Ever since fourth grade when I began my taekwondo lessons, I have fallen in love with the sport. I attended my first competition when I was a yellow belt. I can’t believe that was more than six years ago. Sadly, most of my time has been spent doing homework and studying for tests during my sophomore year. I was able to regain my interest in the sport over the summer. A few weeks before school started, my lower back was hurting from training. Therefore, I focused a lot on stretching prior to practices throughout the past month.

Last Sunday (9/20), I had my first high school competition. If you’re wondering why I am only competing in the high school category so late in my high school career, it is because I am 15 years old and a little bit younger than others. I tried to go to as many practice sessions, mostly on Wednesdays and Saturdays. However, since most of these high school athletes train for 3-4 hours a day at special school programs, I lack a lot of skills relatively. Unsurprisingly, I did not perform as well.

I want to be able to improve the next time I compete. During this period of time, I hope to practice more of my basic techniques to increase my confidence on the mat.

Here are some pictures from training:

Here are some pictures and a video from my competition: