Kingdom Games-Taekwondo needs female fighters

The Antillean Taekwondo selection that is participating in the Kingdom games (25th till 31st of July, Aruba) is still looking for three females to complete the selection. The lack of enough female participants is caused by a sudden change of mind from Aruba and Holland about the number of girls that will be participating.

Five of the participating boys are from Curacao and one from St. Maarten. The 3 girls that are already selected are from Curacao. According to Coach Cedric Meulens, preparations for the selections were started at an early date, but at the last moments the other countries decided that they wanted six girls to compete, instead of the 3 that had been decided upon.

Meulens is now investigating if the different taekwondo schools in the Antilles can provide in 3 female fighters to join the selection. But he is very happy with the selection as it is. The youngsters had already prepared themselves to participate in the Panam Games when they heard that Taekwondo was going to be one of 7 sports that the partners in the kingdom will be competing in.

The group is now training about 12 hours per week. Technical and tactical issues, resistance, speed and psychological strength are important. But the group is also trained in dietary habits, behavior and spiritual strength.

In the weeks before the Kingdom games, the Taekwondo selection participates in tournaments in Surinam, Trinidad, Aruba and Cuba. This for the benefit of the youngsters who need all the international experience that they can get.

The Taekwondo selection is going for gold in Aruba: ‘We would not
be making all these efforts, without coming home with all the gold
medals’.