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For now, Brownsville’s Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr. is the third-ranked para taekwondo athlete in the world.
Sanchez, 23, will be looking to move up the ranks at the 10th World Para Taekwondo Championships to be held Sept. 21-24 in Veracruz, Mexico.
Juan Carlos qualified for Veracruz by virtue of his third-place finish at the Virtus Global Games in Vichy, France, in June. Taekwondo is a Korean martial art that stresses precision and courtesy in executing prescribed moves.
The Veracruz tournament and the Virtus games represent world championship competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities. Juan Carlos Jr., who is autistic, has been honing his skills at the Olympic Tae Kwon Do Academy in Brownsville since 2010.
Now, he is training in the gym and the Margaret M. Clark Aquatic Center pool on alternate days in addition to regular taekwondo workouts, his father Juan Carlos Sanchez Sr. said.
Juan Carlos Jr. also helps out at his family’s business, JN 316 Embroidery and Screen Printing. The family is using the business as a venue to raise funds for the trip to Veracruz. They are of limited means and are also looking for sponsors for the trip.
The elder Sanchez said Adrian Gonzales, the U.S. national para taekwondo coach, has praised Juan Carlos Jr.’s work ethic and abilities.
“In this tournament the best taekwondo athletes in the world compete, and Juan Carlos is one of them. The national coach told us that he has the qualifications to be the best para taekwondo athlete in the U.S.,” Sanchez Sr. said.
Juan Carlos’ sister Ana Sofia Sanchez had more to say.
“So now my brother is not only physically training himself but mentally preparing himself to overcome any obstacles. Right now he’s taking swimming classes to build up his arms, back and legs. In his competition he has to be able to kick a certain height, kick a certain angle, so swimming allows him to build all of that physical strength,” she said.
“The thing to say about the Veracruz world championships is that only the best of the best get to participate in this. It’s a very important tournament because after that there’s the Pan American Games and after that the Olympics. So I guess you can say the world championships in Veracruz is a pretty huge deal,” she said.
Ana Sofia bubbled over with pride when asked about her brother’s accomplishments.
“If I’m being honest with you I could not be any more proud of him, because he’s my only brother, my only sibling that I will ever have in my life, so knowing that my brother has accomplished more than enough is everything. He has worked so hard, so I am very proud of him,” she said.
Disabilities don’t “stop us as siblings to share music together, to do sports together, grow up together, so me seeing him succeed academically, physically and in sports, it makes my heart be filled with joy,” she said.
The elder Sanchez and Juan Carlos Jr.’s mother Maria Dolores Sanchez said they discovered taekwondo by chance one evening after dinner at what was then a wings restaurant next door to the school along Ruben Torres Sr. Boulevard and Paredes Line Road in Brownsville.
From the time he was a small child, Juan Carlos Jr. has had an aversion to noise and struggled with socializing. His parents, understandably, were looking for activities that would help him, and his psychologist had recommended the martial arts.
JN 316, the embroidery and screen printing business, can be reached at [email protected] or (956) 592-5952.
