The honors are piling up for Chilton County Taekwondo.

Owner and chief instructor Chuck Lane along with three students—Skylor Lane, Connor Lane and Alli Brewer—were invited to join the United States Martial Arts Team because of their performance at the U.S. Martial Arts Games on Dec. 15-16 in Orlando.

The Games were the first competition for Brewer and the most significant competition Skylor Lane and Connor Lane had taken part in.

They performed remarkably, as Chilton County Taekwondo brought home four gold medals: Chuck Lane won gold in forms and silver in breaking, Skylor Lane won silver in sparring, bronze in breaking and bronze in forms, and Connor Lane won bronze in forms and bronze in sparring.

Perhaps more importantly, the competitors received an unexpected invitation.

“Halfway through, (USMAT coach Arturo Friedmann) came up and said, ‘I like the way you guys move, I like the way you present yourself, and I’d like for you to be part of this team,” Chuck Lane said. “I think the way we carried ourselves down there had a lot to do with it.”

The four locals will compete in the World Martial Arts Games in September 2012.

Chuck Lane received another pleasant surprise in Orlando as he was inducted into the Southeastern Martial Arts Hall of Fame as a “Goodwill Ambassador of the Martial Arts.”

“In a lot of ways, the enormity of it all hasn’t set in for me yet.”

The Chilton County Taekwondo team was sponsored on its trip to Orlando by: Friends Steakhouse, Paradise Island Tans Southgate, Baker Family Dentistry, the Rev. Glen and Debbie Bonds, the Rev. Clint Harris, Chandler Drugs, Jason Lassiter of plantplanters.com, Leila Allred of Sears, Steve and Terri Howard, Pop-A-Top Again, L&E Towing, Chris Kelley of Control 1 Communications, E&E Acoustic and Drywall, Dr. Matthew Mims of Jemison Family Chiropractic, and Mega Martial Arts Supply.