Taekwondo and other martial arts are becoming more and more popular, but for most people it’s something they do for a while as a kid before moving on to other interests.
Samery Moras decided she wasn’t going to quit, and is now traveling around the world to international competitions.
However, Moras, 22, almost did give up the sport.
“When I was little, I hated it. I absolutely hated it,” she said. “I would go to tournaments and I would cry. I hated coming to class. I hated taekwondo.”
Her parents insisted she keep at it, but as a teenager she didn’t think she wanted to continue. A few years ago she felt she was at a crossroads and needed to either quit or devote herself fully to the sport.
She chose the latter, and as she ramped up her training and started competing at a higher level, Moras found her calling.
“I found out it’s something I really love to do, I just didn’t realize it,” Moras said. “I love traveling and getting to know new people. I love training super hard, multiple times a day, and just being all sweaty, exhausted, hurt … I just love it.”
It probably helped that Moras isn’t the first person in her family to take an interest in martial arts. Her family owns and operates AMYS Martial Arts, with locations in Orem and Draper. One of her sisters, Melany, was on the national team while growing up in Peru and her other sister, Amely, is an international referee.
Samery Moras said she’s now grateful her parents nudged her along and wouldn’t let her quit when she was young.
“I’m really happy,” Moras said. “I couldn’t imagine [back then] the things I’m doing now, so it’s been wonderful.”
These days, Moras is balancing life as a student at the University of Utah with her training and competition schedule, as well as teaching classes at her family’s gyms and holding down another part-time job to help fund her travels.
Her goal is to make it to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To make that happen she must climb in the international rankings, which means logging a lot of flight time to get to distant competitions.
Moras just spent two weeks in Europe competing in the Spanish Open and Austrian Open. She originally planned to only spend a few days in Spain, but then was invited to train with a coach from Finland and compete in Austria.
“It’s kind of crazy, because I didn’t anticipate staying for two weeks,” Moras said. “I’m having to hand wash clothes and then air dry them, and we have to figure out a way to get food and how to get around the city.”
While many of the athletes she’s competing against are part of well-funded, organized national teams, taekwondo doesn’t get a lot of attention or support in the United States.
“They get everything taken care of super well because their countries pay for it,” Moras said. “I’m kind of here on my own, have to figure this out.
“But it’s OK. It kind of makes you tougher and makes you appreciate it a lot more. But sometimes I do get envious.”
Moras said that despite getting to zip around the world to amazing locations, she does miss Utah. She especially misses her students and family, and having her own space and cooking her own food.
But the chance to stay in Europe longer and train was too good an opportunity to pass up.
“The way European fighters fight is completely different from anywhere else in the world,” she said. “I had to completely relearn a bunch of things.”
In Spain, Moras was on track to win until a last-second kick from her opponent stole the match away from her. She’s hoping her extra time training will help her against the competition she’ll see in her upcoming tournaments.
“I’m feeling good, I’m feeling really strong with all this extra training now,” she said.
Moras said that no matter where she ends up in her competition, she doesn’t plan to leave taekwondo behind. She hopes she can help build support for martial arts athletes in the United States so they can have an easier time getting to international competitions. Moras said she’d also like to start an athlete training center some day.
After her stay in Europe, Moras is flying to San Francisco and getting right back on another plane to a competition in China. After two weeks there, she will have a little more than a week before the United States American Taekwondo National Championships in San Jose, Calif.
“I’m just kind of flying all over the world for a while,” Moras said. “It’s still all new and it’s still like an adventure for me.
“It’s definitely something I’m not going to forget.”
Comments are closed.