United Kingdom, England
Manchester
July 13th, 2009 A.D.
The stadium was filled with high spirits, the competition thus far has been filled with excitement; so many athletes had been competing, representing their country, among these was Fifteen Year old Eliza Wright, her eyes were a deep brown that the light seemed to just vanish within; the ambition though was as bright as the sun; she was wearing the usual white uniform of the Korean martial art; Tae-Kwon Do, the; the black lapel of her uniform was hidden beneath the padded body armour she was wearing, but that black belt wrapped around her waist she had purposely pulled towards her right hip, she felt irritated by the knot digging into her stomach while wearing the body protector.
She had been training in the Korean sport many years, she started the sport simply to first learn self-defence; her mother had grown tired of the bullying Eliza had been subject to during her early days in primary school, she had been six at the beginning, and now, nine years later; she had achieved the chance to representing not just her club, but along side many others in a national team, to represent her country.
Eliza had simply fallen in love with the sport from the very beginning, and with only encouragement she simply flourished in it; it was more than just a sport to Eliza, because of her dedication, her little sister Raven was usually in awe at the skill Eliza would demonstrate.
During this approaching match though; Eliza found herself beginning to feel a wave of panic building; she had seen who her opponent was; she was much bigger than Eliza, and a lot heavier by the looks of things; Eliza was uncertain if she would be even capable of fighting on even footing “Oi” a lad said from behind her, this lad had noticed she was looking scared
Turning her head around, she looked towards the lad; he was a year older than she was; and he was one of the first people to have befriended her at their club “Don’t panic” he told her
“How can I not” she replied, her voice shook, she was scared as she glanced towards the direction of the opposing team; she watched her would-be opponent as she was warming up in preparation “She’s going to knock me out I know it”
“Your faster” he told her as he wandered up to stand directly beside her; his face was covered in sweat, he’d already taken part in his fight, he’d barely won it, it was only because he managed to land a lucky hit to his opponents head that he had won
“Tyler” Eliza said, turning her head to look at him “She is going to knock me out”
Moving in front of Eliza, he put his hands onto her shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes “No; she won’t” he told her “Besides, I heard your granddad talk about that Lydia woman; he said your just like your great grandmother; you have remarkable skill, speed and power; don’t doubt what you have, that is what can cause you to lose; I believe in you” he said warmly; smiling at her “Besides, if you did lose; it means I don’t need to take you out on that date” he grinned
She raised her eyebrow a moment “You agreed” she replied “Win or Lose” she had become quickly distracted with that last statement to her, she even seemed annoyed at him
“Well…, I think we should turn it into a bet; if you lose, I don’t need too” he chuckles at her, his intention to stop her worrying had worked with something very simple
“No fair” she responded “You can’t just change things we agreed on just like that” she complained; though Tyler simply winked at her before indicating that she was being called over; while she maintained an irritated expression she started walking “I know you’ll win” Tyler said quietly
As Eliza stepped onto the mat for her match, she pulled the protective helmet onto her head, pulling the strap beneath her chin; then moved directly in front of her opponent and looked to the referee as he went over the usual rules and what to do when commanded; he then raised his arms to them “Charyeot” he said commandingly; Eliza stood to attention as she looked at the girl in front of her, she could feel her heart beating against her chest
Then came the next command “Kyeongrye” they both bowed respectfully to one another before taking the usual fighting stance; Eliza just kept feeling pressure building as she tried to control her breathing “Shijak” was then stated firmly; in a flash the two girls both made a move to attack.
There was no hesitation in that first moment; both making contact and knocking each other back a moment; Eliza’s lighter body though stumbled a little further back as she steadied herself, she saw the larger girl come flying towards her; narrowing her eyes Eliza quickly moved, manoeuvring to the left and swinging her right leg up as fast as she could; her movement was faster than she thought as her foot landed against opponent with a loud audible ‘smack’ and someone shouted out a point as the referee raised his arm upwards also to indicate Eliza scored a point
The larger girl gave an irritated look towards Eliza before lunging forward; the match between the two girls was becoming rather intense, both combined quick kicks with fluid movement; the crowd cheered at each movement and attack to counter-movement being made between them.
Eliza felt her adrenaline surge as she kept shifting her body weight to adjust for quick changes in direction; while Eliza was mostly defensive, she was slowly starting to make more and more aggressive movements; slowly getting more confidence as their fight progressed.
Round after round, Eliza and her opponent pushed each other, each point Eliza would score she felt more confident to push more; she slowly moved away from defensive fighting to more aggressive fighting; she had managed to push her opponent; Maya, onto the defensive.
Their match was intense; despite being pushed onto the defensive, Maya was still a force to be reckoned with; her heavier build allowed for much heavier and powerful kicks; she had landed several on Eliza that had simply knocked the wind from her, but even that was no longer scaring Eliza off “You got this Eliza!” Tyler shouted
Eliza could hear her team cheering her on; as she was forced back again, she made a quick glance; she spotted her little sister was watching with great interest, she was clearly cheering for her; turning her attention back to Maya; Eliza began timing each of her movements and counter-attacks; she was obviously becoming tired from the intensity of their match, while Maya didn’t seem to be slowing down at all.
With fatigue beginning to catch up to Eliza she started to back off once again; returning to a more defensive style; but she had noticed something about her opponent, it had given her an idea.
As Eliza moved back once again, she began to lightly bounce in place, lowering her guard entirely, Maya, mistaking Eliza as being too exhausted now, made a quick movement forwards towards her, raising her front leg while in a forwards momentum; and attempted to kick towards Eliza’s open chest.
Timing everything just right; Eliza span off to the side with a quick and fluid motion; raising her left leg up and around; she felt her foot connect hard against Maya’s head; the forwards momentum Maya had, had worked against her as she felt her head get knocked backwards, it caused her to fall flat onto her back with a loud thud, it had clearly knocked her senses all over the place as Eliza backed off entirely; slowly her bouncing came to a stop as she watched the referee.
It was pretty clear though Maya wasn’t getting back up; Eliza felt everything begin to settle as she leaned forwards, putting her hands against her legs as she began taking in deep breaths.
Once she had been declared the winner, Eliza slowly moved off of the mats as Tyler came quickly over to her, hugging her with a warm smile “Told you, you’d win” he said with a tone that made it clear he was proud of her
Eliza thought for a moment; she couldn’t help it, but she kissed him, it caused Tyler’s face to turn a rosy pink; Eliza looked him in the eyes as she smiled “Your taking me on that date”
“Yep; I definitely will be” he said smiling; the two would soon walk over to were her mother and sister were, where she quickly gave her sister a warm hug; Eliza told her sister, her cheering had helped her win which brought a wide smile to Raven’s face
After Eliza received her medal; she would walk with Tyler to meet with her mother and sister outside of the main competition hall, at this point everyone was beginning to leave; it was very late into the evening; Tyler’s family offered the Wright family a lift back to Blackpool; though due to needing to meet with Philip, Jenna politely declined; Eliza looked to Tyler again with a warm smile “Don’t forget your taking me out on the weekend”
“Even if I did; you would remind me” he said with a wink; Eliza softly punched him on the shoulder and smiled, though she again kissed him before they parted ways
As Eliza walked with her Mother and Sister, she noticed there seemed to be an irritated expression present on her mothers face; when asked why, Jenna simply responded with it isn’t important, it was something she needs to discuss with Philip; Eliza wondered if it was due to her father not turning up like he had been promised.
Written By: Westley H.
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