SANDPOINT — Turning his biggest weakness into a strength, and logging countless hours training in the dojo paid off for Sagle’s Matt McCoy, who won his first taekwondo national championship recently at the 2010 AAU Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

McCoy, a 44 year-old plumber from Sagle, was one of more than 1,800 competitors at the week-long event, which ran from June 29 through July 3. McCoy, a member of Dynasty Taekwondo, won the 45 and over division at 171 pounds and was still numb from the experience when he returned to Dynasty on Tuesday.

“I don’t even know if it’s set in,” he described of the title. “The whole atmosphere was different, just a huge atmosphere.”

Dynasty Taekwondo celebrated its one-year anniversary on Tuesday, and instructor Casey Crotty, who accompanied McCoy to nationals, was also proud of his student’s accomplishment.

Nine months ago McCoy told Crotty he wanted to make a run at nationals. McCoy began showing up at 5 a.m. for morning training sessions on most days, on top of the nightly classes he was already taking, and the work with his instructor proved effective.

“We realized a month ago what my weaknesses were, and that’s where I dominated. I improved everywhere I wanted,” said McCoy, noting his biggest weakness had been countering his opponents’ offensive strikes. “They didn’t have that and couldn’t score any points. Everything we trained for actually paid off.”

Crotty, who has set a goal of taking at least four students to nationals in New Orleans next year, said the victory was due to strategy, pure and simple. In the finals McCoy was up 1-0 after the first round, before a quick coaching adjustment during the 30 second intermission led to a 9-2 “point out” in the second round.

“He went out and executed,” said Crotty. “His opponents were faster and liked to work inside. He countered, scoring points as he withdrew.”

McCoy hopes to defend his title next year, but with a family and business to juggle, isn’t 100 percent sure if he’ll be able to make it to nationals again.