SHAWNA Ball drove 12 hours, including a two-hour ferry ride, over to Northern Ireland on Saturday 29 June for the Northern Irish Taekwondo Championships.

It goes without saying that Shawna is sports-mad, also representing Teign Hockey Club, playing rugby and having to miss a Bovey Tracey Cricket Club fixture for this exciting trip.

Action began on the Sunday and she won gold medals in Hand Destruction and in Tag Sparring. The Tag Sparring was all grades and weights together, with the weaker team by grade being given a head start on points.

Despite giving up a six-point head start in the semi-final, Shawna won every round in that discipline by more than 20 points, owing to her dominance.

In Hand Destruction, there was a slight rule change with women no longer being able to use their elbow. A back elbow strike is Shawna’s signature but she succeeded with a reverse knife hand even without any practice.

She was the only woman to break a black and white board, with the experienced officials saying she made them look like polystyrene, which is quite the compliment.

A 12-hour drive back home ensued on the Monday but these achievements made it all worth it.

These two medals mean that Shawna has now won gold at every National Championships- English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and British, to add to her World Championship titles.

When it comes to her roots in this sport, Shawna first started taekwondo at just four years old in response to being bullied at school. It was a way for her to gain confidence and since then she has clearly taken to the sport and then some.

The black belt came at age nine, earning the best in grading trophy out of over 500 adults and juniors, also going on to receive it again at the 3rd Degree Black Belt grading when she was 17.

Competing in national and international events began when Shawna got her black belt, the first taste of the big stage coming at the 2013 World Championships, just three months after passing her grading.

She was part of the National Demonstration team, representing England and performing in front of 3,000 people. This was also where she won her first World Title for sparring.

When it comes to destruction, Shawna didn’t get started with that until 2022 as you have to be both a black belt and 18 years old. Every competition that she has appeared in, in this discipline has seen her get to the final, yet another remarkable feat.

This is a local sports star performing at the highest level once again, so congratulations to Shawna for this wonderful success story!