Eastmoor Academy’s Destiny Jennings ready to shine on international karate stage
In the world of karate, Destiny Jennings’ career is taking off.
The 17-year-old Eastmoor Academy senior will compete with Team USA in the World Karate Federation Championships on Oct. 26-30 in Konya, Turkey. The city is nearly 5,700 miles from Columbus, and the flight takes about 12 hours.
Jennings won a gold medal in the USA Karate National Championships and U.S. Team Trials on June 30-July 3 in Spokane, Washington. She defeated Charlize Lopez 9-2 on July 3 to win the Junior Kumite Female 16-17 plus-59 kilogram division.
After 11 years in the sport and missing out on success at the national level, she finally punched her ticket.
“All those years, Destiny never medaled at the national level, but this year she really started committing herself,” said Ellis Jennings, her father and sensei at E.J.’s Warrior Karate Academy at 3975 East Livingston Ave. in Columbus. “It’s like when you try to teach a kid to ride a bike and they almost get it but they keep falling off. Then all of sudden they get it. That’s what has happened to Destiny. It was steps here and steps there, but she was falling short. Now she’s got it.”
Having tried other sports, Destiny fell in love with karate after starting it in 2011. She knew she would have a long-lasting passion for competing and now holds a black belt.
“I started a lot of sports when I was 5, but this is the only one I stayed with,” she said. “Basketball, soccer, football, flag football, a little bit of hockey, but this is the only one that stuck.”
Destiny said her recent success was the result of hard work and having confidence in herself. She also was fed up with not reaching her potential.
“This year I got tired of losing, and I kind of drive myself to be successful,” she said. “I told my dad either we are going for it or we’re wasting our time.”
Destiny qualified for the finals July 1 in Spokane, but Ellis had to take a team to the AAU Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He gave Destiny a choice of staying to qualify for the world championships or going for an AAU national title.
“She told me, ‘Dad, I can beat this girl,’ ” Ellis said. “I knew I had to go coach in Florida for AAU, but I couldn’t take this chance away from her. It was a big chance, but my little girl was going to be 3,000 miles away all by herself. We got her a hotel room closer to the venue, and she stayed there and won it.”
Destiny said it was a matter of having the right mindset and being ready when she stepped on the mat. She checked out of her hotel at 11 a.m. and spent time at a cafe listening to motivational speeches until the event started at 7 p.m.
“I was the fourth match, and I had a coach from Virginia, Eric Jones, to be with me on the floor,” she said. “I had been training for it for a while, and I knew I would only lose if I made a mistake. I knew that I could beat everyone that stood in front of me.”
To achieve success at the national and international levels, Destiny needed to punch up her training. To hold her own against the best, Ellis said, his daughter needed to train with the best.
“When you get to that (national) level, it’s all the same girls, the same competitors, so we started stepping up our training,” he said. “We have gone to Dallas to train. We went to elite training in Pittsburgh. She worked with (six-time U.S. Open and five-time Pan Am champion) Cheryl Murphy. We started hitting the right competitions.
“We trained with a lot of people and some of them were Olympians. You see them in action and you train with them. You get to see what works and what doesn’t. They may be Olympians but everyone is human. Everyone gets scored upon. (We wanted Destiny to see) it’s possible for (her) to compete at that level, too.”
Destiny got a taste of international competition when she competed in the Pan American Karate Federation Cadet, Junior and U21 event Aug. 22-28 in Mexico City. Although she did not medal, she learned lessons that will help her in Turkey and, most importantly, to believe in her skill set.
“I didn’t do as well in Mexico City, (but) not because of the altitude since we could practice there for a few days before the meet,” she said. “I forgot the reason I was there.
“Some of America has seen what I can do, but I don’t know what these other countries are like. It’s like an automatic thing to think they are better than us, but they haven’t seen what I can do, either. If America can see what I can do then these other countries can, too.”
With her father unable to attend the event in Turkey, Destiny’s chaperone will be E.J.’s instructor Chanmanivan Keo, and she has a GoFundMe page to help pay for the trip.
She said the most important ingredient to success will be staying grounded and believing in herself.
“I feel like I need to look at it as if it’s just another tournament,” Destiny said. “If I blow it up too big then I’ll get nervous like I did (in Mexico City).”
shennen@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekHennen
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Columbus high school student set for World Karate Championships
