Troy Martial Arts shines in return to Michigan State Taekwondo Championships

TROY — It was a long-awaited moment for the Troy Martial Arts Competition Sparring Team as they traveled to Livonia Stevenson High School March 25 to compete in the USAT Michigan State Taekwondo Championships.

The team’s last appearance in 2019 resulted in all 30 of their competitors medaling, but the tournament’s four-year hiatus due to COVID-19 only amplified the team’s excitement to compete.

Troy Martial Arts, one of the largest dojos in Michigan, proved why they’re one of the top competition teams in the state, earning 16 gold medals and one silver medal at the tournament, which was the most sparring medals out of any school in the state. The age range of the winners was 7-18 years old for Troy Martial Arts.

“(It was) so exciting,” head coach Sadegh Arab said. “They’ve basically been without the tournaments. They haven’t been as motivated to train as hard, and I haven’t been able to coach them because of no competitions, so they were extra excited, and the parents were excited. They had a blast.”

Troy Martial Arts competed against teams from Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Brighton and Traverse City, and even out-of-state teams from Ohio, Illinois and Indiana due to the state tournament being a qualifier event for the USAT Taekwondo Nationals in Jacksonville, Florida, from July 7-10.

It’s a thrilling feeling for a team who was just reassembled in December 2022, and their success is in-part due to their elite-level coaching staff.

Not only is Arab, who received his doctorate from Kent State University and is currently a podiatrist, an excellent teacher, but his extensive martial arts background reveals him as one of the most accomplished teachers in the state of Michigan.

Assistant coaches Edgar Terrazas, a two-time Taekwondo state champion in Michigan, and Jorge Terrazas are also key contributors to the coaching staff.

Arab’s training with the Iranian National Team, being president of the University of Michigan’s Taekwondo Team, and having 20 years of past professional experiences are just a few things that showcase his martial arts background.

In addition to Arab’s experience, co-owner and instructor Mark Trudeau said Arab’s personality resonates with the students.

“The kids love him,” Trudeau said. “They love him more than anybody else; he’s a mentor to these kids.”

Having a mentor early on for the youthful warriors is one of the primary focuses at Troy Martial Arts, for the competitors begin learning a fierce side of themselves they’re not accustomed to.

The students who stand out based on focus, form, fierceness and other qualities are hand-picked for the competition team by the coaches.

With six classes — three of which are normal classes involving sparring, forms and katas, and the other three are reserved for the competition team and are more high-intensity than regular classes. The fierceness and perseverance of the competition team is what makes them the strongest team in the state, but it typically doesn’t start out that way when the students first join.

Master Tammy Trudeau, who is a co-owner of Troy Martial Arts alongside her husband, Mark, said the children learn early on how to unlock that confident side in themselves.

“When they are pulling out that level of fierceness, the more intense they are, the more fun they’re having,” Trudeau said. “We almost teach it that it’s a game, and we’re going after this game and whoever wins this game will get, and we’ll have them think that those points aren’t points, they’re ice cream cones. Every time you get a good kick in, you get an ice cream cone. With our little ones, we shift their minds so they don’t realize how hard they’re working. In their mind, they’re playing games.”

Troy Martial Arts continues to gain exposure and notoriety since opening in 1980.

The numbers were at an all-time high before closing due to COVID, but they reopened in September of 2020.

“We closed down right when all this COVID stuff started. We were at the topmost level we had ever been in 43 years,” Mark Trudeau said. “When we reopened, we were at 20% capacity, but now we’re even bigger than before COVID.”