1. www.southhams-today.co.uk Friday, December 31, 2010 39KBG/DTC
An ordinary pair who have
done extraordinary things
Euan Reedie meets tae kwon do world champions Sophie Barnett
and Corinne Sri-Widada to find out the secret of their success‘I HAVE no co-ordina-
tion, I fall over, I have
no sense of balance.’
This is hardly the
kind of self-deprecating
admission you’d expect
a sporting world cham-
pion to make.
Indeed, it’s certainly
not out of the Muha-
mmad Ali school of
supremely confident
soundbites.
But tae kwon do star
Sophie Barnett’s dis-
arming, yet charming,
revelation should serve
as an inspiration to
anyone with any ambi-
tion in sport.
Indeed, Sophie and
fellow world champion
Corinne Sri-Widada,
who are both from
Kingsbridge, are living
proof that ordinary
people can achieve
extraordinary things.
Sophie insisted:
‘Every white belt can be
a world champion. I’m
just an ordinary per-
son.’
Meanwhile, Corinne
hopes the pair’s out-
standing achievements
in winning gold for
England at last sum-
mer’s world champi-
onships in Chungc-
heongbuk-Do (Cheo-
ngju) , South Korea, can
hammer out an uplift-
ing message of hope to
sporting aspirants eve-
rywhere: ‘If I can do it,
you can too.’
Sophie, 42, won gold
– the first achieved by
an English woman at
the event in July – in
the senior ladies’ 1st
degree black belt pat-
terns and a bronze for
hyper-weight sparring.
Corinne, 40, mean-
while, secured gold for
2nd degree patterns
and bronze in the sen-
ior ladies’ middlew-
eight sparring section.
So, since then, have
the ladies been enjoy-
ing being feted and
fawned over wherever
they go?
Well, Corinne says
her success has still not
sunk in five months on.
She said: ‘The world
championship is a one-
off event; you put all
that effort in and then,
to top it off, you win a
medal. Then you get
back to your normal
routine and you forget
you’re a world champi-
on.Then suddenly you
remember “oh, yeah, I
am a world champion”.
‘You don’t really see
yourself as a world
champion.’
Sophie added: ‘We
don’t go all boasty – it’s
not the way we work.
‘But I still get ran-
dom people stopping
me in the street.’
It’s clear Sophie and
Corinne are incredibly
modest about their
achievements, prefer-
ring to celebrate them
as team triumphs for
the South Hams Martial
Arts School, their club,
rather than individual
honours.
Sophie said: ‘It’s
more about the team
than the person. It’s a
club achievement, not
just a personal one. It’s
for all the students.
‘Every white belt can
potentially be a world
champion.’
Corinne added: ‘I
want people to think “if
she can do it, I can too”.
I hope we are inspiring
people.
‘And we still learn
from white belts; we
learn from teaching.’
They are also at pains
to point out that they
could not have trav-
elled to the Orient
without the help of the
local businesses who
supported their self-
funded trip.
Sophie, in particular,
provides encouraging
and inspiring proof that
you don’t have to be
born with superhuman
sporting ability to ach-
ieve greatness.
Her candid assess-
ment of her own physi-
cal limitations certainly
demonstrates this.
And what’s even
more incredible is that
she took the sport up
only six-and-half-years
ago and was far from
fit at this stage, by her
own admission, inca-
pable of doing even one
press-up.
She rode horses
when she was younger,
but never felt she was
destined to achieve
what she has.
But what she does
have in abundance is a
fiercely competitive
spirit, she admits.
She said: ‘I want to
do the best I possibly
can. I am very competi-
tive. I’ve just perse-
vered and I like what I
am doing.’
Meanwhile, Sophie
says her friend and fel-
low world champion
Corinne is ‘just very
good’ at what she does.
Corinne added: ‘I
wouldn’t do it if I did-
n’t enjoy it and being
with people you are
with at the club.’ The
South Hams pair usual-
ly train three hours a
week, with their regime
including sparring, pat-
terns – set moves – and
fitness work, which
involves press-ups, star
jumps and burpees.
Their training is then
ratcheted up to six or
seven hours a week if
they’re due to take part
in a competition.
Again, Sophie high-
lights the fact that you
don’t need to be super-
fit to take up the sport
as she languidly reflects
on any extra-curricular
activity she indulges in.
‘There are times
when I venture outside
with my trainers and I
sometimes appear in a
gym.
‘I also practise moves
in my front room and
Corinne and I have also
done this on Bantham
Beach.’
‘Anyone of any fit-
ness level can take up
tae kwon do,’ insists
Corinne.
‘You notice you
gradually get fitter and
build up your stamina
and strength when you
train.’ The pair also
groan and chuckle
when they recall hard
taskmistress coach Lesl-
ey McGhie’s recent
training session which
involved them running
around the hall where
they train.
But they both agree
they would not have
achieved what they
have without McGhie’s
inspirational coaching,
though.
Corinne said: ‘She
does work us hard, but
she’s not shouty; her
success lies in her
enthusiasm.’
Sophie added: ‘She
is passionate about tae
kwon do and her stu-
dents. You can spot our
students at competi-
tions because Lesley
sets such high stan-
dards for them.’
When asked about
the downsides of striv-
ing to reach the pinna-
cle of their sport and
the sacrifices they have
had to make to get
there, Corinne replied:
‘I have no social life. I
haven’t got time to do
anything else.
‘I have to think tae
kwon do all the time.’
Sophie, a single
mother, reveals being
away from her chil-
dren, Sam and Yanni,
has been her biggest
hardship.
She faced a particu-
larly heart-wrenching
dilemma when she was
selected to go to the
what sport it is, it does-
n’t even have to be a
sport. I’d say to anyone
that they should join a
club of some sort and
get involved.’
Corinne added: ‘Yes,
just get involved in
something you enjoy.’
And they are both
adamant that anyone
can take up tae kwon
do – and thrive at it.
Sophie said: ‘It’s for
everybody; we’ve had
people who have achi-
eved black belts in their
70s. Everyone should
try a martial art out. It
teaches you discipline,
fitness and courtesy.
‘You can do it for a
year or 100 years.’
Corinne added: ‘It
gives you a lot of confi-
dence and makes you
mentally and physical-
ly stronger. It’s for the
young and the fit, the
old and the not-so-fit
and the young and tid-
dly.’
Coach Lesley McGh-
ie, said ‘passion and
indomitable spirit’ we-
re central to the pair’s
world championship-
winning feats and
praised them for per-
sonifying the values tae
kwon do promotes.
She said: ‘Both lad-
ies are passionate and
committed to tae kwon
do which is shown in
their teaching, demon-
strations at events and
officiating at competi-
tions.
‘They both embody
the values of tae kwon
do, which are courtesy,
integrity, perseverance,
self-control and indom-
itable spirit.
‘It is with much per-
severance and indo-
mitable spirit, and after
years of much hard
work, that one can con-
sider working towards
being a world champi-
on.’
She added: ‘Of cou-
rse, there is that awful
element of the luck of
the draw too.
‘That didn’t make
any difference to our
two gold medal win-
ners this time around,
but did prevent one of
our other medal hope-
fuls, Claire Roughley,
from reaching the
medal-winning stages
of the world champi-
onships.’
The next major event
on the horizon for
Sophie and Corinne is
the European Cham-
pionships in Ireland in
June.
And, following their
excellence on the global
stage last summer, they
both excelled at the
British ITF Champi-
onships in Reading in
October. Sophie clai-
med two silvers, while
Corinne secured a gold
and a silver.
But they won’t rest
on their laurels and
bask in the glory of a
sparkling summer, Cor-
inne insists, given that
‘you’re only as good as
your last competition
and tomorrow you
could be rubbish.’
‘There’s always som-
eone who can be better
than you.’
‘I have no co-ordination,
I fall over, I have
no sense of balance’
world championships,
during which time she
spent 10 days away
from the pair.
‘I felt very selfish,’
she recalls, her eyes
welling up. ‘They’re
very proud of my
achievement, but if
they’d said “Mum,
don’t go”, I wouldn’t
have gone.’
She went on: ‘This
was something com-
pletely for myself and
you don’t often do that
as a parent, but they
were 100 per cent
behind me.’
Another very ‘nor-
mal’ emotion Sophie
experienced was self-
doubt, which overcame
her the day before she
was due to compete.
‘I went into melt-
down,’ she said. ‘I did-
n’t think I was good
enough. Some people
had doubted me before
I went out I thought
“I’m not doing it”.’
‘But everyone said to
me “you have come all
this way, spent all this
money”.
‘So I gave myself a
kick up the backside
and a good talking to
and won England’s first
gold medal at the
event. I’d have wasted
an opportunity and
regretted it if I’d pulled
out.’
She said Corinne, in
particular, had helped
pull her out of the mire,
also recalling that a
calming walk into the
town centre the pair
went on the night
before she was due to
compete had helped
clear her head.
Corinne: ‘We would
have dragged you in to
compete if you’d
refused.’
Yet, even when Sop-
hie went up to com-
pete, her ‘worst fear’ of
having to enter a raised
ring, given her afore-
mentioned and self-
confessed lack of bal-
ance, was confirmed.
‘I thought I was
going to fall as I was
going up the steps,’ she
said. So, what would
they say to anyone who
would like to try and
emulate them?
Sophie said: ‘Just go
out and do it and get it
done.
‘It doesn’t matter
‘Tae kwon do is for the
young and the fit, the old
and the not-so-fit and the
young and tiddly’
‘I went into meltdown;
I didn’t think I was
good enough’
‘I want people to think:
“If she can do it,
I can too”’
Pictures contributed
Sophie, above, and far left, Corinne, in
action at the world championships and, top
picture, celebrating their success