2012 Junior World Championships Open Team Trials (Jr. Lt. Heavy): 1st
Rivals and results
Rivals and results international
winner | points | looser | |||||||
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2012 |
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US Open,
-78 youth |
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1/02-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 9 | : | 4 | BOLANOS, Jacob | ![]() |
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1/01-Finale | ![]() |
LOPEZ JARAMILLO, Misael | 7 | : | 4 | IVEY, Brandon | ![]() |
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1/16-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 5 | : | 2 | KATTAN, Ahmad | ![]() |
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1/08-Finale | ![]() |
KARAMANGIOLIS, Nikos | 5 | : | 2 | IVEY, Brandon | ![]() |
In 2013 at the US Open these were the fight results |
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+78 youth
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1/02-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 12 | : | 10 | STEWART, Jordan | ![]() |
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1/01-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 5 | : | 3 | LI, Yanfeng | ![]() |
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Pan American Championships,
+78 youth |
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1/04-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 8 | : | 6 | POGONZA, Javier | ![]() |
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1/02-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 17 | : | 1 | SENA DENICOLA, Cesar Augusto | ![]() |
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1/01-Finale | ![]() |
LOPEZ JARAMILLO, Misael | 1 | : | 0 | IVEY, Brandon | ![]() |
At the 2014 World Championships In Taiwan, China these were the points scored in the Finals |
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+78 youth
|
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1/16-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 6 | : | 5 | ALEJANDRO, Joel Felipe | ![]() |
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1/08-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 4 | : | 2 | KANAMATOV, Magomedrasul | ![]() |
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1/04-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 1 | : | 0 | GARCIA VAZQUEZ, Victor | ![]() |
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1/02-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 6 | : | 5 | KHADEEV, Emil | ![]() |
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1/01-Finale | ![]() |
IVEY, Brandon | 1 | : | 0 | KATTAN, Hamza | ![]() |
Labels: Black American Firsts