Talk to Master John Phillips, owner of Phillips Tae Kwon Do Center (PTC) located
in the 4-Corners area of Maple Valley, and he will tell you that Drew Thompson,
16, of Maple Valley has the stuff it takes to go all the way to the Olympics some
day – but Thompson still has a lot more training to do to get there.
Starting his training in 2002 at the ripe age of 7 years old, Thompson made his
way to the top rank of Black Belt by the time he was 12 years old in 2007. Truth
be known, his whole family of 6 – including 2 brothers, a sister and his folks,
Mark & Carol – have all earned their Black Belts at PTC.
This summer, Thompson competed in two events that lead him to the Jr. Pan Am Championships
in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first of the two meets – US Nationals – was held in San
Jose, Calif. in early July. Thompson competed in this single elimination tournament
with competitors from across the US in the 14-17 year old Light Heavy Weight (160
– 171 lbs.) division and the top four fighters – two of whom came from PTC’s team
(Thompson and teammate Chad Johnnie) – advanced to the next level event.
The Jr. National Team Trials were held at the end of July in Colorado Springs, Colorado
at the USA Olympic Training Center. This competition was a round robin format between
the top four US National qualifiers from each weight class and only the winner,
one male and one female out of ten weight categories, qualified as Jr. National
Team Members to represent the USA at the next international event – the Jr. Pan
Am Championships.
Each of these events involved one day of competition where each fighter competes
against 3 to 5 other fighters throughout the day. Each match or fight consists of
3 rounds/2 minutes each with a 1 minute rest period between rounds. During the rest
periods, fighters are refreshed with water and receive strategies from their coaches.
Competitors wear chest and foot pads with electronic sensors that record the strike
locations as well as the required amount of pressure to register a point delivered
with each strike. While hand strikes are not allowed to the head area, foot strikes
are allowed. A competitor can be eliminated by a knockout and no longer can continue
the match. Thompson experienced a knockout up close and personal two years ago during
the 2009 Jr. Nationals event in Austin, Texas.
Having qualified for the USA Jr. National Team, Thompson made his way to Las Vegas
the weekend of October 7-9 for the Jr. Pan Am Championships, a single elimination
tournament against fifteen other countries in the Pan American region. Thompson
defeated his first competitor from Columbia 13-0 and moved on to compete against
Canada, where he won 21-9. The championship match was against a fighter from Mexico
and, to his great excitement, Thompson won in a very exciting sudden death overtime
match to take the gold medal as Jr. Pan American Champion! Thompson is not the first
PTC Pan Am champion, PTC teammate, Tyler Phippen, at 17, made it to the Jr. Pan
Am competition level a couple of years ago in the Heavy Weight category where he
also brought home the gold medal.
During competition season – roughly January through August – Thompson trains three
days a week approximately 1 1/2 hours a day. Keeping in perspective where his help
comes from, Thompson is very thankful to the Phillips Tae Kwon Do Center and all
the training he has received from the National Team coaches and fellow team members
who have pushed him to the highest levels he has achieved. He is also very thankful
to Elizabeth Franklin, from Out Patient Physical Therapy in Maple Valley, for helping
him through injuries that have occurred along the way.
When not training and honing his skills in Tae Kwon Do, Thompson has participated
in other sports as well including football, track, basketball, soccer, and baseball.
Pictured: Drew Thompson (kicking at opponent), of Maple Valley, competing at the
Team Trials in Colorado Springs against Richard Yang from Maryland.
