Local family competes in martial arts championships

Individuals that practice Haidong Gumdo, a native Korean battlefield style of combat, are known for their gracefulness and ability to seemingly glide through the air. As hard as she tries, Emilie Rawson admits she’s not the best example of this particular brand of martial arts.

“You have to be light on your feet and glide across the floor,” the Murray resident said. “I’m not a glider, I’m a stomper. My kids make it look much easier than I do.”

Nonetheless, Rawson and her children – Dominik, Dayonara, Santina, Nathan and Angel Smith – participated in the inaugural Haidong Gumdo Pan American Championships July 13-17 at Weber State University. Each family member came home with at least one medal, even Rawson, who was excited to have her family compete all together for the first time.

“We train together, so for me it’s an extension of myself,” Rawson said. “To add a competition to it, it adds a little more excitement to what we do every day anyway. There was a heightened sense of excitement having all my kids there with me. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

The name Haidong Gumdo was coined around 1982 and is used for several Korean martial arts organizations that use swords. Instead of using their hands in combat, practitioners traditionally use a wooden sword. Events include individual and team forms, sword fighting and paper cutting. The majority of events are individual-based, as practitioners do not compete against other people or schools.

Rawson and her children, who train at the Lotus Blossom School of Martial Arts, fared very well at the Pan American Championships. Dominik, 7, earned gold medals in individual forms and cutting, silver in sword fighting and bronze in four-person forms with his mother and sisters. Dayonara, 9, also won gold in individual forms, silver in sword fighting and bronze in cutting.

Meanwhile, Santina, 11, earned gold in individual forms and silver in sword fighting. Nathan, 15, won silver in individual forms and bronze in cutting, and Angel, 18, won gold in individual forms. Rawson also earned a silver medal in individual forms and cutting.

“Some people that do it are better than others,” Rawson, 38, said of the sport’s degree of difficulty. “Everyone approaches it in their own personality. It leaves a little bit of interpretation in how you can present it. It manifests who you really are.

“Santina is so graceful and elegant with her motions,” she continued. “You don’t realize she’s swinging a sword. Angel’s motions are so exact and Nathan just leaps in the air.”

According to Rawson, Haidong Gumdo remains a male-dominated art, as she observed at the world championships last year in Seoul, South Korea. The amount of adult female practitioners worldwide, let alone those with children competing, is minimal. However, Rawson noted a father from Arizona competed at the Pan American Championships along with his three children.

By November, Rawson and her children will all hold black belts. Presently, Dominik and Dayonara, who attend Twin Peaks Elementary, are blue belts. Santina, who also attends Twin Peaks, and Nathan, an incoming freshman at Cottonwood High, are red/black belts along with their mother. Angel, who graduated from Murray High, earned his black belt in April.

In addition to Haidong Gumdo, the family is also proficient in Tae Kwon Do.