Las Vegas freshman rising to the top in national taekwondo tournaments

She is 14, 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighs 103 pounds — but don’t let her youthfulness and size fool you. Faith Dillon can kick the you-know-what with the best of them.

Earlier this year, the Summerlin-area resident won the U.S. Open Taekwondo Championship for her age group. It’s another step to her ultimate goal.

“I want to compete in the 2020 Olympics,” she said. “That’ll be my senior year of high school.”

A freshman at West Career and Technical Academy, 11945 W. Charleston Blvd., Dillon’s fight record in 2015 and 2016 was 47 wins and four losses.

But then, Taekwondo has dominated her life since she was 5.

“It was my idea (to get into the sport),” she said. “I was always watching the Jackie Chan show, and I was always saying, ‘I want to do stuff like Jackie Chan.’ ”

One of her dad’s co-workers at Miller Brewing Co. was a taekwondo instructor, so she began taking lessons.

Dillon, 14, saw early success — big success. She was a national champion when she was 9. That high was quickly quelled when she entered her new age group, 11- to 14-year-olds, and was facing girls who were bigger and heavier.

She said she entered the ring for the first bout in the new age bracket feeling unfazed.

“I was cocky,” she admitted. “I was like, ‘I can do this again.’ ”

But she lost her first match. Determined, she told herself to keep working and keep getting better. As she got older and entered the cadet class, she also had to learn to protect herself better.

“When she went from 10 to 11 to the 12 to 14, she went from an age bracket where there were restrictions on how hard somebody could kick you,” said her father, Brendan. “In cadet, it’s unlimited, so she got kicked in the head a lot as a 12-year-old.”

Enter her new coach, Gergely Salim. Salim had won gold at the 1992 Olympics and was in town with his team about four years ago. His students dominated the event.

“I went, ‘That’s who I want to coach Faith,’ ” Brendan said. “To succeed in taekwondo, or any sport, you have to have an elite coach.”

The Los Angeles-based dojo owner agreed to take Dillon on as a student. Ever since, her father has driven her to Redondo Beach in Southern California two weekends a month where they stay with relatives. She trains from 4 to 9 p.m. on Fridays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays before driving back to Las Vegas. During the summer, she trains there full time.

For the first year, Dillon said Salim undid basically everything she’d learned. He changed her technique and stance and taught her new kicks. The changes were necessary. Even though she was in the 11- to 14-year-old age bracket, all she was fighting were 14-year olds.

Her father said he saw her evolve into a better fighter.

“It was tough (at first), then, near the end of the season, it just clicked,” he said. “She got it.”

Now fighting in the 15- to 17-year-old age group, Juniors, her next bout is the President’s Cup, slated for Oct. 27 in Portland, Ore. It’ll be her first Juniors fight. She trained for it with her six-day-a-week routine that includes weights, running and kicking.

Dillon added that the sport has also taught her discipline, such as when she was in Europe for three weeks and kept up with her school work and tests.

This has been a busy year for her. Taekwondo has two separate governing bodies, USA Taekwondo (USAT) and the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and both have yearly state and national tournaments and team trials. Dillon qualified for both teams in 2015 and 2016.

She won the U.S. Open Championships in Reno on Feb. 6. Then, she and her dad spent three weeks in Europe so she could compete in nearly back-to-back tournaments, winning the April 16 Spanish Open Championships in Benicassim, Spain, and again a week later at the German Open Championships in Hamburg, Germany.

Dillon, 13 at the time, won gold for Cadet (12- to 14-year-olds) division in her weight class. Back in the U.S., she also took gold at the 2016 AAU Taekwondo National Team Trials and at the 2016 USAT Taekwondo National Championships.

At West Career and Tech, she is studying nursing and is on the speech and debate team. She also gives back by volunteering four days a week with kindergarteners at Bell Elementary School and teaching younger kids taekwondo.

Her ultimate goal, she said, is to be an anesthetist.

Dillon’s most recent win moves her up the ladder once again, this time to the 15- to 17-year-olds class.

“I like fighting harder fighters,” she said. “It builds my confidence. It makes me a stronger fighter.”

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.