After a long and illustrious career as a World Class Taekwondo Olympic Sparring athlete in Cuba, having been one of only 5 people ever to medal 3 times in the Pan American Games, Master Yosvany Perez gave up his spot on the Cuban Olympic Team for the 2004 Olympic Games and fled from the Cuban Communist government to the United States with nothing but his knowledge, talents, passion, and life-long dream of helping kids get to the Olympic Games in Taekwondo. When he first arrived, he faced the extreme challenges of not speaking English and trying to secure food and shelter with no income. He knew he could teach Taekwondo, so he searched for a teaching opportunity until he found one as a volunteer for the CU Boulder Taekwondo Team from 2004 until 2005. Realizing he needed to relocate from Boulder to seek more opportunities, he moved to Denver and officially began the pursuit of his dream.

​

For the rest of the year, things were exceptionally tough financially as he scraped by coaching  a local Taekwondo competition team part-time and even ended up living in his car for several months. In 2006 he was able to utilize his Cuban Master’s degree in Physical Education to obtain a job with Denver Public Schools which positioned him in 2008 to start turning the dream into a reality by finalizing plans to open his own Taekwondo studio, Master Yosvany Taekwondo. In 2009 he finally opened the doors to the public by starting his program in the heart of his community at the Green Valley Ranch Recreation Center.

​

Since those early years of struggle and perseverance, Master Yosvany moved out of the recreation center into his own facility and has produced many USA National Team members in a variety of age groups including 10-11, 12-14, 15-17, and 18-32. He’s served as a Colorado State Team coach, an Elite-recognized National coach for the past 7 years running, and a National Team coach for the past 2 years running. In 2022 Yosvany also created an organization called Colorado United Taekwondo aimed at providing an opportunity for Taekwondo athletes all over Colorado to train together with a common goal of making everyone better and achieving greatness. Yosvany’s life-long passion of giving kids the opportunity to explore and pursue an Olympic Dream has never wavered; it only strengthens.