Geraldine Sidders is pleased with her opening performance at the Junior World Wushu Championships in Tianjin, China.

The Warwick Academy student placed 32nd among a stellar field of 43 athletes in the Girls Gunshu (staff) with a performance that has boosted her confidence and belief she can hold her own at this level.

“Overall I am extremely thrilled with my performance,” Sidders told The Royal Gazette.

“I remained completely composed and extremely focused about the moves I was executing. Although I had a few deductions, I believe my form was executed to the best of my ability, and my coaches were extremely pleased with my performance.

“The biggest thing for me was that I know I am capable of remaining focused, calm and in control of my own mental state, and for me this was the confidence boost and testament that I needed to perform my Changquan (longfist) routine on Saturday.

“Additionally, I was quite pleased with the poise and fierceness I had while executing my form. I felt as though I belonged among the elite level athletes and did not feel out of place at all.

“The tournament atmosphere was thrilling and allowed me to unlock a new competition fierceness within myself. Moving forward I am extremely excited to improve my form and skill even further on the road to the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics.”

Sidders is making her debut at the event as one of the youngest and least experienced athletes competing in group A, which is for 15 to 17 years old.

Coach and Bermuda Sanshou Association president Garon Wilkinson was thrilled with the 15-year-old’s first performance.

“I am very pleased with Geraldine's effort,” he said.

“She hasn’t been actually performing the staff for very long and it’s been only a few months and she actually completed the routine.

“My hope was for Geraldine to bring out the best version of herself and she did that, for sure.

“We have been here for a couple of days preparing and it's been ups and downs. There was ups and downs in the warm-up but by time it came to execution during the event she did what we knew she was capable of doing, so extremely pleased.

“We have a lot of work to do in the next six months to prepare for the Youth Olympics and my goal is to make sure she looks like she belongs there, and she certainly does.

“I am extremely pleased with her first event and we will be preparing for her second, which is Changquan, and we’ll go from there.”