Skylar Park prefers to land hits to the head. A hit to the head gives you more points in a Taekwondo fight than a hit to other parts of the body. Funny thing though, she doesn’t see a hit to the head as violent. She explains, I’ll be talking to my friends and if we’re talking about, say UFC or sports like football or rugby, I’m like, Oh my god, I would never do that. It’s so violent. And my friends are like Skylar, do you know what you do? And I’m like, right, but I guess it was, second nature to me. So I don’t even think about it. But they’re like watch a video of you fighting, people are trying to kick you in the head.”

Born into the sport of Taekwondo, Skylar entered the sport at age two and had her black belt and the first of 14 consecutive national championship titles at age 7. Her Dad is her coach, her brothers are her training partners. She spars with her cousins. In 2016 she won the World Junior Championships and earlier this year she qualified for the 2020 Olympics, but that event, as we all know, has been postponed. The strong family connection has its pros and cons. Skylar reports that she probably spends way more time with her Dad and her brothers than the average 21-year-old, but, she says of having her Dad as her coach, “I know he is in my chair and he will never give up on me when I am fighting.”

When she started down the path of Olympic qualification she felt that it was her and her Dad against the world, now she says, “It is me and my Dad and we are going take on the world.”

To hear the complete conversation with this remarkable young woman, please listen to Podcast #5, Skylar Park.