Utopia for Erin Forrest is in the karate ring. After
winning her fourth NAS national championship, this
teenager is ready to take on the karate world.
It is the competition part of martial arts that Erin
can’t get enough of. Although her style, Rensei
Karate, is very focussed on the traditional, it is the
love of competition that has inspired her talent.
“For a martial artist it is unusual that
I’m not really interested in the kata side and
the traditional aspects, but being on the mat in the
ring is what really spurs me on.”
A competitor at the NAS nationals for the past five
years, Erin mentions that her motivation and energy
levels this year were a little depleted. Walking around
and talking to everyone before the fight, she was a
little unfocussed.
“It all worked out all
right, but there was a bit of pressure on me to win
again. A few people said jokingly are you going to be
on the cover again and I was like, ‘I might, I
don’t know.’ I didn’t really know
if I was going to win or not, but I had the attitude
that I was going to.”
After going out in the second round of the women’s
open weight (exactly what happened last year), she was
a little disappointed and on a bit of a downer. Quickly
refocussing an hour later she went into the heavy weight
division with the attitude she had to prove herself
and got into the final and won.
“At
the end of the day I just really liked to win, it’s
a great feeling and I suppose when you lose or don’t
perform as well as you would like to, over time you
improve and finally get the edge over the person you
have lost to.”
Erin admits that over the past few years other competitors
have started to notice her style of fighting. She was
doing a lot of single kicks and single techniques without
actually setting them up, but because Erin was faster
and had a higher skill level than her competitors she
was winning. Now she has included double hand combinations
then comes up with a kick and sets her moves up with
a punch, rather than just single techniques.
To help increase her motivation this year Erin has also
included cardio and weight training into her program.
Running and swimming a few nights a week has dramatically
increased her energy.
“I did this to
be a bit more explosive off the line. Sometimes in my
first or second fight I am a bit flat and I’m
not fired up enough, the cardio training is really working.”
For the girl who first stepped into the ring as an eleven-year-old
red belt, the constant learning aspect and the chance
to fight keeps her enthused.
“I love going
to classes every week and building on my knowledge.
The stripes on the belt don’t really worry me,
they are a symbol of what you know and sometimes I don’t
think this is true because there are a lot of people
with dans who don’t know that much. Even if I
did have more, I don’t think I would even put
them on my belt,” she says.
The NAS competitions are a big part of Erin’s
life and with every year the competitors and styles
keep growing. In the middle of studying Sports Administration
she has little time left after study, training and competing.
“It’s a great course, sometimes it
is hard to fit it in with my training but it all works
out. Eventually I would love to do personal training,
fitness and self-defence for women. I wouldn’t
mind being a martial arts trainer, like a personal trainer,
and I believe it is pretty important that women know
self defence.”
Erin is keeping her sights sets on 2004 and she hopes
it will be a demonstration sport in the Athens Olympics.
By this time she will be 23 and at the perfect age to
compete in a tournament such as this.
“Once
karate is accepted into the Olympics it will grow dramatically.
If you look at the number of people practising Taekwondo
after it became an Olympic sport the percentage rates
would have been higher,” she says.”
Training at the level of an elite athlete, Erin believes
a lot of martial artists will be able to dedicate more
time to their sport once karate becomes a part of the
Olympics.
“Karate doesn’t have
any funding that I know of. In terms of sponsorship,
grants and assistance with coaching, this will all happen
when it is accepted.”
A natural champion in the ring, Erin has made a name
for herself in Australia. Now she is ready to take on
the world.
By Elisa Tubecki
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