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| Elif in action at the European Poomsae Championships 2013 |
Cryu: Elif, you followed your father's footsteps, as Mustafa Yilmaz is also an internationally renowned taekwondo master and champion. Did you start TKD on your own will or it was him who first took you to the gym? Once I read Laura Kim Kim as a child didn’t like TKD, but her father Master Kim someway obliged her to train. You and Laura are maybe the most successful European Poomsae athletes in the world, so it is curious to see how similar are your beginnings of career.
Elif: When I was 1 year old and I took my first steps, my dad bought me a dobok, started to make me do some kicks and teached me how to kiap. As for all girls on this planet, dad was my first and biggest love. So I have always followed his footsteps and I still try to do it. When I was 3 or 5 years old he went to some championships abroad and I was very sick because my love had left me alone for the first time. When he came back home I healed up and started to check his gifts for me. He always bought Barbie dolls and TKD bears for me and my sister. I've always liked bears. One day I asked him <<how you going to other countries? By plane? Can you fly, dad?>>, he answered me <<yes I am flying and if you want to fly away you have to start TKD!>>. That day, I decided to start TKD.
My first training years were very easy, I learnt so many things in the fastest way because we used to train at home. After 3 years, I started to train in a dojang. It was scary but I inculcated into myself: <<Elif, you are the daughter of Mustafa Yilmaz. Stay strong!>>, and so I did.
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| Elif and her father Mustafa Yilmaz |
Elif: I believe in discipline. My dad teached me to respect other people first. If you can respect your coach, your students will listen to you and try to follow you. I want my father's name to live forever. That's why I decided to teach poomsae to kids. By this way I could learn how to be a coach. I started 3 years ago, at our first training I told them that I am their coach first, second their big sister. That's why our trainings are funny and respectful at the same time. Then after 3 years of hard work, this year all of my students won a gold medal at the national championships.
About strictness, they are afraid of me so much. Because they know if they do something wrong I can turn on my green eyed monster Elif :))
We can only train 2 days per week,12 hours in total. I am taking kids to my special class when they are 8 years old. So they can learn how to compete and how to be good competitors.
Cryu: Speaking of winning, how important is it to you? Thinking of victory can be a distraction during competitions? Is winning the ultimate goal or it’s just the best outcome of a nevertheless engaging experience? Imagine for some reason one day you won’t be able to fight for the gold anymore; do you think you will keep competing only for the sake of it?
Elif: I am a competitor, I am the daughter of a Poomsae legend and honestly I am a girl who has a huge ego. Winning is so important. Victory, taking the gold medal and be on the highest place of the podium. Every competitor wants to be winner, we all fight for it. So it's special and important.
Thinking about victory is always motivating me. I am always repeating to myself <<you deserve the first place. You trained more than anybody. You gave your life's most important minutes, hours, days, years for it! You have to!>>.
I want to stop competing at the apex of my career. Because like all international sportsmen, I'm not only fighting for myself. I am fighting for kids and people who love me and see me as an idol, so I have to win for them. If one day I won't be able to win anymore, basically I will quit TKD as a player.
Cryu: The hardest thing for a Poomsae player is controlling the pressure. One of the typical misunderstanding in Poomsae training is just repeating them over and over hoping you’ll be performing identically in front of the judges and a crowd. Do you train your mind in specific ways? Do you have any personal strategy not to let the emotion overcome you when no mistake is allowed?
Elif: I am training so hard. Sometimes even ten hours in a day, sometimes only two. But we have to be smart when we train poomsae. Especially kyorugi players think we have easier trainings than theirs. Our practice start in our mind. You have to feel okay before training or you won't be able to train well. I believe the human brain can stop anything. That's why before competitions I turn off every feeling, only to turn them back on when it's all over. My career is so important. So I can't mix emotions and work. Professionals don't do that.
Cryu: TKD fighting is vastly more popular than Poomsae, especially since the Olympic Games only include the former. As a globally awarded Poomsae champion, do you think you are not as popular as you deserve? On the opposite side, can you tell the single time you felt most honored?
Elif: About myself, I am not so popular yet. I will be popular when I really deserve it.
At the last camp for the European Poomsae Championships, a little girl visited us with her parents. Her haircut was the same as mine, she looked like a little version of me. She saw me and run toward me. She hugged me tightly and said: <<you are so perfect. I want to be like you!>>. I felt like on top of the world. Honored, really. What I really want to do in my lifetime is to inspire people with my talent and personality. Especially kids.
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| The Senior 1 Female division podium at the European Poomsae Championships 2013 |
Cryu: You are a phenomenal TKD talent, but before that you are girl, with so many other passions and an amazingly joyful approach to life. Before you I had never met anyone who was both great fun and a top class athlete. In this respect, how do you feel compared to most athletes from yours and other national teams? Do you enjoy all the time spent with them or you easily miss the company of your own everyday friends?
Elif: Thank you. I just try to be myself everywhere. There are so many Elif you can see during competitions... funny Elif, cheerleader Elif, warrior princess Elif :))
Especially in Europe we are all like a huge family. We miss each other, we share our most important moments, we have fun training together by electronic ways... There is no difference between our athletes and the other countries' athletes.
Cryu: For many taekwondists, Poomsae are that boring stuff you have to do half an hour per class when a belt examination is approaching. How many hours do you train Poomsae per day and week? How many Poomsae can you perform within a single training session? Do you usually focus on a single one or go over many of them in a cyclic way?
Elif: I do not perform Poomsae in my trainings. I keep my performances for competitions. I train at least 50 hours per week. And I have no daily training programme. Someday if I want to train only the yopchagi, I train only that.
Cryu: Wait. Are you telling me you NEVER try an entire Poomsae before the competition day?!?
Elif: Of course I do, but not at full throttle... I just teach the Poomsae to my body again and again... When you learn something very well, then you'll be able to show it easily.
Cryu: So you try everything but not at your full potential. Why?
Elif: Because when I train I am not a good sportsman. I am always making mistakes, and mistakes break my motivation. So I watch my competitions first. İ try to spot all of the mistakes and parts that need improvement and İ focus on training them. Then, before a competition, in order to avoid stress I tell myself to do my Poomsae just like at a demonstration show.
Cryu: To the non-practicioners, Poomsae are difficult to understand and quite obscure to look at. How would you explain the beauty of them to those who wonder why we even do such an apparently nonsensical thing?
Elif: Poomsae are the way you show your passion for TKD. You have to be strong and aesthetic at the same time. Everybody has their own style in Poomsae. Only when you take up this discipline you start to understand what competitors feel while they are performing Poomsae.
Cryu: Many Poomsae athletes seem to enjoy the tournaments only when their turn is over. You too look terribly serious when you’re out there! Do you still manage to have fun when you step on the mat or you only focus on doing your best? What do you think is the best part of being a Poomsae specialist?
Elif: I can have fun in every place and situation. Especially when I compete, I stay focused the best I can, but in the warming area I am always having fun with my friends. Both things can happen at the same time. That doesn't mean I am not taking it seriously, that's why I always look so serious (especially when my dad, brother and boyfriend are competing :) )
I am not a Poomsae specialist yet so I can't answer it. But I am honored if you see me as such... Thank you so much :)
Cryu: Lastly, what’s your favorite form? Mine is Pyongwon :)
Elif: Koryo and Taebaek are my favorite forms :)
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| Elif and her pair mate Ali Kemal Ustabaş on the beach of Alicante, Spain |
(Pre-editing photos: Turkey Poomsae National Team)
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