AS Rebecca Craig finalises her preparations for the World Junior Karate Championships, which take place in Tenerife in just under two weeks’ time, both her nerves and her excitement levels are rising, because the 19-year-old from Dunbar knows that, given the form she has been showing this year, there is every possibility she can make an impact.

Craig has had an exceptional year to date, with her most notable result being the bronze medal she won at the European Junior Championships in Bulgaria in February. She admits that such was the scale of that achievement, it has still to fully sink in.

“It was a really big thing to win that medal and I can still hardly believe I did it,” she says. “It was only when I was standing on the podium that I realised what I had actually achieved. I still can’t put into words how I feel about it – I’m so happy and really proud of myself, and it was such a confidence boost, too.”

Craig’s European Junior exploits mean that she goes in to the World Juniors with a degree of expectation upon her shoulders but she is adamant that she will do everything in her power to make sure she doesn’t succumb to the pressure.

“With this year having gone so well, I feel like I’ve got a chance of doing something, but I know I can’t take anything for granted. I’ll try not to think of it as the World Championships because if I build it up too much, that adds extra pressure. I’ll just try to stay calm and remind myself that I’m good enough to be there so just be confident.”

Craig’s introduction to karate was down to luck more than anything. As a primary one pupil, she and her classmates were offered the chance to do a variety of sports and Craig picked karate merely because no one else did. “My now coach, Chris, came into the school to hand out flyers for karate sessions but no one took one because everyone else in the class wanted to become a footballer or a dancer or something like that,” she recalls. “I felt really bad for him so I took one. And I liked the sound of karate because I didn’t want to be like everyone else – I wanted to do something different.”

However, persuading her mum to allow her to do a combat sport was another challenge entirely. Eventually though, Craig talked Rebecca’s mother round and she has never looked back.

As she progressed through he junior ranks, Craig always showed promise, with a bronze medal at the under-16 European Championships highlighting her significant potential. However, it is only in the past few years that the teenager has developed the self-confidence needed to make it to the very top.

“My mindset is different now, and that’s so important because mindset is such a big thing in karate,” she says. “When I was younger, I didn’t have the belief in myself whereas as I’ve gotten older, I’ve developed more belief that I can win medals. And I wanted to prove to myself that I can do it, so that’s what drives me on.”

Craig is in the midst of sports course she is a studying at Granton College and with karate suffering from a severe lack of funding, becoming a full-time athlete is currently no more than a pipe dream. And with Craig heavily reliant on her parents for financial support, she admits this adds pressure.

“It’s hard for me knowing I have to rely on my mum and dad – I hate it, to be honest,” she admits. “If I know a competition will be expensive for me to compete in, it makes me not want to go. The World Juniors is costing over £1000 and so I told my mum and dad I didn’t want to enter because it cost so much. But my parents know how dedicated I am to the sport so they’re fine paying for competitions for me but it would be great to find a sponsor so that I could pay for things myself.”

Craig has timed her ascent to the top of the karate ranks to perfection, with the sport being included in the Olympic programme for the first time in 2020 at the Tokyo Games. As a child, becoming an Olympian never crossed Craig’s mind but with the sport becoming an Olympic discipline last year, she reassessed her goals.

“It was a shock when karate got into the Olympics but now I know I could get there, it’s become a real target for me,” she says. “I didn’t grow up dreaming of going to the Olympics because it was never a possibility. When I was growing up, becoming World and European champion were my dreams. But now, the Olympics is my goal and that’s so exciting. I’d like to think 2020 would be a possibility but I know if I don’t get selected for Tokyo it’s not the end of the world because I’m still young and so I’ll still have 2024 as a target. So I’m going to train like I’m going for 2020 and that’ll stand me in good stead for 2024, whatever happens.”