The odds are stacked against Tufts' Taekwondo Club: the team participates in five tournaments per year, where it faces opponents from up to 25 other schools; it is the second-smallest team in its league, the Ivy Northeast Collegiate Taekwondo League (INCTL); the team's opponents are primarily from larger, Div. I schools; and the team is completely self-sufficient, meaning all expenses are paid out of the individuals' pockets.
Yet despite all of these factors, the Jumbos are currently ranked third overall out of 21 teams in the INCTL.
"The only two teams that consistently beat us are Cornell and MIT, both of which have very large teams," said senior Aaron Schumacher, the team's vice president of tournaments. "It's an issue of quantity. As a club, we want to get more membership ... Finishing third for us as the second-smallest school is a big accomplishment. The league is considered one of the two most competitive leagues in the country."
The club was founded in 1990 by Kevin Ballou (LA '94), at the time a freshman with no experience in martial arts. Since then, the club has grown to include nearly 100 students at its peak in membership; the current team consists of 48 members.
Although the Taekwondo Club does not receive much acknowledgement on campus for its consistently solid performances, that doesn't stop the team from continuing to work hard and succeed at tournaments.
"We're actually one of the most successful sports on campus, but we just don't get a lot of recognition," Schumacher said. "Because we're a small team, we may not be able to compete with Cornell and MIT for first and second place, but we have the highest medal rate, which means that we get the highest percentage of medals per fighter.
"It's something to build on," he added. "The quality is there -- we just need to work on quantity. The only thing that's going to fix that is attracting more members to the club."
One solution to that problem has been the addition of head instructor Mike Harb, who has brought world-renowned talent to Tufts since taking the job in 2006. Harb has worked with the Australian and American national teams, and his pupils consider his extensive knowledge of the sport crucial when it comes to their success at tournaments.
"[Harb] brings a wealth of experience that few people in the country can match," Schumacher said. "Having our coach really raises our chances of doing well at tournaments."
Harb came to Tufts three years ago when a friend and former Tufts team member asked him to coach. Despite working full time as a personal trainer at a gym and also teaching at a local Taekwondo school, Harb finds time to help the Tufts club out as much as he can.
"[One of our strengths] is our technical ability because [Harb] is very knowledgeable about the technical aspects," Schumacher said. "Taekwondo is a very mental sport. A lot of other schools focus on flashy things, but sometimes they forget the basics, and sometimes keeping it simple is the most effective. Our coach makes sure we understand what we need to succeed in a match."
Senior captain Austin Worth also attributes some of the team's success to the general attitude among the team members.
"We have a very supportive attitude within the team," Worth said. "We try really hard to help each other improve and push each other."
Coming from a smaller school with no funding and little clout among the collegiate Taekwondo leagues, the Tufts team often feels underestimated, which fuels this work-hard attitude.
"The team has really come up through the ranks within the past two to three years," Worth said. "We've got a very strong sense of being the underdog because the other schools that we compete against are oftentimes three to five times larger than we are ... Because the odds are against us, we push each other harder and fight harder in competition."
With all if the club's success, its members still maintain that one of the most rewarding aspects of being on the team is the camaraderie and socialization outside of competition.
"The attitude and style in which we conduct training is up to us, and it appeals to a lot of the students because it's informal, but at the same time we want to push ourselves," Worth said. "It lends itself to us being a tighter social group versus being just a team. We hang out outside of practices and see each other as friends -- not just teammates."
