Kitana van der Mescht, head girl at Little Forest Academy of Learning, recently returned from the ninth World Kungfu Championship (WKFC), after representing South Africa and obtaining a silver and bronze medal for her individual forms and routines.
“I attended as part of the South African Traditional Wushu Protea Team. The WKFC was hosted in Emeishan, China,” she stated.
Kitana thanked Shifu Jurgens Lamprecht (the national coach) for his training and guidance.
“In preparation for the WKFC, I trained for 12 hours a week. In Emeishan, we were privileged in that Shifu Jurgens spent two full days coaching and training us at the beautiful waterfall. Not only was it exquisite, but it allowed us the opportunity to acclimatise while having a final chance to fine-tune our skills,” she exclaimed.
According to her, South Africa did incredibly well overall, obtaining nine bronze and seven silver medals.
“I am so proud of our country! Gold eluded us this time, but we will be working towards it next time. On a personal level, I participated in three divisions – the double-weaponry division, the traditional empty-hand division, and the Jiti division [which is a group routine]. I obtained a bronze and a silver medal for my individual forms/ routines, and we obtained a silver for the group routine, in which South Africa came fifth overall out of 53 countries,” she added.
Almost 7 000 athletes took part in the event: All from different countries, regions, team uniforms, coaches and weapons.
“All eyes are on you. You feel so proud to represent your country and to have been selected to do so. When it’s time to compete, they call you and you go back up the escalator to the competition floor and wait your turn. Then onto the floor to do your form. All I remember is hearing my fellow South African athletes chanting: ‘Nan Fei, Jia You!’ which means ‘Give it your all, South Africa!’,” she recalled fondly.
“I can’t explain how much it meant to me. How encouraged I felt. How wonderful it is to be part of Team South Africa. It is the support of my team and the training of my coach that inspired me to do my best,” Kitana concluded.
