Clo has been taking taekwondo lesson since she was a kindergartner. At first, she wanted to take karate, which typically focuses more on hand movements, but she signed up for taekwondo, which includes a lot of foot work as well. An early sparring experience where Clo took a hard hit to her face, left her a bit scared. She said, “I wasn’t good at sparring. I was afraid of it.” But with her master’s encouragement and Clo’s determination, she started taking lessons with an Olympic sparring coach from Dayton and soon tackled her fears.
Clo was surprised to have won the sparring nationals in her age level of 12- to 14-year-olds and says that the experience has taught her to not let her fears keep her from doing things. When Clo grows up, she’d like to win a scholarship to Stanford for taekwondo and sees herself studying acting where she will go on to perform her own stunts in movies. Either that – or she’d like to be a hip hop dancer.
Congratulations, Clo!