Dreams of black belt tinged with gold

By fall, Alex Maltsev will earn a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. At that time, he also may have won a medal from the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympics, in which he?s been invited to compete in this August.

It?s an impressive goal, considering that Alex Maltsev is only 10.

Having arrived in the United States less than a year ago with his father, Yuriy Maltsev, from Ukraine, Alex has excelled in everything from Tae Kwon Do to math while enrolled in Suzanne Kurth?s class at Washington Elementary School in Fairfield.

?I like school because it?s easy,? says the fourth-grader, who is also interested in math and science, as well as playing Sony Play Station games.

Both of his parents are college-educated, but have had difficulty finding work in the United States because of their foreign status, explains Alex?s mother, Luda Maltsev.

?Strange thing about America,? Luda says. ?You can come in and do anything you want, buy anything you want, but you cannot work.?

In the nine months since Alex and his father joined his mother, who came to the United States four years ago to scout a new home for her family, his advancement in Tae Kwon Do has won him an invitation to the AAU Junior Olympics as well as the 2000 AAU National Youth and Adult Tae Kwon Do championships.

The invitations come as both an honor and a frustration to the Maltsev family, as they are unsure about how to finance the trips to Florida, where the competitions are to be held.

Originally, Alex?s interest in Tae Kwon Do began in Ukraine, where he studied with a Korean-American minister. As a first-grader, he earned fourth place in his first competition, held in the Black Sea region, then third place in the category of sparring and fighting when he was 8.

Alex practices on the weekends with Choe?s US Tae Kwon Do Academy in both Fairfield and Iowa City with teacher Hamza Shariff Omar after seeing a Tae Kwon Do demonstration last fall at Morningstar Studio.

In March, he earned a second-place medal in forms, a choreographed routine displaying skill, and a first-place medal in sparring in his age and weight category at a competition held at Ames.

He is asked, while looking at a picture of himself mid-way through a fight, if the other boy in the photo was a worthy opponent. Flashing a quick honest smile, he replies, ?He beat me.?

About a month ago, in a competition with other youth from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa, he placed third for forms, third for Olympic sparring and second for point sparring.

It was these last three placements that determined his eligibility for the nationals and Junior Olympics.

?Maybe it?s his future,? Luda says of her relaxed and well-mannered son. Uncertain, though, is whether financial realities will stop her son?s talent from flourishing.