TaekwonâGeremyâ - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's ...
TaekwonâGeremyâ - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's ...
TaekwonâGeremyâ - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Students at <strong>Redwood</strong> City Martial Arts are training with the best.<br />
In late January, the studio — which operates out of<br />
Powerhouse Gym at 2075 Broadway St. — received a<br />
“Best School” award at the Golden Gate Open Taekwondo<br />
Tournament in San Anselmo.<br />
“Out of all the schools there, we took home the most medals<br />
— seven gold and one silver,” said Greg Escolta, who heads <strong>Redwood</strong> City<br />
Martial Arts. “This validated [that] the quality of our teaching is very good.<br />
My kids won. I’ve had some kids who have been training with me only a few<br />
months who have participated.”<br />
Junior World Taekwondo champion<br />
In addition to the studio’s recently receiving a “Best School” designation,<br />
Escolta’s son, Geremy, 17, who trains with <strong>Redwood</strong> City Martial Arts,<br />
received a gold medal in the 2012 Junior World Championships in South<br />
Korea last July.<br />
“So far, it’s my biggest accomplishment,” the younger Escolta said. “It was<br />
great to be able to go out of the country and be able to compete at the highest level.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> gold medal from the Junior World Championships hangs in his room.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Junior World Championships featured teams from 68 different countries.<br />
“It was always his goal to win a major international competition,” his father noted.<br />
When a tournament is coming up, Geremy Escolta trains four to five hours<br />
a day, in the morning and after school.<br />
Before going to South Korea, he told his father, “It’s my time, Dad. I’ve<br />
trained so hard.”<br />
Geremy Escolta went to South Korea by himself. It was the first time Greg<br />
“If you want to be the best, you have<br />
to train like you want to be the best.”<br />
Escolta had been unable to watch his son compete. It was nerve-wracking<br />
having his son on the other side of the world by himself, and learning that<br />
some of his teammates had been injured didn’t make it any better, he said,<br />
noting that it was “the worst two weeks of my life.”<br />
Even with a Junior World Championship under his belt, Geremy Escolta<br />
hungers for more and aspires to go further.<br />
His next goal is to go to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Once<br />
you’re at Olympic level, that’s the highest you can take your career,” he said.<br />
Always been around taekwondo<br />
Geremy Escolta — who is of Filipino descent with influences from Spain,<br />
Denmark and Sweden — has always been around taekwondo.<br />
In fact, the day he first came home from the hospital, he was taken to meet<br />
his older brother, Gregory, at taekwondo lessons, he said. He officially started<br />
taekwondo at age 3.<br />
In addition to studying taekwondo, Geremy Escolta is team captain for the<br />
Sequoia High School Wrestling Team.<br />
World champion is in many ways a typical teen<br />
Outside of school and athletics, he enjoys doing typical teenage things like<br />
hanging out with his friends, going to movies and playing video games.<br />
He manages to find a good balance between sports, school and friends, he<br />
noted. “I’ve been doing it for a while, so I’m used to it. I’ve got a routine down.”<br />
Helping other students become champions, too<br />
<strong>Redwood</strong> City Martial Arts strives to help its other martial arts students<br />
become champions, just like Geremy Escolta.<br />
In fact, six students from the studio happen to be going to the Junior and<br />
Senior Olympic Taekwondo National Championships in Chicago July 3<br />
through July 9.<br />
“It is my goal to produce the greatest citizens <strong>Redwood</strong> City has ever<br />
produced,” Greg Escolta said.<br />
He added, “We’re a very, very good school. I like to think of it as a factory<br />
for building champions.”<br />
<strong>Redwood</strong> City Martial Arts has classes for both youth and adults. Students<br />
range in age from 3 to 33.<br />
Students expected to keep their grades up<br />
Youth are expected to earn good grades in their classes at school while<br />
they’re with <strong>Redwood</strong> City Martial Arts. Escolta looks at their transcripts<br />
and if they have below a B in any of their classes, he has them concentrate on<br />
their schoolwork instead of martial arts.<br />
Building self-confidence,<br />
learning respect and discipline<br />
Those who study martial arts not only get exercise but also gain self-esteem<br />
and learn respect and discipline, noted Escolta, who has 40 years of martial<br />
arts experience, including 20 years of taekwondo experience.<br />
You’re never too old<br />
You’re never too old to learn martial arts, Escolta emphasized. He provides<br />
private lessons to a man who is 65 and knows of people in their 90s who are<br />
still training.<br />
A unique hybrid<br />
Escolta describes his style of martial arts as “a hybrid of kempo karate,<br />
taekwondo, kickboxing and wrestling.”<br />
No need to call him master<br />
Students refer to Escolta as Mr. Escolta, not master. Escolta is stern, but he<br />
has a soft side, too. “I want to be approachable,” he said. “I don’t want them<br />
to be afraid of me, but I want them to respect me.”<br />
Quitting not an option<br />
At <strong>Redwood</strong> City Martial Arts, quitting isn’t an option. Shortcuts aren’t<br />
allowed either.<br />
“If you want to be the best, you have to train like you want to be the best,”<br />
Escolta said. “<strong>The</strong>re’s no mediocrity here. <strong>The</strong>re’s no shortcuts here. If [you]<br />
take a shortcut, you’re the one that’s going to be on the receiving end of being<br />
knocked out.”<br />
Helping youth with special needs learn,<br />
enjoy martial arts<br />
Escolta has helped youth with special needs learn and enjoy martial arts.<br />
“I have kids with various difficulties and I have been able to reach all of<br />
them,” he said.<br />
One of those students is Dillin Barganski, 12, a sixth-grader at Charles<br />
Armstrong School in Belmont, who has dyslexia and ADHD, or attention<br />
deficit hyperactivity disorder.<br />
“I like that he’s really tough on us to do good,” Dillin said. “He makes us feel like<br />
we’re the star of the class. He keeps you up and doesn’t let your head hang low.”<br />
Despite having special needs, Dillin has always been treated like<br />
everybody else, he said.<br />
“He teaches you like you’re everybody else,” Dillin said. “He treats us<br />
together like a family. He’s really nice to everybody.” Dillin said Escolta<br />
“makes you feel good inside about who you are.”<br />
Dillin, whose parents are divorced, said that, “Geremy is like an older<br />
brother to me. Mr. Escolta is like the dad I didn’t have.”<br />
Dillin’s mom, Lisa Picchi, who is a single mom, said it’s been great<br />
knowing her son has the support of the Escoltas.<br />
She likes that Greg Escolta “teaches the entire child. He’s making them<br />
champion kids in every area.”<br />
Every kid, whether they’re a white belt or a black belt, leaves there thinking<br />
they’re black belts, Picchi said. “<strong>The</strong>y all walk away feeling like a champion.”<br />
(continues on next page)