A faint pounding fills your head as you heave a heavy breath. The mat of the dojang is soft yet sturdy beneath your bare feet, a stabilizing force in this high-stakes competition. This is it: the toughest taekwondo tournament of the year. You made it this far, and now you have one last opponent to face. Around you, the cheers of your peers, your friends and your family echo. This is your moment, and they are ready to help you win it.
This was the experience of sophomore Lauren Odo, long-time taekwondo competitor and in-house tournament champion in her league. Odo, who has been competing since she was eight years old, recounted her journey in the sport.
“I’ve been doing taekwondo for eight years,” Odo said. “Probably the best times of the weekends are my competitions.”
However, her successful career has not come without its fair share of struggles. Inparticular, Odo recounted the story of one of her first taekwondo tournaments.
“For my very first sparring tournament, I actually got punched in the face,” Odo said. “Which is an illegal move, and my nose started bleeding really bad. I was eight years old, and [my coaches] were like, ‘It’s ok, you can stop,’ and then I didn’t stop and I ended up winning by point gap, which is mercy rule. That was a fun tournament.”
Despite tough experiences in the early days of her taekwondo career, she was far from giving up. Odo described one of her most recent, and also difficult, tournaments to date.
“One of my most recent tournaments was an in-house tournament, where you spar against people from your dojang, or taekwondo school,” Odo said. “That was my most nerve-wracking one as well, because I know how my friends and my peers spar, and it was really difficult. I did end up getting first place, but it was really tough.”
With her victory at the in-house tournament, Odo claimed the title of her dojang’s sparring champion. Since then, she has been using her skill and experience to teach others martial arts and self-defense.
“We [the taekwondo club] meet every first and third Tuesday in the big gym during lunchtime,” Odo said. “We teach you techniques, demo kicks, and fun self-defense. We play other sports there as well, if you want to check it out.”
Odo also elaborated on the club’s purpose, and what she hopes to achieve as its leader.
“Our goal is to raise awareness about the fact that taekwondo isn’t just fighting and it’s definitely not karate,” Odo said. “It’s basically to show what taekwondo is, to maybe learn a few things you might be interested in, [like] self-defense techniques that we can use in the future if needed.”
Odo’s growth both as an athlete and as a person has not always been a straight path, but she is determined now more than ever to persevere through any obstacles that may come in her way–all while helping others to learn and grow.
