Meet 8-year-old Taekwondo Champion, Joshua Aguirre. He is the youngest 2nd-degree Taekwondo Black Belt in the world! Joshua is a very hard-working kid, who is extremely passionate about Taekwondo. He is a USA Taekwondo National medalist, and has already earned 89 gold medals.

Joshua also is the youngest to earn a black belt in Taekwondo in Pennsylvania. At 6 years old he became the youngest Latino to earn a Taekwondo Black Belt in the United States.

Around 4 years old, he became inspired with martial arts from watching Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris movies. Joshua copied what he saw in those movies. He showed some natural talent and his parents soon realized some formal training was necessary. Joshua began his training at 4 1/2 years old with Family Karate.

His father, Jorge, indicates that Joshua has shown ability to learn martial arts faster than most. Typical students take up to 5 months to train and test for a new belt. Joshua has been able to move up in belts in 1-2 months.  In addition to many hours each week at his martial arts studio, Joshua trains a lot at home, often working on his technique in the attic and even the kitchen!

Joshua trains at several dojangs (training facility), including Cuascut’s Academy of Martial Arts in Lancaster, PA. Both Mr. Aguirre and Joshua express that if it wasn’t for PALCS, he would not be able to follow his busy and demanding Taekwondo schedule. He is able to bring his education with him to practice and tournaments allowing him time to still be a kid. Joshua enjoys reading and math. When he is in online gym class with Mr. Maniscalco, he sometimes shows other students stretches and exercises.

Thank you to Taekwondo Champion Joshua Aguirre and his father for speaking with us and sharing Joshua’s story. We are extremely proud of Joshua for all of his accomplishments.