Taekwondo Champ: Annberlynne Fuller

Annberlynne Fuller continues her journey in Taekwondo. Fuller is scheduled to compete in Dallas, TX March 27-30th, 2024 and at the World Tournament in Phoenix, AZ July 23-28, 2024. Photo Credit: Annberlynne Fuller

Lincoln offers a variety of sports from basketball to swimming. However, for more unique sports students look to outside places. Students like sophomore Annberlynne Fuller who is a nationally ranked taekwondo girls champion. Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and combat sport that includes many disciplined punching and kicking techniques. Fuller is first in the state of Missouri so far for all disciplines in 2023 and is ranked top 10 in the world between 4-5 divisions. I was able to sit down and conduct and interview with Annberlynne to get some perspective on this sport:

How do you balance school and other clubs?

 “I don't,” she laughs. “I’m kidding of course. I have a lot of planners. I make sure everything is scheduled out and most of the free time I have is used on school work. On Mondays for instance I am home for 30 min to an hour so I try to get my work done during my brother’s martial arts. It gets difficult due to ADHD and horrible time management and memory but I make up for that by having a to do list accessible at all times.  Over all it consists of a lot of in class time work as well as using any free time during the day to do work.”

What do you find so interesting about taekwondo? What's your favorite thing about it?

“I mean I started taekwondo because my dad wanted me to. I ended up being good at it which was nice. But I genuinely love the community, I have made some of my best friends there. Along with that I really enjoy the physical aspect. It’s a nice emotional release and I get to beat the crap out of things.”

Do you consider yourself to be an athlete? What do you have to say to people who don’t think taekwondo is a real sport?

“I don’t typically say I’m an athlete though when it comes down to it I think it makes sense to refer to myself as one. There is a lot of physical activity as well as training that goes into it. We use every part of our body in different ways and it is difficult and exhausting. Honestly to people who would argue that it’s not a sport, I would probably tell them to go try it themselves and then come back and tell me it’s not a sport. We do everything that sports do. We run, we do physical fitness, we compete, we build our muscles and our body, and we also do mental training.”

Fuller will continue her journey in taekwondo. She will compete in Dallas, TX March 27-30th, 2024 and at the World Tournament in Phoenix, AZ July 23-28, 2024.