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The
Chris Canning "Champions Award" was adopted
in 2009 to be given in a special presentation at
the TTF Champions Tournament in tribute to Chris Canning, an
outstanding young martial artist.
The beautiful plaque is personally
presented to the recipient by TTF Champions Tournament
Director and USAT National Team Coach Christina Bayley, and
by Chris’s father Arthur Canning.
Award
Recipient Qualifications:
-
The award goes to one
Black Belt martial artist who is 14 years or older.
-
A competitor in the TTF Champions Tournament.
-
The
one who most represents the standards of the award.
-
Shows martial arts
excellence.
-
Competes
with Honor and Respect for opponents.
-
Produces academic accomplishment.
-
Demonstrates the personal attributes of the award’s
namesake.
2011 Chris
Canning "Champions Award" Recipient:
Aziza Chambers
-
TTF Athlete
Pictured l to r (standing): Art Canning, Aziza Chambers,
Christina Bayley
(kneeling): Aaron Dickerson & Jeremy Raymer
 The
Champions Award is in honor of and a tribute to
Christopher James Canning, an accomplished martial artist,
who died accidentally in June of 2001 at the age of 15.
Chris was an honor student, a star athlete for his school in
football, basketball, and baseball. He was a classical
pianist, worked at an animal shelter, and helped the
homeless and needy. In his 4 years as a martial artist he
earned his first degree black belt in Taekwondo, was a
member of 11 state teams, won over 30 medals at the national
and state level including 15 state and 3 national titles,
was an AAU All-American, a member of the U.S. Elite team
training at the Olympic Training Center, and invited to the
U.S. Gold Team training.
Chris was also named five times, the city’s
“athlete of the week” and
Illinois ' “USNTF athlete and student of the year”.
As a result of his personal life activities, Chris was
honored by the Youth Assembly at the United Nations in
New York with the “Legacy of Service Award”.
He was the only one honored with this award out of
over 1,000 outstanding young men and women in attendance
from 63 countries around the world. In addition, he has been
honored by the President of the
United States
, and on the U.S. Senate floor in
Washington
,
D.C. a speech was given in tribute to what he accomplished and
represented. Further, he was honored by the House of
Representatives and received two National Service
Organizations President's awards for his community service,
one from the President of the
United States
and the other from the President of the U.S. Point of Lights
Foundation.
As a
martial
artist, he has been inducted into two U.S., two World, and
ten International Halls of Fame, has four national and six
international awards given out in his name in U.S., Canada,
Ireland, Australia, and England, and received 12 special
recognition awards from martial arts legends and
organizations worldwide.
At last year's Senior National Championships, a
special recognition by Mr. Jim Scherr, CEO of the United
States Olympic Committee, was given to the Canning family in
recognition of Chris living his life as a representative of
the Olympic Ideals and for personal, academic, artistic, and
athletic excellence. Just recently Chris was honored by the
Taekwondo Hall of Fame with induction as an outstanding
Taekwondo player and as the first recipient of the
"Youth Excellence Award". Also, he was inducted
into the World Organization of Martial Arts Athletes
International Hall of
Fame
in Ireland, he was declared the "Most Outstanding
Junior Martial Artist of the Past Decade" and a Junior
Martial Arts legend by the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Previous
"Champions Award" Recipients:
2010 Chris
Canning "Champions Award" Recipient:
Jeremy Raymer
KTA Athlete
Coach is Master Garth Cooley
2009 Chris Canning
"Champions Award" Recipient:
Aaron
Dickerson
Kentucky TKD
& Fitness Athlete
Coach is Master Sean Ramey
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