Carly competes for England in Taekwondo Europeans

First-year Computer Science student Carly Wilson will be part of the England Taekwondo Senior team competing at the European Championships in Poland this month.

After taking up Taekwondo six years ago, Carly was hooked after just one lesson. Over the years she has steadily improved her status and, as well as competing internationally she is working towards her Third Dan (the ‘Dans’ in Taekwondo are the stages which comes after the ‘Black Belt’ stage).

There are nine Dans in Taekwondo and each one takes progressively longer than the previous one. Carly hopes to achieve her Third Dan later this year, but forecasts that it will be many years before she reaches the ninth.

Taekwondo originated in Korea as a martial art and combat sport. Its popularity – it is now the most popular martial art in the world in terms of number of practitioners – has resulted in the sport developing in different ways. World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) is an Olympic sport which is sparring-based with full contact. International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), which is Carly’s sport, is a more traditional style, with semi-contact in matches.

Carly will be competing in Poland between 16 and 18 May, in the 2nd Dan patterns section.

Later in the summer she is also going to Spain for a four nations tournament involving Portugal, Spain, Germany and England, then spending time in training and competitions in readiness for the World Cup in Italy in October.