Good Sports: Priscilla Jo

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- To almost everyone she meets, 13-year-old Priscilla Jo of Clovis is sweet and shy, a straight A eight grader at Alta Sierra Middle School.

"She's a very good girl," Priscilla's coach Derrik Carter said of her. "A humble girl. You're not going to see her out there telling everybody what she's done."

And then there's Priscilla Jo, the international taekwondo champion, lightning quick and deceptively strong, ferocious in sparring.

"I have two sides," Priscilla said. "When I'm not in competition I'm like a nice, shy, quiet girl. But when it's competition the switch turns on for me. Like I just can't wait for it. I can't wait to kick people's butt and so on."

In just the last three months, Priscilla has won a U.S. National Championship in sparring and has medaled in a number of national and international tournaments.

"I feel proud of myself," Priscilla said with a smile. "I feel amazing. I was just so happy and excited."

She's traveled as far away as South Korea and Mexico, training with and competing on the same stage as Olympians.

"Now people know me," Jo said. "And now their goal is to face me and beat me. And now I have to train more harder. Twice as much as I did this past year."

And all the success Priscilla has earned is driving her towards her main goal still a decade away: the 2024 Summer Olympics. No one close to her is doubting her ability to make it.

"It's like she absorbs," Priscilla's father, Jimmy Jo, said. "It's not something she tries to build up. It's just something that is. It's just automatic that she absorbs."

"It takes an incredible person with a great deal of drive to make it where she is," Carter added. "For the future, she can go all the way, as long as she keeps that same focus she has today."