Two Kimberley teenagers ready for Taekwondo battle at 2022 Region V Games

By GARY LEMKE in Lilongwe

It’s 8am and Jaydean Kaars and Donica Tafel are dressed to thrill. They’re sitting quietly a few metres away from the mat inside the arena in which the taekwondo competition is going to be contested at the 2022 Region V Games in Lilongwe, Malawi. It might be a few hours yet before they have to put on their game face, given the unpredictability of some of the schedules, but they are ready for action.

The two Kimberley teenagers are understandably shy. They’re on the biggest stage of their lives and they’re here to learn. Sure, they’re here to compete and do their best, but the odds are stacked against them. They’re part of the future, not necessarily the present. Their times to shine will still come, and there’ll be plenty of those. This is the first step into international waters.

They look calm and are soaking up the atmosphere. But, as Kaars (below) says, looks can be deceptive. “Everyone says that we are so calm, but that’s not true. I’m super nervous, but you can’t see. My tummy is going like this,” and she forms a half-fist with her right hand and wiggles her fingers. Tafel agrees. “Me too.”

They are friends back home and have travelled the same path that has taken them from the David Kok dojo to the international arena. They speak separately, but with one voice.

Both started taekwondo around the same time – in Grade 6 – and both 16-year-olds who are in Grade 10 have progressed through the belts, from white to yellow to green to blue to red to red and black and now to black belt.

“We are friends and go to school together at Emmanuel High School in Kimberley. Our parents are also friends and we have both had good backgrounds and upbringings,” says Tafel. “There isn’t an incident which meant we had to start defending ourselves or anything like that. We wanted to learn taekwondo for self defence, and also because we enjoy it.”

The discipline it instills is another positive factor. “Master Kok is big on discipline and attitude. We train three times a week, on a Monday, Tuesday and Saturday, and we do a lot of cardio work with him as well. It’s not just fighting,” Tafel says.

They also put to rest any thoughts that taekwondo is a dangerous sport. “We’ve never been hurt, no broken noses, nothing like that,” Kaars says. “The worst thing that has happened is bruising on the legs, especially where there are no shin pads, like the knee area. There’s a lot of kicking!”

Kaars and Tafel were the only Team SA taekwondo players in action at these Region V Games after a slew of withdrawals. There was an original entry list of 11, but that was reduced to the pair of Kimberley’s finest due to some players having to stay behind and write school exams.

Tafel went on to become TeamSA’s first medallist at the Games when she won a bronze in the 51kg division, but Kaars missed out in the 49kg category. Both will have learned plenty from the experience, which will put them at an advantage when they next find themselves in the international arena.

Photos: (Main pic) Donica Tafel by Roger Sedres

Source: Team SA