Name: Miranda Ha College affiliation: MIT Course of study: Electrical Engineering Degree: Master of Engineering Year: 2008 Hometown: Plano, TX Collegiate Coach: Dan Chuang Other Coach: Greg Tubbs (GT Sport Taekwondo, Plano, TX) Weight Class: Bantam Date of Birth: 07/31/85 Interests: basketball, classical piano and violin, singing

INCTL Tournament Record:

2008 Columbia Tournament - A-Team Sparring, Silver
2008 Columbia Tournament - B-Team Sparring, Gold
2008 NYU Tournament - A-Team Sparring, Silver
2008 NYU Tournament - B-Team Sparring, Gold
2007 Cornell Tournament - A-Team Sparring, Bronze
2007 Cornell Tournament - B-Team Sparring, Gold
2007 MIT Tournament - A-Team Sparring, Bronze
2007 MIT Tournament - B-Team Sparring, Gold

2007 Columbia Tournament - A-Team Sparring, Bronze
2007 Columbia Tournament - B-Team Sparring, Bronze
2007 U Penn Tournament - B-Team Sparring, Bronze
2007 NYU Tournament - B-Team Sparring, Bronze

Other Tournament Record:

2008 National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships - Blue Belt, Feather, Gold
2008 UCLA Sport Taekwondo Open - Feather, Bronze
2007 National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships - Green Belt, Middle, Gold

More about Miranda:

In addition to doing Taekwondo at MIT, Miranda is an active member of the Asian Christian Fellowship and sings in MIT's Christian a cappella group, the Cross Products. Miranda started doing taekwondo at the end of her junior year; before that she was a member of the MIT women's varsity basketball team and played on several intramural teams.

Thoughts on the INCTL and Taekwondo in general:

I started doing taekwondo almost two years ago, I thought of it as an individual sport--a way to discipline my body and mind and learn self-defense. However, from competing in the INCTL I have learned so much about teamwork and formed very strong bonds with my fellow club members. At INCTL tournaments, we compete in teams of three people, but really the entire school's club competes
together as one unit. It may be one team of three that goes up to the podium for the gold medals, but those three people are there because of their teammates--the ones that knocked teams from other schools out of the bracket, the ones who helped them warm up before their matches, the ones who cheered them on during their matches, the ones who trained side by side with them and pushed them hard in practice during the weeks leading up to the tournament. My teammates give me motivation to do my best every time I step into the ring. I thank all of them so much for their support, and I also want to thank all my amazing instructors who have helped me make so much progress in such a short time.