Originally found at www.hamptonroads.com
Written by, Jared Diamond

One of the nation’s best young taekwondo fighters spent more time in the assistant principal’s office than he likes to admit. Emmanuel Fountain laughs nervously when remembering his days at Tanners Creek Elementary before the tenets of taekwondo governed his life.

Lounging on a windowsill during a quiet afternoon at Park’s Taekwondo Academy, Fountain, 14, darts his eyes around the room and reluctantly divulges his transgressions.

The confession consists of petty acts of mischief: Pulling a fire alarm one week; flooding the toilets in the school bathrooms the next. But the embarrassment manifests itself in Fountain’s slumping shoulders, his cracking voice.

“It was stuff I knew was bad, but I didn’t really care,” said Fountain, who will begin his freshman year at Norview High School this fall. “I always did well in school, so I just did whatever I wanted.”

Those who know Fountain best swear taekwondo changed his life. His mother put him in classes at age 7 to instill discipline and respect. The plan worked better than she imagined.

Now Fountain ranks among the sport’s elite, qualifying as one of the youngest members on the USA Junior National Team for two straight years. He won the bronze medal at the Pan-Am Junior Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador in November.

Fountain will next compete in the AAU Junior Olympics, which run from today until Aug. 7 across Hampton Roads. About 15,000 athletes will descend onto the area to participate in 18 events.

For Fountain, this tournament serves as a tuneup. One day, he hopes to compete on taekwondo’s grandest stage – the Summer Olympics.

“He absolutely has an opportunity to make our national team,” said Juan Moreno, the U.S. Junior National Team’s head coach and a three-time Olympian. “If he continues on his path, if he is not distracted by other sports, if he keeps his competitive desire, he can medal on the highest level.”

Monica Ford, Fountain’s mother, said she never doubted her son’s goodness, but she feared he would make poor decisions as he grew older. She raised Fountain by herself and thought he needed a father figure. Taekwondo provided structure. She considered any competitive success a bonus.

Fountain was an active child. His energetic disposition made him a natural athlete, but he struggled with authority.

“When you don’t have a positive male influence, who really can show you what it means to be a man, sometimes you just follow,” said Charles Park, Fountain’s trainer since he began learning the sport. “You start to categorize with a certain group of people that may not be the best.”

Because of his troublemaking, Fountain unwittingly forged a close relationship with Sharon Phillips, then the assistant principal at Tanners Creek. She suggested he join the school’s basketball team to release his energy, already predicting sports could prove beneficial.

Phillips said Fountain never needed motivation to earn strong grades, but he often failed to respond to teachers. The two formed a system that generated some success; whenever Fountain felt an episode building, he could excuse himself from class and come to Phillips’ office, where he would remain until he settled.

“I always told him, ‘You have to control yourself so that no one else has to control you,’ ” said Phillips, now the principal at Willoughby Elementary. ” ‘When you disrespect me or other people, you’re inviting others to control you for the day.’ ”

Fountain initially agreed to try taekwondo because he enjoyed kung fu movies and hoped the sport would transform him into the next Jackie Chan. Instead, the sport taught him to remain calm. Anyone can kick wildly at an opponent; taekwondo requires patience.

At a practice for the AAU tournament earlier this week, Fountain demonstrated his new outlook. During a sparring match, he waited for his opponent to strike before unleashing a blow himself. When he attacked, his feet seemed to move independently of his body, as if he could kick multiple times without touching the ground.

Park said Fountain showed immense talent for the sport almost instantly, but he started vying for the Summer Olympics and taking taekwondo seriously about three years ago. He lost in the final match at the USA taekwondo national tournament in 2007 to a fighter named Gregory English, finally meeting somebody who matched his ability.

“Before that, I was just beating everybody up,” Fountain said. “When somebody beats me, I’ll always remember their name, so when I fight them again, I’ll make sure it’s different.”

At least a portion of Fountain’s future with taekwondo depends on genetics, not training. USA Taekwondo lists him at 5-feet-4 and 105 pounds. Moreno said a lot rides on Fountain’s natural growth spurt and how he develops physically as he enters puberty.

At some point, Fountain will move into the senior division, which includes fighters starting at age 18. Competitors at that level are considerably stronger and more physically equipped, so Fountain will need to grow enough to match them.

Fountain can make the switch whenever his coaches deem him ready, but Park and Moreno said that day is still several years away.

“I had another little protege at age 13 who won medals everywhere and dominated everyone,” Moreno said. “Then he bumped up a couple weight divisions, and it was a struggle. He wasn’t as dominant. It’s a lesson we have to learn for a kid like Emmanuel.”

Regardless of where taekwondo takes him, Fountain and his mother already view the experience as a success.

Fountain no longer gets into trouble at school. He addresses adults as “sir” and “ma’am.”

Seven years of taekwondo permanently changed the boy sitting in the assistant principal’s office after pulling a fire alarm.

Said Phillips: “The picture he was painting back then, you would not have known this would be the outcome.”

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 10:36 am and is filed under JRO Taekwondo, Taekwondo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.