A dozen local martial artists shine in Las Vegas
Gilroy – Few people come back richer after a weekend in Vegas – especially when it involves fighting.
But for some Gilroy martial artists, a trip to the strip definitely paid off.
In all, 12 local residents who train at Champions Martial Arts on 7560 Monterey St. in Gilroy came home with hardware for placing in the top four of their divisions at the 2005 USA World Championships of Taekwondo June 17-19 at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Earning individual titles were Linda Pulido, who runs Champions and instructs all the 20-some fighters that competed at the World Championships, and Tracey Sargent.
Pulido, a black belt, earned her sixth title overall and fifth in a row in the women’s 30-39 middle weight division.
The 37-year-old Gilroy native has 23 years of martial arts experience to her name. As the leader of the Champions group, Pulido didn’t want to disappoint her pupils with anything less than a first-place finish at the championships.
“I had a lot of pressure on me (to win) … People would say ‘Oh, you’ll get it,'” Pulido said, with a wave of the hand. “But I say, ‘Don’t do that!'”
Sargent, a 38-year-old massage therapist and mother of one, improved on her second-place performance at last year’s world championships by winning the women’s 30-and-over advanced division. Sargent is a red belt, two degrees away from black belt, the level she’s determined to reach before she turns 40. But that’s a far cry from where Sargent started three-and-a-half years ago, when she described herself as “non-aggressive.”
“I could get aggressive with kicking but I didn’t want to hit,” Sargent said. “I didn’t want to get my nose broken.”
Another Champions martial artist, Marcel Weaver, 38, was favored to win the same division, but she tore the meniscus in one of her knees during competition and was forced to drop out.
“That was one of our saddest moments at the tournament,” said Pulido of Weaver’s injury.
Several young martial artists also made their mark at the championships, including 18-year-old Kyle Mendoza (2nd place), Tayler Martinez (2nd, girls 10-11) and sisters Michaela (4th place, girls 14-15), Natalia (2nd place, girls 12-13) and Juliana Vanni (4th place, girls 10-11).
Pulido has been pleased with Mendoza’s improvement since he began Taekwondo three months ago.
“He’s been doing really good since he started,” Pulido said of her brown belt student. “He’s a natural talent.”
Martinez said she didn’t lose any money gambling, but felt like she got “robbed” for points by some of the judges at the competition. Nevertheless, she enjoyed the experience. “I met more people than I already knew (at Champions),” the 11-year-old said. “I think more people should do this (sport) because it’s kind of an experience.”
The Vanni girls’ parents signed them up for Taekwondo four years ago. As for whether or not the girls wanted to start the sport, their responses ranged from “Yes” (Natalia) to “No” (Michaela) to “I didn’t care,” (Juliana). But things have changed since then.
“Now we like it,” Michaela Vanni said.
Overall, Pulido was pleased with how her students did at the event. She was particularly happy with Natalia Vanni’s performance.
“She was the star of the day. Usually, she’s very meek and soft and, boy, did she come out of her shell,” Pulido said. “I thought she was somebody else. I said, ‘Who stole her uniform?'”
Also earning top four finishes were Eva Guajardo (2nd), Amanda Guevara (3rd), Kelly Kropff (3rd) Leanne Santos-Haygood (3rd) and Dustin Hart (4th).
