Welter Weight AUSSIE Champ (57-67kgs)

It’s now a few days past the competition I just competed in. It was the first of the BBAP Olympic Squad Selections for my sport and I won the welter weight category. This is the first major step towards being on the Aussie Team for Beijing and one step closer towards my goal of gold at an Olympic Games. My game results are as follows:

FIRST FIGHT
VS Dounia Larhouile :15:6

SECOND FIGHT
VS Christine Balmer 7: (minus) -1

SEMI FINAL
VS Skye Scibberas:10:4

FINAL
VS Stephanie NG: 9:3

I did most of the things I wanted to in the ring. I enjoyed the game, I felt in control at all times and I was mentally a lot stronger than I have been in the past. I took note of a few comments made this week before my fight. One is, “Taekwondo is a sport about kicking and scoring points and being kicked and scored against.” I know this sounds quite basic but at the end of the day my blondeness actually understood what it meant!!! OMG! So instead of stressing when ever someone got a point on me, I took it all in my stride and scored 2 more back. No rushing, just patience, perseverance and control…just like my sporting hero, Roger Federer (I’M HIS BIGGEST FAN).

One other thing that I always do for comp is take a small book my mother gave me for my first nationals. Each comp I open the book to any page and read the tips it has to offer me. The other day my books message for success read: "Mind the store. No one cares about your business the way you do" and "Every now and then, bite off more than you can chew". I dont know if I bit off more than I could have chewed but I did mind my store and kept others scores quite low.

So where to from here? We will have to see what unfolds within the next few weeks to see whether I am still in Melbourne or Perth and which competitions I will target.

Turkey

Well its almost been a month I think since I last wrote. I am now in Turkey preparing for the upcoming competition and everything has been going fairly well. Im happy, Im healthy and getting fit to fight in just under two weeks. The time has gone by so quickly it felt like only yesterday I was back in Perth. Over here in Turkey, my boyfriend, Bahri Tanrikulu (2004 Olympic silver medallist)is getting me fit and ready to fight. We train each night between 1.5 and 2 hours and morning fitness sessions. My main female training partner is Azize who is his sister (European Champion) and there are plenty of others around who are willing to have a brawl with me. The aggressive nature of training is something I am enjoying and adding it to my game plan. Tough mind, tough heart and no tears! Hopefully you will see something new and exciting at the next competition from me. Look forward to giving you more positive updates! Above is a picture of Bahri and I and then his sister. I have had such a wonderful time here with him and his family. I love them so much! I've experienced many things here other than training and just to name a few I would say: living in trees houses on the mountain tops for a few days, Bayram (which is an islamic holiday where you basically eat alot of sweets, some sheep and also visit people), and I learnt how to play Tavla and Chess properly! ...oh and just to let you all know......I am yet to find someone here who likes my vegetmite as much as I do!!! How can someone not LOVE vegemite!