By Steve Gilliam, University Relations
Freshman Bernard Posey, in the blue helmet, will travel to South Korea in early May for the world taekwondo championships.
Contact: 336-932-4009
Posted 2-23-11
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Bernard Posey, a student majoring in sports medicine at UNCG, has made the United States National Team in taekwondo, and will go to the world competition May 1-6 in South Korea.
Posey, a freshman in the Department of Kinesiology, earned his spot on the U.S. team during the national competition in January in Colorado Springs, Colo. He is ranked 46th in the world and competes at the 138.9 pound weight class.
He will return to Colorado Springs on Feb. 28 to train with the U.S. team at the Olympic Training Center. The team will also train again in Colorado in late April and will leave from there for South Korea and the World Taekwondo Federation world competition.
He trains three days a week with Barry Partridge at the United Taekwondo Academy in Winston-Salem, and also teaches the martial art in Kernersville. Both of his parents competed in taekwondo.
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, taekwondo may be loosely translated as "the art of the foot and fist" or "the art of kicking and punching." As many other martial arts, it combines combat techniques, self-defense, sport, exercise, meditation and philosophy.
In 1989, taekwondo was the world's most popular martial art in terms of numbers of practitioners. A type of sparring called gyeorugi has been an Olympic event since 2000.
