SHEGUIANDAH—Olivia Cicciarella may be only nine years old, but she has the heart of a true champion. Olivia is the granddaughter of Ed and Connie Ferguson of Sheguiandah (Green Bay) and was up visiting the family cottage when The Expositor caught wind of her story.
Olivia began studying taekwondo at the start of the pandemic. That meant most of her classes were by Zoom, but luckily Olivia’s father holds a black belt in karate and was very encouraging of both her and her younger sister. She is now not only able to attend classes but she can compete—and compete she does, bringing home gold among the many medals she scored at an international meet in South Africa.
Olivia competes in the Tatami events in taekwondo martial arts and she is coached by Kwan Na Jim Veronica Desantos, the first woman inducted into the National Martial Arts Hall of Fame and, most recently, inducted into the Canadian Karate Hall Fame.
“Desantos Martial Arts is a part the World Association of Kick Boxing Organizations—WAKO—which is the on the doorstep to be in the Olympics,” shared Olivia’s mother, Stephanie (Ferguson) Cicciarella.
Olivia qualified at the age of eight for the Intercontinental Championship–South Africa versus Canada, despite actually being too young when registration opened, although she was of age once the competitions began.
“We were in South Africa for 14 days where I competed in four events,” said Olivia. “The first two events were in Oudtshoorn and the second two events were in Cape Town. In Oudtshoorn, I won bronze for weapons (nunchucks) and silver for forms in the open tournament.” While in the championship she won gold.
At Capetown, Olivia won gold for point sparring in the open tournament and silver in point sparring and gold in weapons in the championship round.
Olivia is no stranger to gold, having competed in the Ontario Winter Games in Pembrooke at age eight, where she won gold. It was after that competition that Olivia got a phone call from her instructor inviting her to participate in the WAKO National Team for Canada.
The biggest challenge for Olivia right now is her age. “I don’t have very many to compete with,” she said. As time goes on that will become less of a challenge.
In the meantime, Olivia is staying focussed on the guiding principles of taekwondo. She rhymes them off without pause: “courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit.”
Oh, and being a kid.
Olivia brought home a lot more than medals from her trip to South Africa. Her memories will include riding (and being hugged) by elephants and getting an ostrich massage.
“That’s where you hold a bag of corn and the ostriches lean over your shoulders to eat the corn,” she explains. “The massage part is from their soft necks.”
Experiences that will remain cherished memories to last a lifetime.
