Surrey’s Stanislav Miller won the gold medal in the ‘Junior Division M-48 Kg’ of the National Taekwondo Championship, and is now heading to Hammamet, Tunisia to compete in the Junior World Championship.
The 15-year old has been practising taekwondo since he was seven years of age, and has been training at Vortex Taekwondo club in Surrey.
Stanislav is “very happy” with the result.
“I can’t really put into words, and it’s an amazing experience,” Stanislav said. “I’m really excited to see what happens next.”
The 2018 National Taekwondo Championship was held in Ottawa from Feb. 15 to Feb. 18, and Stanislav said the competition was intense.
“It’s a combat martial arts, so there’s a lot of adrenaline and lots of nerves and you just have to work past that and not let that affect your performance,” he said.
Stanislav said that he is now preparing for the 2018 Junior World Championship, to be held from April 9 to 13.
“I will be training five days a week and right before we leave for Tunisia, we have a training camp at my gym for four hours a day and there will be people coming in from different parts of Canada to train with us,” Stanislav said. “I’m going for the medal and that’s what I’m trying to work towards.”
Stanislav, however, is banking on the fundraiser his club and his dad are organizing to cover his expenses to Tunisia. Taekwondo Canada has sent a message to all the participants representing Team Canada that they wouldn’t be funding the players competing in the junior events.
Stanislav’s dad, Scott Miller, said this is the “coolest thing” in their lives right now, and that he is proud of his son’s achievements.
“He just has opened my eyes as to what a good kid he is,” Scott said. “He has this goal and he is dedicated to that goal. He is doing things that I’m not sure I could have done at his age.”
The fundraiser for Stanislav’s trip will be held on March 29 at Rusty’s Pub in Cloverdale. Scott estimates the cost for the trip would be around $5,000.
“Every little bit helps. I don’t think we are gonna rake in thousands and thousands of dollars but it will be enough to help offset the costs,” Scott said. “It’s such a great experience to see how the team works, and we are not individuals, as the whole club gets involved. It’s an honour to be a part of this group.”
Scott was present when Stanislav won the championship, and told Now-Leader that it was an “amazing accomplishment.
“I cried,” he said. “I jumped up and down, he (Stanislav) came and hugged me and his coach hugged me. It was a big group hug as they all know how excited I was for him.”
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