LITTLEROCK, Ark. — Sometimes opportunities have a way of leading to other opportunities.

That was the case American Taekwondo Association World Championships, which were held in June in Little Rock, Ark.

The Sunset Drive ATA Center, under the leadership of Master Randall Connell, had 10 athletes from the Butler area engage in midterm or rank test out of 360 high rank black belts worldwide.

Connell has three schools, two in Butler, on Sunset Drive and on Route 68, and one school in North Canton, Ohio.

Two participants from Butler took part in the competition format and earned top-three places, while another earned a pair of top-five places.

None of the three, however, would have attended had another member not received a distinctive honor.

Margaret Spingola of Butler, a student at Gettysburg College, was chosen to sing the national anthem at the opening ceremonies before an audience of 20,000 at Alltel Arena.

Margaret, a fourth-degree black belt, was flown down to sing, having been chosen over many applicants who applied last year.

Although Margaret wasn't there to compete, her sisters, Elizabeth, 16, and Kathryn, 15, decided to enter.

As it turned out, Kathryn grabbed first place in sparring and third place in forms in her division while Elizabeth was fourth in forms and fifth in sparring. Both are third-degree black belts. All three of the sisters began tae kwon do at the age of 5.

"Of course, I had hoped to do well, but I was kind of surprised," said Kathryn. "I watched all these other girls perform and I was really impressed.

"Sparring was definitely my highlight. I'm usually not as good in forms, so that was nice,"she added.

With the sisters all set to go along with their parents, Drs. Charles Spingola and Kathy Schwiekart, another area doctor decided to compete.

Dr. Bill Walker, a dentist in Butler, had qualified to compete in the Top Ten Tournament, which wraps up the year of competition but opens the weeklong festivities in Little Rock.

Walker, 56, a fourth-degree black belt, had accumulated enough points in weapons, forms and sparring in various tournaments throughout the year to compete in the Top Ten Division, which consists of fourth through sixth degree black belts.

Walker captured a third place in sparring.

"I just go to have fun," said Walker, who has qualified in the past for the Top Ten. "I just dabble in it. I got third in sparring. That's the most fun.

"You meet a lot of nice people, very cordial. It's a good group of people,"he added.

Walker became interested in tae kwon do when his children got involved in it. His daughter was in junior high and his son was in elementary school. Now, the daughter has graduated from college and the son attends college.

"I probably train about two or three times a week and I help out. I'm a certified instructor, but I just go to help."

Once the Top Ten competition was over, the national anthem — sung by Margaret — kicked off the opening ceremonies for the new season, which began right away.

Connell had at least 10 students midterm or rank test at this year's event.

Those included AaronEdwards (fifth degree), Desiree Atkinson and Emily Howryla (fourth degree) and Leann Hassinger (third), Kayla Pfaff (third) and Ron Grimes (third degree).

Jason Ratay, a fourth-degree black belt from Mentor, Ohio, formerly of Butler, along with Derrick Howryla (fourth) and Vince Mottern (third), both Butler natives, run Connell's North Canton school. Another student, Keith Hoffman (fourth), resides in Columbus, Ohio.

"We had all those others go down for testing," said Walker. "There were 360 in the world from third-degree to sixth- degree testing and 10 were from Butler. Usually, one to three go down every year."

And this year's larger contingent made it a lot more enjoyable.

"It was a great feeling," said Kathryn. "You were supported by all the people you train with."