Zachery Budde, now a third-degree black belt, started taekwondo in first grade and never looked back. For the past 11 years, he’s trained with Grandmaster Eui Yong Lee, at World Taekwondo Academy in Maple Grove.
Last year, Budde missed more than 25 days of class at Osseo High School (OSH) to compete, train and represent the United States as a member of the Youth Olympic Team—and it was worth it. His parents, Mark and Suzanne, say he’s “become a master of doing homework around the world, often in an airport, plugged in to the nearest outlet.” Despite the logistical challenges, Budde finished the school year at the top of his class.
This 2014 Junior Welterweight Champion, with back-to-back national championship titles, has become one of the most decorated taekwondo athletes in the Midwest since Grandmaster Eui Lee was competing.
This year, the OSH senior continues to teach and train, participate in the National Honor Society and play first-chair bass in the symphony orchestra, all while carrying a full load of advanced placement classes. He is also competing at the adult level in taekwondo: the equivalent of going from a state high school basketball game to the NBA.
Next year, Budde hopes to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and possibly lead the Navy to their first Olympic taekwondo medal.
Zachery Budde's Best Christmas Gift
“My most memorable Christmas gift [was] the year we came home from midnight Mass to find two little kittens under our tree. As a kindergartner, this was quite a miracle. As you can imagine, my sister and I were amazed, because all of the doors were still locked and the Santa cookies eaten. We were very happy, because our family cat had passed away, and [we] missed having a cat very much. To this day, my parents will not tell us where the cats came from or how they got in the house.”
