Black belt

by Gina Hamilton
Coastal Journal Staff

Abby Minott is seven years old.  And she has a black belt each in Taekwondo and Jungtudo, six gold medals in Taekwondo, two first-place trophies in karate, and has qualified for the Junior Nationals.  In her last fight, she was the only girl in her age group, so she was moved to the boys’ division, where she conducted three fights for a total of 12 rounds.  She won all the fights by such a large margin that a coach for the US Nationals adult division approached her and asked her to train his adult athletes at Harvard.

With all that, she is still a little girl.  She is a Hannah Montana fan.  She rides bikes and roller blades, and takes tumbling classes. 

“I have a pet fish Samuel.  He was supposed to be a Samantha, but we found out he was a boy,” she said.  Abby also has a fifteen-month old sister named Riley, who idolizes her.   

Abby attends Dike-Newell School, where she is in Mrs. Wentworth’s second grade class.  “Writing is my favorite subject,” Abby said.

Abby’s friends know all about her martial arts’ training.  “My friends think it’s really cool.  I took my black belt to school for show and tell, and everyone thought it was neat.” 

She started training when she was three and a half years old.  “I took a class, and decided I wanted to do it,” she said.  She got her black belt quickly ... it takes ten belts to get a black belt.  She goes to training six days a week, and even teaches herself now. “I teach other kids my age,” she said.  “I teach belts that are under black belt, like red belt, yellow belt, and blue belt.”

The Junior Nationals are the under-18 version of the Nationals.  The adult Nationals are the tryouts for the Olympic team.  Abby ranked as one of the top three kids in the country.  There is a Junior Olympics, too, and Abby will be taking part in those sometime in the new year.

Abby is part of a demo team that is an elite team, performing for all the schools in Union 47, and other places. They were invited to do a talent show in December for a charity, and the halftime show for a regional cheerleading competition in January. 

She is also captain of her own demo team “Team Supreme” that goes around to all the schools as well. 
Abby comes by her passion honestly.  She trains at Hall’s Olympic Martial Arts, where her father, John Hall, is her trainer.