Bells rang out as philosophy junior Aaron Chris Tabuco’s legs cramped when he and his friend fell to the ground in a draw, exhausted but victorious as Tabuco beat his personal record for most sparring rounds in a single Taekwondo event.
“We really believe in each other,” Tabuco said. “We just want to see each other impress ourselves.”
Texas Taekwondo hosted over 80 athletes, including nearly 30 from outside schools, at the Longhorn Rumble in the Recreational Sports Center on Saturday. The event was their first cross-college event to support training athletes in the new Southern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference.
President Siddharth Shanbhag said the new conference designation and the team’s six consecutive championship wins have given the team funding and resources as they work with the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association to build the scene.
“There’s not a lot of opportunities to test yourself and push yourself in a supportive community,” neuroscience senior Shanbhag said. “I’ve been here for so long, and it’s really exciting to see somebody grow both as an athlete and as a person, because they kind of go hand in hand.”
After hosting the conference’s inaugural qualifier tournament in March, Texas Taekwondo provided a space for Texas teams to grow, like UT-Arlington, which recently brought back its Taekwondo program.
“It’s a really good learning experience for us,” said Riti Parampalli, UT-Arlington Taekwondo co-founder. “Right now, we are not permitted to do sparring on our campus, so it’s nice to go out and practice with other collegiate martial artists.”
Additionally, athletes from UT-Dallas and UT-Arlington planned future collaborations at the event, where they learned they not only shop at the same martial arts store, but attended the same high school as well.
“It’s great to see some familiar faces, new faces and overall, try to make a new community,” UT-Dallas senior Brandon Kim said. “Internally, we’re able to bring that back to our practices, and we’re able to have a greater team overall.”
Beyond the community and support, Shanbhag said training with athletes outside their team prepares competitors for collegiate championships.
“There’s hundreds of people from different universities there,” Shanbhag said. “If you don’t have experience, at least a little bit of competing, then there’s a good chance your nervous system is gonna go haywire.”
UT’s large and experienced coaching team brings these athletes knowledge and guidance to refine their skills, like coach Hannah Keck, who represented Team USA at the 2025 Wuxi World Taekwondo Championships in China. Keck said seeing athletes fight hard in the ring and “be best friends” outside it has been a healing experience for her.
“It gets so monotonous, and you’re so stressed out,” Keck said. “Then, I walk in, and I see a green belt so excited to learn a cut kick, and I’m like, ‘This is what it’s all about.’”
Shanbhag ended the day thanking the athletes, officers and coaches for their help. He said UT plans to support Texas A&M at their rumble in the coming weeks.
“It’s a great sense of both rivalry and camaraderie to fight together and be this sweaty group together,” Shanbhag said. “That’s the musk of friendship.”
