Preston Park Recovering, Receives Presidential Award

Preston Park, middle, with WT International Referee Master Juan Suarez, left, and WT International Referee Master Arnoldo Jimenez, right, at the USA East Coast Taekwondo Certified Referee’s Corps Annual Gala & Award Night. Photos by Jay Park

By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com

 A Melville 8-year-old’s quest for gold came to an unexpected end last October.

In the run up to the World Taekwondo Federation 2017 President’s Cup International Taekwondo Championships, Preston Park suffered an elbow injury that forced him to withdraw from the competition.

He fell and broke his left elbow while practicing with his dummy target in September 2017. Along with the physical pain came some tears, Preston said, as he knew he wouldn’t be able to compete in the international championship.

The injury, however, didn’t keep him and his father Jay Park from attending the championships. Many in the audience chanted Preston’s name as he bowed out of his competitions.

Preston, who is a third grader and student representative at Birchwood Intermediate School, kept the cast on for five weeks and slowly started training again in November.

The year-end setback didn’t take away from what Preston accomplished in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo throughout most of 2017. Preston won seven consecutive championships across the northeast, and earned a total of 13 gold medals.

To cap it all off, Preston received The Presidential Award from USA East Coast Taekwondo Certified Referee’s Corps on Jan. 6.

Since he started Taekwondo training two years ago, Park has participated in 41 championships, winning a total of 34 gold medals, seven silver medals and four bronze medals.

He also received the certificate of merit from former state Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci, who is now town supervisor, and a proclamation award from Huntington town board members in August 2017.

Back in 2015, Preston was the winner of the U.S. Presidential Award and recognized by former President Barack Obama.

Now, Preston is back to training with Grand Master Woosang Jung, a silver medalist of the 2016 U.S. Open, at Commack-based Ultimate Taekwondo Center. He will continue to compete in the sparring, poomsae and board breaking categories.

Jay Park said his son is 80 percent ready to compete. However, due to weight gain, they’re contemplating whether Preston will move up a weight class during competitions.

“I haven’t decided to let him compete yet because I want him to come back mentally as well,” Park said. “Before his injury he was never afraid but now he has a little trauma of falling down so I want him to get used to getting blocked and falling down to the mat.”

Preston said he’s looking forward to going back to his normal training routine, where he hopes to shed some pounds. He added, “My first goal is to get better power and speed.”

Now, Preston has his sights set on championships for the 2018 USA TaeKwonDo State Qualifier, including the Feb. 24 Maryland State Championships, the March 10 New York State Championships, and the March 24 New Jersey State Championships. He will also be competing in the March 31 New York State Championships 2018 AAU TaeKwonDo State Qualifier.

Park said Preston’s performance during the state championships will determine whether he qualifies for the 2018 USA TaeKwonDo National Championships in Salt Lake City slated for July 3-9.

Additionally, Preston will represent the U.S. in other championships, including the 2018 World TaeKwonDo Federation Jeju Korea Open International TaeKwonDo Championships in Jeju, South Korea from July 18-24; and will head back to the 2018 World TaeKwonDo Federation President’s Cup International TaeKwonDo Championships in Las Vegas this October.

He will also represent the U.S. in the 2019 World TaeKwonDo Federation United States Open International TaeKwonDo Championships in Las Vegas next January, when he will spar in the 10-11 year-old division.