High Performance Team

Texas Taekwondo has a longstanding tradition of fielding a high performance team to provide opportunities for talented and driven black-belts to compete both nationally and internationally. We are now committed to assisting our high performance team of athletes by allocating funds to financially support athletes. Athletes may use their portion of this allotment to help them cover travel and tournament expenses at G-Ranked events in order to promote Texas Taekwondo on a global stage and stimulate further growth in the individual athlete through high-level competition.

This is not a scholarship—participation in any RecSports club at the University of Texas at Austin is completely voluntary. This funding is intended to assist our club members who are eligible and able to reach their goals of high-level competition.

Funding will be dependent on the financial stability of the club which is to be determined by the student leadership and coaching staff of the club, and contingent on the athlete’s fulfillment of the high-performance team written expectations. Funding provided may vary each year. We have allocated $10,000 to be used by athletes on the high performance team during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Check Out Some of Our Current and Former Members!

  • Jason Dahlberg

    Joining Texas Taekwondo in 2020, Jason Dahlberg is a current student at UT majoring in Geology, as well as a poomsae coach for Texas Taekwondo! Jason competes in both freestyle and traditional poomsae, finding both local and international success - earning four gold medals in the 2023 Texas State Championships, as well as taking first in freestyle pairs in the 2022 Pan-Am Series II. He has also represented the United States National team in events such as the 2023 Chengdu Summer World University Games.

  • Adan Rivas

    Adan Rivas joined Texas Taekwondo in 2015. He graduated with a degree in Mathematics and now lives in Austin, TX where he continues his training as a coach with Texas Taekwondo! He has participated as a the Senior Featherweight (-68kg) representative of the US Men’s National Team in numerous competitions, most recently the 2023 Chengdu Summer World University Games, and has medaled at international competitions such as the 2019 Canada Open and 2020 US Open.

  • Danica Deaton

    Danica Deaton joined Texas Taekwondo in 2016, graduating with degrees in English and Business Spanish. She now works in tech sales in Austin, TX while continuing her taekwondo training! She competes in the Women’s Senior Lightweight (-62kg) division and has represented the US National team on many occasions, including the 2023 Chengdu Summer World University Games. Danica has also found success internationally, medaling in the 2019 Pan Am Open and 2022 Puerto Rico Open

  • Edgard Castillo

    Attending UT from 2018 to 2022, Edgard Castillo graduated with a degree in Neuroscience, and is now pursuing a career in medicine. While in Texas Taekwondo, Edgard competed in several competitions, representing the US in the 2022 FISU America Games, where he medaled in both the individual and team sparring competitions.