WELCOME to Peak VA

The 2017 USAT National Championships took place from June 30th - July 5th this year in Detroit, Michigan. 

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PEAK VA's Junior team competed on July 1st. Benjamin J., and Luke M. both won their initial matches but came up short in their second. Big congrats to Benjamin J. for his 1st victory as a Junior at a National Championship. Gabby W. also sought in the female cadet division. She gained valuable experience but came up short.

 

Senior fighters Andrew S., Timothy S., Mohammed E., Marcus P., and Benjamin S. competed on July 4th and 5th. For the Senior competitors, the main goal was to qualify for US Team Trial by placing in the top 4 in the division. At Team Trials, scheduled for January 2018, the top 4 fighters from each division at the National Championships and the current US National Team Member will have an official fight off. The winner of Team Trials will become the 2018 US National Team Member and  will represent the USA at the 2018 Pan American Championships.

 

The Senior team from PEAK VA had a very strong showing. Timothy S., although only 16 years old,  moved up to the Senior division since he has already won a Wild Card to Junior Pan Am Championships at the 2017 President's Cup. Timothy won his 1st fight and lost his second in round 16. Mohammed E. had an unfortunate loss due to gam-jeoms in a match that he was clearly in control. Andrew S. had a very strong performance by winning prelims with a very large margin. Andrew poceeded to quarterfinals against Thomas Rahimi, a former US National Team Member who also ranks #8 in Light weight in the world.  After falling behind 4-10 in the 2nd round, Andrew made an astonishing comeback to tie the match 11-11 at the end of the 3rd round. He then  came up short of qualifying Team Trials after losing in OT. Marcus P. also came 1 match short of securing a position at Team Trials. Marcus won prelims in an exciting come back. After falling behind 6-13 in the 1st round, Marcus stormed back to stop the fight in the 3rd round by gapping his opponent by 20 points. In quarterfinals, Marcus fought a very close and exciting match, coming  just shy of a victory. Finally, Benjamin S. qualified for Team Trials with a Bronze in Men's Bantam weight division. In his 1st fight, Benjamin defeated the #1 ranked Bantam weight in the US, William Jackson. He moved on to win quarterfinals by a 16 point margin. Once reaching the medal rounds and securing a spot at Team Trials, Benjamin bowed out in semi-finals due to injury.

 

On the last World Class Sparring day, Peak VA finished Nationals with its Youth team. Codrin R. fought tremendously well at his 1st Nationals as a black belt. Leading against his opponent for the entire match, Codrin unfortunately lost his lead in the last 20 seconds.

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Overall, we congratulate all of our athletes for overall good performance.  Great job to the team for securing 1 position at the Team Trials 2018 so far.