THE San Training Centre will be taking students to Korea this month to compete in an international competition. It will be 16-year-old rising star Charlie Bidgood’s first opportunity to show his skills at an international level.
The second band black belt is a member of the Queensland high-performance pathway program, which entails training at UQ twice a week, as well as continuing training at the San Training centre every week.
When he competes in Korea, Charlie will be competing alongside other San Training students against international opponents, which he said is keen for.
“I really excited, definitely a little bit nervous… because it’s my first ever international competition,” he said.
“I know the standard of fighting is really high over there, so I know if I want to do well I’m going to have to be on my best game.”
To make an exciting experience even better, he will also be taking part in a two week long training camp with local taekwondo clubs in Korea.
He will also be trying out for the junior world championship selections this month, and when asked about how he is being given the opportunity to try out, Charlie was quite humble in his response.
“It’s been a fair few years of really hard training, taking all the advice I can get from my coach, and continuing to work on my weaknesses until they are not my weaknesses anymore,” he said.
“The … normal rule of thumb is if you win that competition, you’re on the team to go to worlds, so the goal is to get gold. “If you get gold at the competition, they’ll put you on the team and I’m pretty sure that’s over in Belgium around August or September.”