LSUS student wins pair of golds at taekwondo world championships

LSUS student wins pair of golds at taekwondo world championships

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - LSUS business student Layla Arendell is accustomed to having a leg up on her competition.

The straight-A student captured two gold medals and one bronze at the 2025 International Taekwon-do Federation Union World Championships earlier this month.

The 19-year-old won the top prize in sparring and specialty board breaking while taking bronze in patterns.

"Honestly I didn't do much training in sparring compared to patterns, which is where I spent most of my training," said Arendell, a third-degree black belt. "I expected my opponents to be very aggressive in sparring, and they were fairly aggressive.

"I worked on moving and getting out of the way, then countering."

Sparring is simulated combat where participants score points for hitting certain parts of a competitor's body.

Arendell won all three of her matches in the women's black belt division, ages 18-35, in the 50-55 kilogram class.

She took gold in specialty board break by breaking a board placed higher than anyone else in her field.

Patterns consist of participants executing a taekwondo routine, a predetermined sequences of techniques, movements, and stances against imaginary opponents in which judges offer a score.

The Shreveport native was part of a group representing the United States in a competition with more than 26 countries taking part.

"I was recruited to compete in this event because my instructor Benny Broadway knows the head coach of Team USA really well," Arendell said. "We competed in Argentina with people from schools in Benton, Shreveport and Rockwall (Texas).

"I've competed in one international tournament before this in England, and I didn't do so well two years ago. But being part of an actual team was a much more fun experience."

Arendell took up the sport at the age of six at a time when her entire family participated.

But she's the only family member still competing, finding her way to Broadway Martial Arts at 13-years-old and training at their Haughton facility three days per week.

To prepare for the international championships, Arendell traveled to the Dallas area (Rockwall) every weekend for further work.

Arendell is planning to compete in the 2026 World Championships in Italy.

"I really enjoyed visiting England two years ago, and Argentina was really interesting because it's so different," Arendell said. "There are a lot of really beautiful things there, like this cool cemetery we saw and a lot of the architecture.

"I plan on continuing taekwondo for the foreseeable future. I'm perfectly content staying a third-degree black belt right now - I'm more concerned with developing my skillset than just getting a new belt."

Arendell teaches taekwondo to children and adults, which has pushed her to pursue a teaching career after completing her business degree at LSUS.

"I would want to teach business after completing the alternative teaching program here, TeachLSUS," Arendell said. "I've really enjoyed teaching taekwondo and enjoy sharing knowledge with other people."

The homeschooler said her transition to LSUS has been "super easy," and her work with LSUS's recruiting office has allowed her to develop friendships.

"As a homeschooler, I was already an independent learner, and most of your work in college is independent," Arendell said. "Being an orientation leader and a member of the recruiting team has certainly made the transition easier because otherwise, I would just come to class and leave.

"It's helped me get more involved on campus."