ROSEBURG, Ore. -- On Friday, September 29, and Saturday September 30, Roseburg High School will be the site of a Regional Tournament of the American Taekwondo Association (ATA).

This is the first time Douglas County has hosted one of these tournaments, organizers say.

Competitors as young as the 3-year-old “ATA Tigers” through “Golden Dragons” in their 50s and 60s will show their skills in 9 different events: Forms, Sparring, Weapons, Combat Weapon Sparring, Creative Forms, Creative Weapons, Xtreme Forms, Xtreme Weapons, and for the first time at an Oregon tournament, Team Sparring.

“We are expecting 350–400 competitors, from just-starting-out white belts through 5th Degree Black Belts, and from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Northern California, and Canada”, said the host of the tournament, Janon Rogers, owner and Chief Instructor at Douglas County ATA. “We will be conducting competition for Black Belts aged 15 and older on Friday evening; Saturday will begin with an opening ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Competition that morning starts with our very young ATA Tigers showing their skills and Black Belt Attitude, along with the Creative and Xtreme events, which include music and dramatic showmanship. Up to 10 competition rings will run throughout the day; our final event will be Team Sparring. We have two teams signed up so far, Master Duer’s Eugene team, which includes one of our North Douglas students, 3rd degree Black Belt Angelique Perrone; and Mr. Sipes’s West Salem team.”

Because this is the first ATA tournament hosted in Douglas County, Rogers wanted to introduce the area to the approximately 1,000 people coming in to town for the tournament weekend, encouraging them to make it a vacation weekend.

The Chamber of Commerce is putting together bags with information on things to do while in Douglas County, several local restaurants have offered discounts to tournament participants, and group rate tickets to Wildlife Safari, who will be a special guest exhibitor at the tournament, have been made available.

“We want people to enjoy themselves so much while they are here that they want to come back again and again, even without the incentive of a competition and medals,” says Rogers.

Douglas County ATA holds classes at the Drain Community Education Center in North County, and at the YMCA in Roseburg.

“In keeping with the founding values of ATA, we stress character development – respect, communication, honesty, and other life skills – as well as martial arts and self-defense training. This is training that can benefit a child or adult for a lifetime – we are changing the world, one Black Belt at a time. We accept students from age 4 and older, and have a scholarship program in place to help at-risk kids take advantage of the benefits of ATA taekwondo.”

You can learn more about Douglas County ATA on their website, www.DouglasCoATA.com, or by calling (541) 450-3270.

(posted 9/27/17)