CREDIT: PROVIDED BY JODI ANDERSON-CARSON
Jodi Anderson-Carson brought home a silver and a bronze medal at this year's World Karate and Kickboxing Commission World Championships. Her son also participated in the competition.

Fanshawe's Jodi Anderson-Carson claimed a silver and a bronze medal at this year's World Karate and Kickboxing Commission (WKC) World Championships in Orlando, Fl.

According to the official WKC website, the WKC World Championships is an annual martial arts competition that gathers the top competitors of various martial arts disciplines from across the globe to complete.

Anderson-Carson can be seen around campus as she is the fitness and wellness program director of the Student Wellness Centre. Anderson-Carson also teaches some classes at the fitness centre.

Anderson-Carson said that the opening ceremony were a very emotional moment for her to share with her son who also competed at the World Championships. “The opening ceremony is very much like the Olympics. All the different countries come together and parade through the competition area. Walking with my son with our Canada flags was pretty emotional for me. It was a great experience to be able to do that with him,” Anderson-Carson said.

In order to qualify for the finals of an event, participants needed to place in one of the top four positions during the preliminary round.

Anderson-Carson pulled off an impressive silver medal finish in the veteran women's point sparring event. She fought fellow Canadian Brigitte Pellerin in the gold medal match. “I ended up fighting a fellow Canadian that I have fought before in other tournaments. We are always very well matched and it is always a close fight for us,” Anderson-Carson said. Anderson-Carson explained that in the final match of the point sparring competition, the competitors have to fight two two-minute rounds. After the first round, both Anderson-Carson and Pellerin were tied for points. However, the final score after the second round was 20-15 in favour of Pellerin.

In regards to her performance in the veteran women's continuous sparring competition, Anderson-Carson claimed the bronze medal after falling to an American competitor in the semi-finals. The events at the WCK World Championships were live-streamed on sportsmartialarts.com.

“Overall, I was very happy with the way I performed,” Anderson-Carson said. “I'm really proud I got a silver and a bronze medal for my first year at the World Championships.”

Anderson-Carson's son competed in the traditional bow, creative bow, freestyle kata and traditional kata competitions. At the end of the week, he received the silver medal for traditional kata and the bronze medal for traditional bow.

Anderson-Carson explained that it is a tradition to trade jackets with a participant from another country. While she did not get the opportunity to exchange jackets with a fellow competitor, her son traded his jacket with a competitor from Guatemala.

Anderson-Carson said that while the Canadian veteran women are fierce competitors that won't hold back during fights, they are all friends and supportive of each other once the fights have come to their conclusion.

While Anderson-Carson has attended the World Championships before to cheer on her son, she got the experience to view the event in a new angle as a participant battling for a spot on the podium.

Anderson-Carson said she hopes to compete in more tournaments and gain more experience leading up to qualifying for the World Championships in Ireland next year. In addition, she plans to participate in a team form with her son at the World Championships.