SECUNDA – Sasha-Lee Vorster is only four years old, but this tiny Tinkerbell turns into a ferocious tiger on the Taekwondo mat.
She is barely half the length of her combat staff, yet she handles it like a professional.
This was one of the items in which Sasha-Lee stood out at the recently held World Taekwondo Expo in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Although she accompanied her parents, Mr JP and Ms Erika Vorster who are both Taekwondo Sabumnim (black belt instructors) at the Victory Taekwondo Family Centre in Secunda, Sasha-Lee earned her rightful place in the South African team that attended the world competition.
She might even possibly be the youngest South African to represent her country in this sport.
She was selected for the South African team on merit of having competed in several competitions and obtaining her provincial colours.
This petite blonde girl impressed the judges at the world expo where she competed against the likes of the Taekwondo founder’s granddaughter.
The competition was fierce, but Sasha-Lee nonetheless obtained three medals for form, combat weapon and sparring.
Taekwondo has a junior division for kids between four and seven years old.
The students in this division are called Tigers and they also compete for various belts. Once a child reaches either a black belt or the age of seven, they move over to the normal level where they are a full white belt.
Sasha-Lee wears a yellow Tiger belt, but has her sights set on a Roan (cammo) belt in September.
According to Mom Erika, Sasha-Lee grew up in the dojo and was always interested in Taekwondo.
“She was a busy little thing, even in the womb,” Erika jested.
“But we said from the day of her birth, that we would not force her into the sport. If she wanted to do ballet, we would have supported her in that also. She just seems to have an affinity for this and gained a lot of self-confidence.”
Like any other child of that age, Sasha-Lee can also sometimes be a bit stubborn or unpredictable.
“She just did not want to take part in the world expo. Nope – not that day. Her dad eventually bought her a headband and that apparently made her change her mind.”
Sasha-Lee is a very compassionate child with a love for Barbie dolls and animals. She attends preschool at Laerskool Kruinpark where she is in the Rainbow class.
“I want to become a doctor when I am big. I bought a toy dog in America and if you squeeze its tummy, puppies pop out,” explained Sasha-Lee.
