Alyssa Azka: Making Achievements Through ‘Kick’
Padjadjaran University’s Faculty of Communication Studies never runs out of students who have achievements in both academic and non-academic fields. Alyssa Azka or more familiarly called Atta is a student of the 2020 public relations study program. Atta is an outstanding student of Fikom Unpad who represents Fikom to compete at the university level. Apart from being an outstanding student, Atta is also a Taekwondo athlete who has a myriad of achievements. Recently, Atta represented Bandung City at the XX National Sports Week in Papua in 2021.
Atta’s introduction to Taekwondo began with extracurricular activities at elementary school. At that time, Atta was directed by his parents to join Taekwondo instead of other activities. However, who would have thought that the elementary extracurricular activities continued for 10 years and finally brought Atta to become a Bandung City athlete. As an athlete, Atta gets great support from his parents by attending every match and taking him to practice.
Being an athlete is certainly not easy, a very busy training schedule makes Atta have to be smart in managing time between lectures, training, and of course his social life. Atta explained that in order to keep the three balanced, he made a priority scale to determine which activities to focus on. When he represented Bandung City in PON XX Papua in 2022, he prioritized Taekwondo before college, especially at that time lectures were still conducted online, making it easier for Atta to study anywhere. When he has free time after training, he uses it to do chores and go out to play with friends.
Although Atta tries to balance his studies, training, and social life, sometimes he still feels FOMO (fear of missing out) when he sees his friends gathering. In fact, Atta once thought about ending his career as an athlete. However, when the thought does cross his mind, he always remembers what Taekwondo has contributed to him. He feels that Taekwondo has become a part of him. Through Taekwondo, Atta learns not only how to ‘kick’ but also how his mentality and nature are forged. In addition, he also remembers all the achievements he has made where he can make himself, his parents, friends, campus, and the city of Bandung proud.
Through Taekwondo too, Atta is taught how to struggle. When he had to struggle to be better, Atta realized that true effort will not betray the results even though sometimes the results we get are not what we want. According to him, when we get results that are not in accordance with our wishes, there must be other things that we need more and we will get so we must look at the positive side and enjoy the process, because failure is one of the processes to succeed. Not only the meaning of struggle, Atta also considers that Taekwondo teaches him to be more disciplined and respectful of others, both juniors and seniors. Supportive friends and a good environment to develop also made Atta even more confident to stay in Taekwondo and strive for more achievements. (CA)
