TEAM TAYA had a massive day at the World Cadet Championships Australian National Team Selections held on 9 March 2025 at the Combat Sports Centre, Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. We have 10 cadet athletes who registered for this event with Vasili Soteriou uncontested in his -65kg division.
Our TEAM TAYA cadets showed intensity, grit, resilience, courage and fought well with Mia Er winning all her 3 matches showing technical and tactical game and securing her position in the AUS Team in her -41kg division.
Congratulations to Mia and Vasili for being selected into the Australian Team for the Cadet World Championships which will be held from 4-10 May 2025 in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates!!!
Several of our TEAM TAYA athletes closely missed on securing spots on the National Team but showed so much promise and potential for future growth. Majority of our athletes fought in their first black belt matches and their first national team selections event but proud of their performances and podium finishes.
TEAM TAYA had a strong presence at the Selections Event, the largest contingent and reached finals on 5 occasions with Joshua Harb, Aarav Menezes, Ethan De Guzman, Kiera Malicdem and Mia Er (and Vasili's walk through) and showed a united front with an incredible team spirit, camaraderie and loud cheers in support of each of our athletes during their matches which has driven strong performances.
Thank you to our cadet athletes for all the hard work, commitment, perseverance and positive growth mindset you have shown and for your fantastic efforts in the lead up to the selections and on competition day. Your taekwondo journey as developing high performance athletes has just started and with your continued training, learning and improvement of your technical and tactical skills will surely lead to successes in the near future.
Our deepest appreciation and gratitude to Coach Ms Abby for her dedication, passion and long hours on research, creation and delivery of individualised and team target training program and pathway delivery for each of the 10 athletes as part of their preparations for the selections. And to Ms Natalia and Sir Ed for their guidance, motivational discussions with the athletes and tactical analysis.
Thank you also to our Seniors and Juniors for your contributions to the team preparations and assistance on competition day and to the Parents for your enduring love, trust, respect, support and encouragement - you are our partners in helping the athletes achieve their goals and dreams.
TEAM TAYA collectively brought home 2 Golds, 4 Silvers, 2 Bronzes = Total tally of 8 medals.
Our Team TAYA Athletes have commenced their 2025 season starting the year attending the following training camps/sessions:
Cadet Kiera Malicdem - travelled to Thailand and trained with Master Khem Taweesilp at the Taweesilp Training Dojang. Master Khem is a renowned coach who have developed national team members in Thailand, World Juniors Champions and Medalists, Asian Junior Champions and Medalists and Olympians and runs international training camps in various countries like Sweden, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia (for the last two years).
Taweesilp Training Camp - Our friends at Martial Arts Spirit have hosted a 5 day (day and night) training camp at their dojang at Prestons attended by our Team TAYA Athletes led by Junior Chelsea Gomez and Cadets Mia Er, Joshua Harb, Aarav Menezes, Danica De Leon, Kiaan Para and Heleni Moa.
Junior Chelsea Gomez also trained with the De La Salle University Team in Manila, Philippines under Coaches Roberto Cruz and Elaine Arora. Roberto "Kitoy" Cruz is an Olympian (2000 Sydney), 3x Silver Medalist World Championships, Asian Champion, Southeast Asian Champion, National Team Coach. Elaine Arora is also an Olympian (2016 Rio de Janeiro), a multiple Southeast Asian Champion and medalists in two Asian Championships and National Team Coach.
Team TAYA Summer Training - Two start-up training sessions were held to prepare the athletes for what will be a busy competition season in 2025.
Its great to see our Team TAYA Athletes showing initiative, commitment, drive to keep learning and improving. They all had fun learning and adapting to the challenges, techniques, drills and training with other athletes across Australia, Thailand and Philippines.
Team TAYA travelled to Brisbane QLD and collectively brought home a total of 16 medals = 7 Golds, 6 Silvers and 3 Bronzes from the competition last 9-10 November 2024 at South Pine Sports Complex, Brendale. Despite the very uncomfortable conditions at the venue with no airconditioning in the main competition and marshalling areas combined with extreme heat and high humidity, Team TAYA has remained steadfast and focussed on achieving strong performances with some losing in closely contested matches but still attaining a personal best. Our athletes have risen to challenges, shown technical and tactical prowess and have learned a lot from the experience. It is also inspiring to see our first timers at the Nationals who have fought hard and performed well.
Overall, a fantastic team result at the Nationals with Team TAYA achieving a top 5th overall finish in the club leaderboard tally from 93 clubs across Australia who competed at the event. A consistent top 5 result for the second year in a row!
Thank you to our Athletes for your hard work and perseverance, to our Coaches for your guidance and brilliant coaching, to our Black Belts for your assistance at warm up and to our Parents & Families for your encouragement and support. It was wonderful to see everyone having fun, adopting a positive growth mindset, cheering and supporting each other.
This Nationals marked our last competition for 2024. We look forward to another busy competition season in 2025 with many local, state, national and international events lined up.
Congratulations Team TAYA and well done on your excellent results, collective efforts and fantastic teamwork.
TAYA TAEKWONDO
2024 Recap of Key Performance Highlights
TAYA TAEKWONDO LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
The TAYA TAEKWONDO Leadership Program which is part of our Black Belt Journey is providing significant benefits in personality development, character building, developing mentoring and leadership skills, increasing confidence, discipline, resilience, gaining maturity, patience, sense of responsibility, diligence and assists in setting the Leadership Team up to do well at school, other extracurricular activities and in life in general
TEAM TAYA ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
The competition results are backed up by our successful Advanced and Grassroots Development Programs for our Team TAYA Athletes and all year-long continuous training including the Sports Clinics providing intensive training held mostly in school holidays as preparations for big competitions
2025 will be another big year to compete at two AUS National Selections for Cadet and Senior World Championships (Cadets on March 9 and Seniors on May 31), Korea Open, Oceania President’s Cup and Australian Open G2/G3 events, Australian National Championships, NSW State Selections, NSW International Open, interclub/interstate competitions and participate in an international and local training camps will be the key events in 2025
Refer to our Events Calendar
