ANNA JONESBORO, Ill. (KFVS) – The 2024 Paris Olympics may be over, but a woman from the Heartland is gearing up for a different kind of competition in Greece.
Heather Coffman competes in the World Karate-Kickboxing Union (WKU) World Championships.
“In my category, I was one of four people selected from the United States,” Coffman said.
She received the email just days after trying out for the U.S. team in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
An email confirming that she was about to embark on the experience of a lifetime.
“I looked at my fiancé and I said, 'I'm going to Greece!'” she said.
Coffman said he began studying martial arts on and off about 18 years ago.
She runs her own academy in Anna Jonesboro, Illinois, where she prepares for events at the highest level of the sport.
“So I'll actually be competing against other people,” Coffman explained, “and there will be representatives from over 25 countries.”
Ask her if she's nervous about the competition and she'll say no, but there is one thing she is nervous about: flying overseas alone.
Before she won all the belts, awards and competitions, Heather's life was pretty normal.
“I went to SIU and was a school teacher, then I was a stay-at-home mom for a long time, then I taught school. Running a school and competing like that was never my forte.”
So how did everything change? The answer is simple: she was trying to be a good mother to her son.
“We tried a lot of different sports, but he didn't like any of them, but he got into martial arts,” Coffman said. “He did martial arts for a while, and then he said, 'Mom, I want to quit,' and I said, 'Don't quit. I'll join you.'”
Trying something new isn't easy, Coffman says.
“Oh, it's hard. It's hard because it forces you to get out of your comfort zone,” she said. “And a lot of people have a really hard time with that because they hate failing, but if you hate failing, how can you ever grow?”
Coffman's love for martial arts went beyond belts and awards, and led him to meet his best friend, fiancé, coach and co-owner of a martial arts studio in Robert Cutrell.
Cutrell began training Heather about eight years ago and proposed to her at the dojo in 2022.
And Cutrell himself knows a few things, as the grandmaster and founder of Chun Jyi Do, a globally recognized martial arts style.
He also has several black belt instructors in various other forms who train and teach all over the world.
“As I said before, she's a hidden gem in this field,” he added, “She's very disciplined, has an incredible work ethic, and almost has to be in a certain zone when we train together, but when she gets off the mat, she goes back to being my fiancé.”
Every emotion, every day's effort, every moment's effort has led her to this point in her life: where she will soon be standing before a stranger, ready to be unrelenting.
“The first thing I do is make friends. It's a friendly competition, so I get everybody on their toes and introduce myself. But as soon as I step on the mat, I become a warrior and I do what I have to do,” Coffman said.
The World Championships will be held from October 20th to 26th.
“I want to show people that no matter your age, there's always something new and you can always achieve something,” she said.
Coffman said this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but no matter how this year goes, she said she doesn't plan on going back next year.
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