You might expect to find most teenage girls hanging out with their group of friends in their spare time. But for Anastasia Galazoula, she often spends her free time practicing kicking techniques at home or running on the slopes of the Imittos mountain range of Athens. Such is her devotion to the sport of taekwondo, which she says has become part of her nature.

When she first took up taekwondo at the tender age of seven, she could barely have dreamt that one day she would represent her country as an
elite sportswoman.

Last weekend she made her debut for the Greek national taekwondo team by competing in the European U21 Championships in Bucharest, Romania.
The 17-year-old high school student finished fifth in the Under 57kg category, losing to the eventual winner of the title.

Galazoula qualified for a place on the national team after winning the Greek national U21 title in October, a goal that she and her new coach Kon Kapanis set themselves at the start of 2015.

She says she enjoyed the experience of her first international tournament.

“Being part of the Greek team, training with the rest of Greece’s best, travelling together as Greece’s representation was an incredible sensation. I was so proud to be a part of all this. The feelings were even stronger when students from a Romanian Greek school arrived at the stadium to support us. We must have been the loudest cheering squad by far.”

Her chosen sport is not for the faint-hearted. “It’s a tough sport and requires great stamina,” she says. “Luckily I have not had any serious injuries apart from sprained ankles, fingers and toes, pulled muscles and the occasional swollen eye.

“I’m proud of her because in spite of difficulties, she didn’t and doesn’t give up,” says her mother Kelly Charitidis-Galazoula.

“Luckily her friends who have known her since kindergarten are extremely supportive. It isn’t easy being an athlete/teenager – having to keep to a strict diet, not going out with the gang whenever they do, choosing to say no when others would say yes. This shows her strength of character, her commitment and devotion to the sport she has chosen. She is also lucky to have the support of her fellow athletes at the Kapanis School. Moral support is essential in this individual sport. These athletes have become her second family.”

Like most elite athletes she combines excellent physical condition with mental strength. Galazoula trains five times a week with her coach as well as spending extra hours practicing to improve her kicking techniques and her stamina.

Somehow she also finds time to fit in her studies. Of her future plans she says: “So far as sport goes, my plans are to continuously improve my techniques in order to become a better athlete and participate in international tournaments, with the aim of maybe one day representing Greece at the Olympic Games.

“This is of course every athlete’s dream. As far as studies go, I hope to study physical education and sports science and perhaps one day become
a coach myself.”

Two of her biggest fans are her grandparents Anastasia and Spiros Charitidis, who live in Melbourne and follow her progress with keen interest and great pride.