Telena Z.C. Mulligan From Kicks to the Court Room

Telena Z.C. Mulligan From Kicks to the Court Room

Telena Mulligan currently holds a fourth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon do and a second-degree black belt in the Superfoot kickboxing system.   She attends Cobourg Tae Kwon Do in Ontario Canada, headed by Grandmaster Jonathan Field, where she practices and instructs classes.  She is currently working towards her fifth-degree black belt.  She is the female winner of the first USBA black belt breaking challenge and a multiple time world champion in breaking.

Telena began practicing Tae Kwon Do as a child, around the year 1990 when she started taking classes with a local practitioner in his home dojang.  She did this for a while and then enrolled in the local Tae Kwon Do club. The precursor club to the modern Cobourg Tae Kwon Do.  She practiced there for the remainder of elementary and high school.  She participated in many sparring tournaments and worked her way though the colour belt system earning her black belt during high school.

Telena left Cobourg for post secondary school, earning a B.A., Law Degree, and Master of Laws degree.  During these years she was occupied with schooling and practicing Tae kwon do was very challenging and thus she did not practice intensely.  After graduating and starting her career as an Assistant Crown Attorney (prosecutor) she returned to material arts.  She practiced on and off at several kickboxing clubs throughout the greater Toronto area.  Life was very busy with her demanding career as a lawyer at this this time and martial arts had taken a bit of a back seat for a few years.  

In 2014 after returning to Cobourg she enrolled her young children in Cobourg Tae Kwon Do and shortly after enrolled herself.  She has worked her way through the black belt ranks, earning her Third Degree Black belt from Kukkiwon in 2021, her Fourth Degree Master’s designation from Cobourg Tae Kwon do, ABCTF and Moo Duk Kwan in 2023.  She earned her WACO, National Kickboxing coaching certification in 2019, and her Superfoot Second-Degree Black Belt in in 2024. Her favorite parts of Martial arts are sparring, breaking, and teaching.  She has competed in many sparring and breaking tournaments and won her divisions multiple times.

A highlight of her training would be the Ontario USBA Black Belt challenge in 2019 where she first broke 14 blocks of concrete with subsequent left, right foot stomps.  She looks forward to competing in the WSBA female pro series competition when it is held.  Another highlight would be the 2022 International Martial Arts Festival in Florida.  She competed in 4 breaking categories and won world championship titles in all 4.  Another memorable moment would be the Creative breaking routine she preformed to earn her fourth-degree black belt where she broke a baseball bat with a round house kick.

Going forward, Telena’s goals are to continue her training, earning the subsequent black belt dans.  She would like to continue competing in sparring and breaking at an international level.  She wishes to also focus on training young martial artists and guiding them on their own black belt journeys.