NY National Guard Spc. Nashayla Harper, a Schenectady Resident, To Represent U.S. in Taekwondo Competition

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Spc. Nashayla Harper (right) poses with her aunt and coach Mechelle Smith after winning in her weight class at the 2016 AAU Taekwondo National Championships in July.

LATHAM, NY (07/21/2016)(readMedia)-- New York Army National Guard Soldier Spc. Nashayla Harper has won her way into the National Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Women's Taekwondo Team, and she'll be competing in international matches next year.

Harper, of Schenectady, N.Y., beat a Virginia resident in the welter-weight class for 18 to 32-year old females at the 2016 AAU Taekwondo National Championships held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from July 4 to 9.

Harper's victory clinched her a spot on the national women's team, and she'll be representing the United States in her weight class during an international competition – possibly the German open – in 2017, according to Joe Hasan, the Adirondack AAU Taekwondo district director.

Harper joined the New York Army National Guard in 2014 and is a flight-operations specialist with the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade. The brigade, part of the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division, provides command and control for Army Aviation units in 11 states.

Harper, who hopes to compete in the Olympics someday, describes Taekwondo as a "family thing" for her.

Her aunt and coach Mechelle Smith, also of Schenectady, won a gold medal for Taekwondo in the 1992 Pan American Games, served as an alternate on the 1988 United States Olympic Taekwondo team and was inducted into the National Martial Arts Hall of Fame twice.

Harper said that her mother Shaunelle Smith also competes in the sport, and her father Michael Harper racked up seven national championships.

She got involved with Taekwondo when she was just three years old, started competing when she was eight years old, and won two junior-level National AAU Championships in her teens, she explained.

To maintain her skills, peak physical condition and fighting weight, Harper works out and practices Taekwondo daily. Taekwondo prepared her for the rigorous physical demands of Army basic training and Army life, she explained.

"I'm a lot more conditioned for Taekwondo," she explained. "But Taekwondo got me in more 'Army shape' even before basic (training)."

A Korean martial art, Taekwondo was developed in the 40s and 50s by combining and incorporating elements of older Korean martial-arts traditions and other martial-arts traditions. Since Taekwondo competitors score points by kicking and punching their opponents, it requires more skill than boxing, she said.

"As precise as boxers are with their hands, we have to be with our feet," Harper said.

Her niece's national win came after a long, hard effort, to include several years of defeats on the national adult level, Mechelle said. She believes that her niece's National Guard experience and numerous wins this year gave her the maturity and confidence to finally win the national match.

Her niece has a lot of training ahead of her for the international competition, Mechelle stressed. But she also shares her niece's Olympic dreams.

"It's a long drawn-out process," Mechelle said. "It takes a lot of mental toughness. But if she wants that, I'll be right there by her side."