POWER FROM TOWER

Hieu is Cloghroe’s karate kid

LOGHROE, just outside of Tower, is a hotbed of talent when it comes to many things, but in the world of Karate the village and its surrounding districts are right at the top of their game – producing a host of very talented and highly competitive champions at all levels of the sport.

One such prospect is Tower native Hieu Power. The 17-yearold has been a member at the Cloghroe Karate Club for 10 years after taking up the sport at the age of eight.

Hieu Power isn’t the first local star to be working his way through the club under the tutelage of Stephen O’Callaghan with many high performing young and not so young exponents of the sport making their way onto the world scene.

At present, two of the best young exponents of Karate, Seán and Christopher McCarthy also compete and train from the Cloghroe club with both having a couple of years on Power. All are well on their way to conquering the world at their own particular grades.

For those that may question the levels at which these young Karate stars are competing a quick run through what Hieu has already achieved puts things very clearly into perspective – as he has previously secured the

British, Irish & Nordic championship title, the IJKA world champion 2017, 2x Recchia as well as becoming an international cup champion.

Hieu was formally ranked 12th in the world in Under 16 -57kg and represented Ireland at two Europeans and one World Championship.

“I have been doing Karate now for 10 years,” said Power.

“I started when I was eight in Cloghroe Karate Club under Stephen O’Callaghan who is still my coach today. The club is a brilliant place to learn and work out of. The standard of competitor and trainer at the club is right at the top end of the sport.”

Power is obviously one of the best exponents at his age group right now, but being part of the highly respected and sought after Emerging Talent Programme as well as the Cloghroe Karate Club also means he gets to rub shoulders with the McCarthy brothers on a very regular basis.

“I get to see the likes of Seán and Christopher [McCarthy] at the club or the Mardyke nearly every day. They are both two years ahead of me so I get exposed to their level now, which I think is really good for me.”

Power may be well looked after at Cloghroe Karate Club, but he still finds time to be a busy fifth year secondary school student at Ballincollig Community School (BCS) while also attending the prestigious Emerging Talent Programme (ETP) at the Mardyke Sports Complex under the direction of Programme director Jeff Gomez.

Power is another young Cork sports star in what is becoming a long line of success stories from the (ETP), which aims to assist the best of the best young athletes in the county as they look to progress in their chosen fields of sport.

Getting into the UCC (ETP) programme is recognition enough that an athlete may well be on a path to greatness, but the programme itself is still just another stepping on what is a long road to local, national and perhaps international greatness at ones chosen sporting discipline.

Just before the Covid shutdown Hieu was continuing to impress and claimed the National Championships at Under 18 minus 61KG as well as at the heavier weight class of minus 68kg so right now the young Cork lad is National Champion at two weight divisions. The competition held in Tallaght proved yet again, if proof were still required, just what a talent this young athlete is.

“I was recently in Budapest for the European Championships and managed to get through a very strong opponent from Germany, which I was delighted with. Before that I was in Chile for the World Championships last October and I managed to finish ninth in the World at the

Minus 61kg division.

“The Covid 19 shut-down has been hard on our sport, like for every other sport. I was hoping to go to Limassol in Cyprus for a youth Premier league, but that got cancelled. It was hard to see that one pass as I was peaking for that but as with many other things that is now all up in the air.

“Nobody really knows where everything is going to go from here but that is just the way things are right now.”

Power may well be in lockdown, like the rest of us, but he certainly isn’t spending his time with boxsets and chocolate as continues to push himself from the comfort of his own home.

“I am training everyday with the ETP and Jeff [Gomez] giving us conditioning programmes to get on with. I am also staying involved with the Karate side of things with online Karate classes so at this stage I am training hard twice a day. It is very important that I keep up to speed with

the best techniques and training methods and keep as fit as I can be without competitive action.

“There is no denying that it is very hard training like this. You are not training with a specific goal or target date. You are not training to peak for something definite. You are training just for the sake of training and to try and stay as sharp as you can.

“It is difficult to push yourself for a gold medal for an event that you don’t know when or if it will happen, but that is just another challenge at the moment.

“Karate is like most other physical sports where you are always looking to peak at the right time, for the right event and it is always on your mind at the moment that that event may not be there but part of the job is to stay in shape. That is all I can do now.

“I am used to getting my tips from the coaches face to face and this is obviously very different. Technology is helping,

There is no denying that it is very hard training like this. You are not training with a specific goal or target date

– Hieu Power

but it can never replace the tried and trusted.”

There is little doubting that Hieu Power has all the ingredients and credentials to go far in Karate, but he is still only 17 there is still a long road left to travel. That said, when it comes to talent, desire, attention to detail and drive this young Tower man leaves the vast majority of his peers in his wake.

Power had plans to compete in many events this season, both nationally and internationally, but as with most sports, Karate has had to make way for the Covid emergency. While the shutdown may well be effecting the young Cork man’s plans for the immediate future there is little doubting that we will hear plenty about the young Karate Kid in the coming years.

To get accepted into the ETP an athlete must be able to outline what their targets are for the future and as importantly how they plan to get there and in the case Power, the targets are crystal clear.

“To be ranked in the top ten in the world for my age/weight category – to medal at every competition I attend and to represent Ireland in the 2024 Olympics.”