The Cayman Islands National Taekwondo team will take their skills to the AAU Taekwondo Gold Coast District Championship later this month, looking to earn top placements.
The tournament, scheduled to take place on 20 April, at the Airport Convention Center, in Miami, Florida, will feature more than 500 competitors from across the United States, plus athletes from specially invited nations like Cayman.
Last year, at the same event, Cayman’s 12 athletes brought home 24 medals. This year, Cayman’s Taekwondo Federation has assembled 19 Caymanian taekwondoins – a team Naidelys Eden-Henry, federation vice president, believes shows great promise.
“Our expectations are quite high,” Eden-Henry told the Compass. “All of them have competed in our competition that we held in December, so they are no strangers to competition.
“We want to see them show the skills that they have learned, we want to see them land the kicks, land punches, land combinations; everything that we have been teaching them.”
She noted that preparation for the event has been intense, with the addition of new coaches.
“We have a handful of coaches this year,” Eden-Henry said, adding, “Last year it was [the athletes’] first international competition, and they were nervous but…they performed and they did amazing.”
According to Eden-Henry, those nerves have disappeared this time around and the athletes are eager to throw down.
“They are pumped, they are excited, those nerves are gone and they know what to expect in the international arena.”
The competitors on team Cayman range from ages 7 to 15 – a few of whom will be competing for the first time internationally at the upcoming event.
“They are so driven and they show so much potential,” Eden-Henry noted, as she spoke enthusiastically about the new athletes. “They don’t have experience but once they learn their first kick or punch, you’re like ‘wait a minute’, we have something here.”
She ended by saying that Cayman has the potential to create an Olympian in the sport of taekwondo but acknowledged that the federation must continue to hone local talent and keep the athletes within the sport.
“Giving them the opportunity to compete internationally will open their minds to continue in the sport and possibly get all the way to the Olympics.”
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Good luck. Kick em hard.