KICK IT FORWARD

In taekwondo's arena, Pauline Lopez fought battles, transformed defeats, and now coaches athletes to victories

- LAURD SALEN

The lights dimmed in the arena, anticipation lingering in the air like a held breath. The crowd's collective pulse quickened, awaiting the exchange of kicks and punches that would echo through the dojang.

The spotlight is on, the atmosphere is charged, and the stakes are high. Yet, surprisingly, the star of this story isn't in the center of the ring, but on the sidelines, coaching her protégés.

Pauline Lopez, once a national athlete conquering championships, is now donning the hat of a coach, leading her students with the same tenacity that made her a force to be reckoned with in taekwondo. This unexpected shift from fighter to mentor marked a full-circle journey that has its roots in the streets of Los Angeles.

"My dad, Efren Lopez Sr., was part of the national team back in the late '80s," Lopez tells MEGA. "When he moved to the States, he vowed never to teach his kids taekwondo, mainly because he got a bad injury, but also because he initially believed that it was a 'man's sport."

Against her father's initial reluctance, she showed him that taekwondo is not a sport reserved only for men. "I'm a stubborn person you can't tell me I can't do something, more so because I'm a girl," the 27-year-old coach recounts, her eyes reflecting the fire that fueled her early years in the sport. "So, I pursued it, and eventually, he saw the potential." 

At 13, she returned to the Philippines, as a budding taekwondo talent, and by 2010, she represented the Philippines at the Asian Games in South Korea, the youngest among Filipino delegates.

The victories were sweet, but the essence of her journey lay beyond the medals. "It's not just about the sport; it's what comes after," she reflects. "I really felt like I bloomed-I blossomed, I got out of my shell, and it bled through not just in sports but also in confidence in school, in life."