Aškerčevi asi 2026

My Olympic dreams I started training when I was 4. My mum and dad believed that the best way for me to learn how to protect myself and socialise was through martial arts. I still remember going to the hall and seeing all those people with black belts enjoying themselves on the mats, full of passion. At that moment, despite my young age, I wanted to be like them, and I promised myself I would. I passed the belt tests one after another, learnt many ways to defend myself, gained confidence, met many people, and travelled around the world. Although my early years of training were just play, they brought me closer to something bigger, such as the Olympic Games. When I started competing, I trained more and needed more training partners, so my parents, after seeing my passion and talent, decided to move me to another club, and that is where it all began. At the age of 10, I trained four times a week, competed, and ran at weekends. During that time, I truly felt myself and worked even more. After time passed and I got better, I became the national champion and the top competitor at the tournament. For the first time, I felt as if I had been flying, and it was a huge step for me. It was also a special card for Slovenia's national team. My whole time was spent training and competing. It really started to have a lot of weight on me and my mental health, and now I feel bad for the 13 -year- old girl who had to struggle so hard. Nika, 3a

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