Bozarth kicks it up a notch

Fishers teen to compete in international taekwondo events

By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com

Jude Bozarth is a very busy young man.

The Fishers teenager is an honors student, cross country and track runner and involved with his school’s orchestra. Bozarth also participates in taekwondo, which will take him around the world over the next several weeks.

Bozarth will compete in the Pan American Championships, which are set for April 4 to 6 in Querétaro, Mexico. Next month, Bozarth will travel to the United Arab Emirates for the Fujairah 2025 World Taekwondo Cadet Championships, scheduled for May 10 to 14.

Bozarth, 13, is a seventh-grader at Fishers Junior High School. He competes in the Cadet category, ages 12 to 14, in the lightest weight division, under 33 kilograms (72.7 pounds).

But Bozarth’s weight is the only thing that’s light. In terms of achievements, he has been a heavy presence in taekwondo for the past several years.

Jude’s father Jason Bozarth estimates that his son has won 30 state championships. “Literally totes full of medals and trophies,” he said. “They’re in storage because we don’t have room.”

Jude Bozarth qualified for both tournaments at the U.S. Team Trials, which took place Jan. 17 to 19 at the Portland Convention Center in Portland, Ore.

“I got first place in my division,” he said.

“You have to win all your fights there to place first,” said Jason Bozarth. The second-place competitor is the alternate.

Bozarth started in Taekwondo at the age of 4, participating in the “Totkwando” program at the North Indy Taekwondo Club. He began the sport because his older brother Price, 16, was participating in it. Price Bozarth has also put together a successful career: he has won 40 state championships, is a two-time national champion and earned a bronze medal in the 2024 AAU National Olympic Sparring Team Trials in Greensboro, N.C.

“They are both highly competitive,” said Jason Bozarth. “They compete quite a bit against one another. It’s good for both of them, actually.”

Jude Bozarth’s competition coach is Billy Seay, an instructor at the Indy North Taekwondo Club. Seay began working with Bozarth in early 2019 and could see the initial potential.

“I didn’t know what I was getting,” said Seay. “At that early of an age, it’s hard to determine where they’re going to go. It took a long time to mold him, as well as his older brother, into the athletes they are now.”

“We would not be competitive if it were not for Jude’s instructor Mr. Billy Seay,” said Jason Bozarth. “He’s played a huge role in Jude’s success. We’ve known Mr. Seay for a long time. He used to watch Jude at the Y’s child care. We’ve known him forever.”

Jude Bozarth won all the state tournaments he competed in during 2019, participating in the 8-9 division. Those included events in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. That gave Seay “a pretty solid sense of where he was at.”

In February 2020, Bozarth made his international competition debut at the U.S. Open, which took place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World. Bozarth finished in third place to get his first international medal.

Competition shut down due to Covid a month later, with Bozarth not entering a tournament again until May 2021 when he competed in the Michigan AAU state tournament. Bozarth placed second there.

Over the past year, Bozarth has won numerous tournaments, including AAU state championships in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, plus an AAU Super Regional tournament in Tallmadge, Ohio. He also won the USA Taekowndo Finals in Tulsa, Okla., and placed second in the US Open in Reno, Nev., and the National Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. Bozarth won the Olympia 33^rd Annual Tournament in Saline, Mich., even fighting up an age class to take second in the 15- to 17-year-old division.

When asked what sets Bozarth apart, Seay said it’s “his overall attitude as well as how strong he is mentally, not only when it comes to training, but also when it comes to certain situations in the match.”

“He has a very natural ability to make the outcome his own. He just makes good decisions when he fights, whether that be timing his kicks, distance management, overall aggressiveness,” said Seay.

“He had the whole toolkit. It took years, a lot of progress, a lot of training, what he has that he can use against his competition. It took a lot of growth from him, and he’s still growing. I’m seeing a lot of change day by day.”

Jude Bozarth will be joined by Grace Lohdi of Columbus. They are the first Indiana athletes to make the U.S. National Team since Grandmaster Garth Cooley in the 1980s and 1990s.

Before going to those international competitions, Bozarth will travel to Canada, heading to Montreal, Quebec to train for his upcoming competitions.

“I’m very excited for that,” Bozarth said. “It’s just amazing to have that opportunity to see the world.”