Locals Win Taekwondo Medals

L to R: Master Instructor Willie
 Matthews and Charisma Edwards

Again, Charisma Edwards and her Taekwondo master instructor came home as winners from the Master Brewer’s Battle Under The Bridge, West Memphis, AR on March 10, 2018. Charisma won a Gold medal - 1st Place in fighting and a Bronze - 2nd Place for form. Instructor Matthews won Silver Medal - 3rd Place for fighting. Both of them are Louisville, MS natives.
Charisma, 25 years old, is the daughter of retired Attorney Johnny B. Edward and the late Jolene McQueen. She is a 2011 graduate of Louisville High School for which she played football for two years. Charisma stated that she “liked fighting as a sport, since she was very young.” She is very excited that the President and Founder of the American Marital Arts (AMA), Sr. Master Dennis Brewer, 7th degree Black Belt, has invited her to the ‘try outs’ for the American team that will attend the tournament in Italy November 2019. The ‘try outs’ will be April 2019. Matthews stated that Dennis Brewer said from the moment he saw her fight, he knew that she (Charisma) was going to be a monster.

Instructor Matthews, a 4th Degree Black Belt, was the oldest competitor at 63 Years of age at the event. Amazingly, Matthews retired in 1990 and came out of retirement in 2018. His school, Panthers Taekwondo is becoming a member of the American Marital Arts to represent Mississippi. When asked how he keeps fit, he stated, “All one does is maintain the body and the skills are in the head.” He practices yoga to maintain the body. The next event will be May 2018 in Atlanta, GA. He plans to be there with his student Charisma.

Submitted by: Elmetra Patterson