Kaylie Christy may weigh only 52 pounds, but she’s a force when she steps out on the Tae Kwon Do mat. Just ask her one of her victims.

Take, for example, the boy who smiled to his parents before he stepped onto the mat, thinking that taking down the girl wouldn’t be much trouble.

“At the end of the match he was crying,” said Kaylie’s mother, Sunday Christy. “She gave him a smile back.”

Or ask the girl who Kaylie fought at a tournament in Santa Clarita: It only took Kaylie an unheard of seven seconds to take down that opponent. According to her mother, she didn’t even a break a sweat.

The Huntington Beach Carden Academy fifth-grader completed her greatest accomplishment in the sport thus far last month when she took home a bronze medal at the Junior Olympics at Detroit’s Ford Field.

Though she was competing against mostly 10- and 11-year-olds and weighed 13 pounds below the weight limit, she had no trouble holding her own.

“I felt proud,” the 9-year-old said.

The bronze medal is just one of the many accolades and awards Kaylie has racked up.

Although she was told by many a coach that she had a promising future in gymnastics, Kaylie started Tae Kwon Do three years ago and has never looked back. Things seem to have paid off.

“I like fighting people, kicking them,” she said with a playful grin. “I like beating them up.”

Shy and reserved off of the mat, Tae Kwon Do is where Kaylie releases her inner monster.

“She’s such a girly-girl away from Tae Kwon Do,” her mother said. “You put her out on that mat though and she’s insane.”

As for her strategy when she’s out on the mat, Kaylie, who will be going for her black belt status in the next month, said she mainly tries to be aggressive.

“I go straight at them, as hard as I can,” she said.

Already one of the best fighters in the nation for her age group, Kaylie is looking to take her passion as far as she can.

She had the opportunity to meet a number of the Olympic competitors for Team USA during last month’s Junior Olympics, and she will be watching the Beijing events with an eager eye.

“I want to make it to the Olympics,” she said.

Whether she does get that far may ultimately be a moot point.

Tae Kwon Do is what drives Kaylie, Sunday Christy said, and it’s already had a positive impact on her.

“Tae Kwon Do helped her come out of her shell,” her mother said. “It allowed her to be aggressive.

“It’s her passion. It’s more important to her than anything else.”

By Jack Salisbury

Picture: Kaylie Christy, a fourth-grader at Carden Academy of Huntington Beach, won a bronze medal at 2008 Taekwondo Jr. Olympic National Competition.

Carden Academy - Huntington Beach (at 721 E. Utica Avenue).

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