BOARDMAN, Ohio - The Jr. Taekwondo school in Boardman is celebrating some big accomplishments.

Fifteen students recently won medals at the national championships and one student, John Barhoover, a Trumbull County Sheriff's Deputy, won a world championship. 

"It's surreal, being noted as one of the best in my division in the world is pretty crazy," Barhoover said. "I would have never thought someone from Cortland Ohio could be an international taekwondo or martial artist for that matter but I do have master Taylor to thank for that, he's the one that encouraged me to get out there and compete."

Barhoover won a gold medal in the traditional Poomsae category at the 4th annual Lents Taekwondo Worldwide Online Sports Poomsae Open.

He also won a silver medal in creative Poomsae. He beat competitors from all over the world. 

"I cannot be more proud of our students and the effort they put in," said Master Justin Taylor. "It takes a lot of work to be a champion at a state level. It takes a lot of work to be a champion at a national level and a world champion is almost unheard of. It's very rare that we end up in a situation to even have that opportunity and so I couldn't be more proud of Mr. Barhoover and the rest of the national champions that we've produced so far this year."

Poomsae are patterns of attack and defensive movements and Barhoover has been working tirelessly for the last five years to get better at it. 

"It's all on me," Barhoover said. "If I make a mistake, it's me. If I do great, it's me. If I'm sparring somebody and they outfight me, they did better than me but poomsae it's basically just me you know concentrating on the form, doing the punches, doing the kicks. I mean the enthusiasm of the form itself, it all falls on me, it's on my shoulders."

Barhoover is the first international champion in Jr. Taekwondo school history, but 15 others recently medaled at the national championships including Master Taylor, who is the only martial arts school owner in Ohio, who is a current national champion. 

"I lost gold by .04 seconds on speed kicks to the head-breaking boards so it was pretty cool, it was a very exciting thing for me to do and really brought back some childhood memories I guess," Master Taylor said. 

It was the first time Master Taylor competed in 20 years and he only did it as a bet with Barhoover to try and get more students into competitions. 

Now, 1/4 of the students at Jr. Taekwondo are national champions. Master Taylor credits that success to being a homegrown martial arts school. 

"We're not a franchise, we're a family and all my kids do it with me and my son is a master so I think being in it since I was six and I now have my own school, I think that the passion comes from the inside and passion moves people and so when I'm passionate everybody else gets passionate and we continue to grow and defeat our opponents and I couldn't be more happy that is the position we're in," Master Taylor said. 

They hope the streak continues with state competitions and Summer nationals later this year. 

As for Barhoover, he's now training for the World Police vs. Fire games in Winnipeg, Canada in 2023.