Despite being battered and bruised, Cayman’s Taekwondo black belt Dylan Simpson kicked his way to two gold medals at the 2023 GTA Cup in Paraguay, South America.
Simpson, 14, who trains at the Cayman Islands Taekwondo Academy, first won the Cadet 12-14-year-old division before moving up to the Junior 15-17-year-old division and winning there, too.
“I was very nervous because there were a lot of people,” Simpson told the Compass. “After my first match, all the nervousness was gone, and I gained my confidence.”
With that confidence and his skills, Simpson was able to defeat two opponents in each division, but it wasn’t an easy task, he recalls.
“I remember, I got kicked by one kid in my chest protector and I felt like I wanted to vomit,” he said, noting that when he moved up a division, his opposition was very strong, and he has the bruises to prove it.
“There was a lot more competition there, because those countries are the ones that do a lot in martial arts,” Simpson added.
The participating countries in the GTA tournament were Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Bolivia and the Cayman Islands.
As an added bonus, the president of the World MUSA Taekwondo Federation, Grand Master Tong-Ho, along with the GTA Taekwondo demonstration team, signed Simpson’s uniform.
Simpson says he will continue his training with the hopes of competing at an event held in Chicago, Illinois this December.
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