Meet junior athlete Jordyn Smith – she splits her time between secondary school and GB Taekwondo’s Development Programme in Manchester. Jordyn has achieved a number of impressive titles over the years, most notably gold at the 2015 Cadet European Championships and she has joined us to tell us all about her journey to this year’s National Championships…

How has your Nationals preparation gone?

Back at my club, we’ve started to taper now with the competition so close, but in the weeks leading up to it, all of my set targets started to fall into place. I can’t wait to get in the ring now, I’m really looking forward to it.

What’s next for you after Nationals?

In November, I’ve got the Junior European Championships coming up, so after Nationals I’ll go back into the competition phase – which is pretty much hard training and I’ve also got a training camp in France too.

In your opinion is the Nationals a good way to practice before a major competition?

Yes, it’s definitely good to get some ring time before the (Junior) Europeans in Cyprus.

Do you tend to eat healthily? If we were to follow you around for the day, what would your meals look like?

Usually in the morning I have protein – so eggs, fruit or yoghurt and then when I go to school I have carbohydrates, sometimes I will have a chicken salad or sandwich with some fruit to fill me up for the rest of the day. Later in the night, I have a mixture of protein and carbs to finish it off.

When you’re not competing or preparing for competition, what’s your first meal of choice?

I like having a Nando’s, my go to order is a medium spice chicken pitta, peri chips and sweet potato mash.

What songs motivate you during training sessions? Do you have a set playlist?

At competitions, on fight day I’ll usually listen to the Rocky soundtrack because it makes me feel like I want to go out and win!

What’s it like being on the GB Taekwondo Development Programme? Do you enjoy it?

It’s great with all the new coaches that are involved – I feel like they work together well. All of the sessions are based on certain scenarios each time. I was at boot camp for phase 2 of the recent Fighting Chance 13-18 initiative and the sessions were hard but in a good way because I like coming down to Manchester to train at the Academy with different people who have different styles.

Who do you look up to on the team?

I’ve always looked up to Sarah Stevenson, ever since I was little I would go to her ‘Inspires’ programme and have known her for ages – everything she has achieved has been amazing.

Want to know more about Jordyn? Follow Central Taekwondo Academy here.