Despite injury, Lebanon martial artist brings home 2 gold medals, 1 silver

Martial artist Joshua Aguirre, 12, who qualified for the Amateur Athletic Union taekwondo cadet division national team last summer, cementing a solid step towards his goal of one day competing in the Olympics, has recently faced his first injury as an athlete.

Despite that injury, Aguirre still competed earlier this month at the AKA Warrior Cup, and was able to bring home medals while representing both the AAU National Team and his home martial arts gym, Family Karate.

Aguirre explained that in September he suffered a hamstring injury.

"I may have not warmed up enough before I started kicking and, well, I got injured there. The good thing about that is, it's always important to keep a strong mindset, and I did that," he said. "I was feeling sometimes sad, sometimes a little bit kind of depressed when I woke up, but one day I woke up and I said, 'No, I'm going to keep going, I'm going to work hard by myself.'"

"I started working hard, and I feel that I'm getting better. So I'm going to keep doing that and keep getting better, hopefully one day I'll forget all about this and I'll laugh about it."

Along with his mindset and hard work, rehabilitation took a lot of rest and listening and learning from others, like doctors, as well as some time doing physical therapy.

Hoping to be 100% by spring of this year, Aguirre explained that he still feels the effects of his injury depending on how much he does and how long he's doing it for

In October, he attended a training camp with the AAU National Team. He explained that he was still in a lot of pain at the time but was able to get through it with rest periods and plenty of ice. He said that he is still grateful for the experience and the memories he got to make with the team.

Aguirre was still able to bring home two gold medals, one in the 12-13 boys black belt traditional forms category, and the other 12-13 boys black belt traditional weapons, as well as one silver medal in 12-13 mixed Tang Soo Do and Moo Duk Kwan forms at the AKA Warrior Cup in Chicago, Illinois, held from Jan. 12 to 14.

Unfortunately, he and his mother, Milena Escolar, weren't able to see much of the sights as it was bitterly cold during the weekend of their visit.

Tang Soo Do forms, Aguirre explained, is more focused on tight spaces and strong movements as well as proper movement, as opposed to taekwondo forms, which is focused more on kicking and longer ranged techniques.

He said that he went into the tournament with the same focus and determination as he would for any other competition and that the injury didn't worry him much.

While he is still working on recovering from the injury, he'll be working to once again qualify for the AAU National Team, beginning sparring training, competition in the Dominican Republic in April and focusing on his nonprofit, the Joshua Aguirre Foundation, which he hopes to host a big project for later this year.

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on X @djlarlham

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Lebanon County PA martial artist Joshua Aguirre, 12, brings home gold