Skylar Park got her black belt at age seven. For her family, that was pretty normal. She’s one of 16 black belts in her extended family, which means pretty much everyone has one (except her grandmother, who is of the understandable opinion that there are enough other black belts around to keep her safe).
Park will compete in her second Olympic Games at Paris 2024, bringing along her dad, Jae, as her coach and one of her younger brothers, Tae-Ku, as her training partner. Needless to say, taekwondo runs in the family.
But for Park, navigating that reliance on her dad as her coach, along with asserting her independence as an athlete, was a learning from Tokyo 2020. With her dad coaching her since before she could walk, she was used to having him dictate the game plan for different competitions, which she would then execute. Park had such a head start on her age group in terms of skills, that plan typically worked.
“I didn’t really have to develop that mental game because physically, I was stronger than my opponents. And so through the years I’ve been slowly developing it, because I can’t rely on my dad 100% of the time,” Park said on a recent episode of Momentum, a Team Canada podcast.
“Going into the [Tokyo] Games, I was physically the best I’ve been. I was strong, I was fast, I was ready to go. But I think the biggest thing you notice at the Games is that mental side of things […] of dealing with the pressure, of dealing with the emotions of sport itself. And so I think that’s something that I really learned in Tokyo–that physically you can be ready, but that doesn’t really matter if mentally you’re not there.”
Putting in the work on her mental game has paid off. Park had a banner year in 2023, earning four international wins, including a gold medal at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games. She enters Paris 2024 ranked fourth in the world in the women’s -57kg division.
“From such a young age, I remember telling my parents that I wanted to go to the Olympics and win a gold medal for Canada. And so to have the opportunity to try and accomplish that goal for a second time, is a blessing for sure.”
To listen to Skylar Park’s full episode, check out Momentum wherever you get your podcasts.
The first season of Momentum, a podcast by Team Canada, is called “Watch This!” and focuses on the inspiring stories of the women of Team Canada. Tune in as Olympian and host Arianne Jones dives deep with Team Canada athletes Skylar Park (taekwondo), Maggie Mac Neil (swimming), Paige Crozon (3×3 basketball), Alannah Yip (sport climbing) and Diana Matheson (soccer).
