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MORE than any other fighter at this weekend's International Sports Karate Association (ISKA) United States Open at the Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida, 22-year-old Sharic Bowen can't wait to hit the mat at the world's biggest martial arts open.

Bowen, a product of the McKay Security High School Taekwondo programme and junior combined martial arts team, is on the path of the road travelled by teammates he first saw, with mouth agape, as a first-former at Jamaica College in 2015.

A decade later, Bowen joins his idols - Nicholas Dussard, one of the most-decorated fighters ever at the US Open; Akino Lindsay and Richard Stone, record-holding International Sports Kick-Boxing Association Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) stars; former combined team captains Ackeem Lawrence and Adrian Moore, as well as Nicholai Reid - as a senior member of the combined martial arts team.

Bowen should have debuted last year after travelling as an invitee in 2023 but was grounded in Jamaica by Hurricane Beryl, the second time a force majeure had stalled his progress following COVID-19, which robbed Jamaica's fighters three years, 2020-22, of competing at the tournament they had come to dominate, returning home laden with more trophies than airlines permitted.

With confidence sky-high, Bowen yesterday said his improvement has been obvious throughout months of rigorous training for continuous, clash and points sparring matches over two days, starting this morning.

"I believe I have closed the gap on my teammates. My coach and teammates have been saying that I have sharpened my skills and appear stronger," admitting the US Open has always been a tough tournament, though Jamaica's taekwondo fighters adapt quickly.

"The US Open was always hard for me. I have no gold medal from the US Open. As a junior, I won three silver and two bronze medals. As a senior, I have, so far, won one bronze," Bowen said of the event he has attended every year since 2015, bar 2020-22 and 2024.

"As taekwondo martial artists, we are not naturally ISKA fighters. Majority of us are taekwondo fighters going into a kickboxing tournament," he explained, adding that other factors such as a late growth spurt hindered him matching up with bigger international opponents.

"I was a late bloomer. I got my growth spurt late as I was short. However, when I got on the junior combined team, I started travelling and won gold in New Jersey in 2019," he recalled of his years being teammates with fellow Jamaica College student, Justin Brown, Calabar's Tye McKay and the St George's College pair of Ryan Robinson and Duncan Smith.

Acknowledging the McKay Security High School programme, which unearthed stars such as Lindsay, Stone, Moore, Lawrence and Reid, Bowen said injured fighter Delano Francis has been doing a great job off the mat, picking up the scraps after COVID-19, in resurrecting the rivalry, which later became a league.