ANNA-JONESBORO, Ill. (KFVS) – The 2024 Paris Olympics may be over, but one Heartland woman is preparing for a different kind of competition – in Greece.
Heather Coffman takes part in the World Championships of the World Karate and Kickboxing Union (WKU).
“In my division, I was one of four chosen from the United States,” Coffman said.
She received an email just days after her tryout for Team USA in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
An email that confirmed to her that she was about to have the experience of a lifetime.
“I looked at my fiancé and said, ‘I’m going to Greece!'” she said.
Coffman said she started studying martial arts on and off about 18 years ago. She even runs her own academy in Anna-Jonesboro, Illinois, called Coffman’s Martial Arts Academy.
And now she is preparing for the highest level of competition the sport has to offer.
“So I’ll actually be competing against other people,” Coffman explained. “There will be over 25 countries represented.”
If you ask her if she’s nervous about the competition, she says no. But there is one thing that makes her nervous: flying overseas alone.
Before all the belts, awards and competitions, life was pretty normal for Heather.
“I went to SIU and was a teacher and a housewife and mother for a very long time, and then I worked as a teacher… it was never in my nature that I would own a school or compete in that way.”
So how did the change come about? The answer is simple: she tried to be a good mother to her son.
“We tried all kinds of sports and he didn’t like any of them, but he chose martial arts,” Coffman said. “He tried it for a while and then said, ‘Mom, I want to quit.’ And I said, ‘Don’t quit, I’ll do it with you.'”
Having the courage to try something new is not easy, said Coffman.
“Oh, it’s hard. It’s hard because it takes you out of your comfort zone,” she said. “And a lot of people have a hard time with that because they don’t like failure. But if you don’t like failure, how are you ever going to grow?”
Coffman let her love for martial arts transcend any belt or award—she found in Robert Cutrell her best friend, fiancé, trainer, and co-owner of her martial arts studio.
Cutrell started training Heather about eight years ago and proposed to her on the floor of her dojo in 2022.
And Cutrell, as grandmaster and founder of ChunjiDo, a globally recognized martial arts style, knows a lot himself.
He also holds several black belts in numerous other forms and trains and teaches them all over the world.
“I’ve mentioned this before, she’s a hidden gem in this field,” he added. “She’s extremely disciplined and has a tremendous work ethic and we almost have to go into a certain zone when we train together and when we leave the mat we’re like fiancés again.”
Every feeling, every day, every moment of hard work leads to this point in her life – soon she will be standing in front of a stranger, ready to be relentless.
“The first thing I do is make friends – it puts everyone at ease, and I introduce myself to everyone because it’s friendly competition – but once I step on the mat, I’m a warrior and I’m going to do what I have to do,” Coffman said.
The World Championship will take place from 20 to 26 October.
“I want to show people that no matter how old they are, there is always something new and that you can always achieve something,” she said.
And while Coffman called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she said for her, the reason is not that she plans to go back next year, regardless of how this year turns out.
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