PARK Skylar

General
SPARRING WITH BROTHERS
After the Olympic Games in Tokyo was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she continued to train with her younger brothers Tae-Ku and Braven in the basement of the family home. She says training with her brothers has helped her taekwondo skills due to a lack of local female sparring partners in her weight class and skill level. "It does get pretty competitive. It was easier for me a few years ago when they were younger. I could kind of kick them around a little. Now, as they've gotten older and stronger, it's been harder. It was definitely hard at the beginning because even just talking with my dad I asked, 'Why are they beating me now? Why are they able to kick me around? Why can't I muscle through them anymore?' I kind of realised that's the way it was going to be. It definitely has made me keep pushing harder just to keep up with them and to hold my own against them. It definitely has helped me inside the ring." (chatnewstoday.ca, 28 Apr 2020)

FIGHTING FAMILY
She was born to an Italian mother and a Korean father, and says that all but two of the 21 members of her family are black belts in taekwondo. Her grandfather, Park Deuk-hwa, taught taekwondo to US military personnel in the Republic of Korea before emigrating to Canada in 1977. Her grandmother is one of the two family members that does not have a black belt. "After I fight, my grandpa will watch, or if it's live, my brothers will help him watch live on his TV. Then after my fight, he'll go over the videos with me and give me pointers. The only person in my family who doesn't have their black belt is my grandma. She says she doesn't need it. I'm the third generation of taekwondo martial artists in my family. It's kind of been what we do." (chatnewstoday.ca, 28 Apr 2020; winnipegfreepress.com, 05 Jul 2019)

EDUCATION
She chose to study kinesiology [human movement studies] at the University of Manitoba so that she could learn more about the physical nature of taekwondo. She does her coursework online so that she can train six days a week. "I find school is another way to focus, so I can take the focus off training so everything's not 100% about training 24/7. When I get that chance to sit down and study, I can be like, 'Dad, I'm studying. Don't talk to me about kicking'." (news.umanitoba.ca; 15 Jan 2020; cbc.ca, 03 Jan 2020)