Sport
25 May, 2025
Family fights reap rewards
AFTER years of training side by side, a Manoora mother and son taekwondo team have reached new heights – both competing at nationals in June, with the son set to represent Australia at the world championships this October.
What began as a mother-son bonding activity for Jasmyn Grundy and a then nine–year–old Hunter Thomson has become an inspiring sport partnership that is now leading the pair to compete in the All Australian International Taekwon-Do Federation (AAITF) national and (ITF) world championships.
The nationals will take place in Melbourne on June 21 and 22 and the ITF world championships in Italy from October 3 to 13.
Mr Thomson, now 17, said he was proud to see how far they both have come under the guidance of North Queensland’s ITF chief instructor Master Jeff Dieben.
“I started taekwondo eight years ago. My mum’s friend’s son did it and told me I should give it a go. I tried it and really enjoyed it and six months later I asked my mum to join with me,” he said.
“Doing this with my mum has been a very bonding experience. It’s really enjoyable to see how we both push each other to strive better in competitions.”
“I remember the first night, I was there because I wanted to be supportive of my son, I didn’t have the intention of staying,” Ms Grundy said.
“But I was there, and I thought, ‘This is absolutely incredible’.
“The whole sense of being connected to the physical body and the sense of personal power as well, the different doors that eight years of training have opened and that sense of family connection when we train together is amazing.”
Mother and son started competing in 2021 at the NQ Games followed by nationals last year and only a month ago the pair also competed in state championships in Brisbane where Mr Thomson won three gold medals in patterns, special technique and board breaking and a silver in sparring while Ms Grundy won a bronze medal in patterns.
Now the pair are gearing up for both upcoming nationals and Mr Thomson’s debut in world championships.
“We’re training a minimum of six hours a week, every week to prepare for the competition,” he said.
“I’m proud of myself for achieving this. I think it’s the first time our club gets to a world level competition and my goal is to try to be my absolute best at nationals so I can be even better for worlds.”
The pair who train at the ITF Taekwondo Cairns Beaches club in Trinity Beach said they looked forward to continuing to be sparring partners into the future.
Coach Master Jeff Dieben said the precocious teen had a bright future ahead of him.
“Hunter has achieved really well in a very short period. He’s got a lot of years of opportunities ahead of him and it’s an honour for him to be selected in the first place to go and play at world championships,” he said.
“It will be a great opportunity to be inspired by some of the world’s best.”
Ms Grundy has set up a GoFundMe to fundraise for the world championships trip. To support it, visit https://bit.ly/3ZqvfbW
