Recently, Paralympian Elliott ‘Lefty’ Loonstra received the oficial invitation to be compete at the Paralympics 2021 in Tokyo Japan. Loonstra is the first athlete of Aruba to be invited to such competition. The competition will take place on August 24th up to September 5th, 2021. Due to the Covid-19 situation and taking all procols into consideration it was decided that spectators will not be permitted at the event and in this case the event will be transmitted online through different social platforms and television.
When Elliott Loonstra began training in Para taekwondo, he was holding gym sessions on a beach in Aruba. He would meet his coach at 5 a.m. – before tourists would take over – to run, stretch and practise kicks. Eventually, they upgraded their training after landing a reasonable deal with one of the few gyms on the south Caribbean island of Aruba, whose population is approximately 112,000.
While the COVID-19 pandemic adds another layer of challenge, Loonstra is still hopeful for next year’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo. If he secures his targeted goal, he could become the only second athlete from Aruba to compete at a Paralympic Games; swimmer Jesus de Marchena Acevedo was Aruba’s first Paralympian at Rio 2016. At first, Loonstra didn’t realise the historical implications and the breadth of the Paralympic Movement. That was until his first multi-sporting competition almost a year ago at the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games. “On the flight to Lima I was just strangely calm because I didn’t understand how big the event was,” Loonstra recalled. “But when I walked into the Opening Ceremony, if you find the clip of my face, you can see the moment when I’m like ‘OK, I understand how big this is now’. “And immediately it changed my attitude of ‘OK we’re just at another tournament having a fight’ to ‘Oh no no no’, this is the next level, high-level tournament. Everyone is watching, you’re representing your country … You’re the dude, let’s do this, we believe in you.’That was a huge shift in perspectives.”
He thought other Aruban Para athletes would join him in Lima, Peru. But when lining up to carry his country’s flag into the Opening Ceremony, he found himself alone in a sea of 1,850 athletes.
“It was a very unique experience to me because it’s kinda like finding a whole different tribe of people you can relate to,” described Loonstra, who lost in his opening round to Brazil’s Alexandre dos Santos in the up-to 75kg K44. “For example, me in Aruba, I don’t have other people with a disability so a lot of the times I feel I’m the only guy here with a disability. But once I was there and saw everyone, everyone is just rocking out, showing off how talented they are.” “I remember the first day I was there, a guy did a double spin kick, and I’m just looking at him like ‘Wait. What? How did you do that?’”
Kicking off the journey
Loonstra’s family owns a scuba shop. His coach, also a scuba diver, approached Loonstra one day in 2017 and asked if he would be interested in Para taekwondo.
Loonstra, 28 at the time, was interested in mixed-martial arts (MMA) fighting and thought Para taekwondo would be a good pipeline.
A year later, he was fully absorbed into the Para sport. They started training with the basics on the beach and in his coach’s backyard. Overtime, Loonstra dropped weight from 102kg to 79kg, and eventually they locked themselves in a gym that offered them adequate training space.
In 2018, he was invited to a camp in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which allowed him to diversify his training; the camp was hosted by the National Paralympic Committee Development Programme.
“That also was a great experience because in Aruba – when it comes to training – it’s just me and my coach. And although it’s amazing to train with a great coach, it’s just the two of us. It can get repetitive,” he said.
“When we went to Brazil, I got a lot of action and we made new friends so much so that one of the coaches there invited us back last year for about three months to train with them.”
Training through COVID-19
Loonstra was set to compete in four competitions in 2020 to secure ranking points toward Tokyo 2020.
Although that has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he remains adamant on achieving his Paralympic debut. He practises techniques in his yard such as kicks, but has to adapt to the lack of gym equipment for strength training. The pandemic has also opened up a new hobby – aquaponics, which is growing plants using water and fish, opposed to dirt. So far, he has had success growing sweet potatoes and rosemary. “I’m definitely planning to still compete in taekwondo,” Loonstra reassured, joking.
“When people ask me ‘What do you do?’ I tell them ‘I kick people’. Immediately they look at me and are like ‘What?’ And I say ‘No no no. I’m an athlete’.”
