After starting karate as "a scared 11-year-old boy", James Garcia has transformed into a world champion.
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The 30-year-old took out the ring karate black-belt heavyweight and open division titles at the International Sports Karate Association World Cup last weekend.
"It's a bit of a boyhood dream, isn't it? It's something that you dream of but you never really expect to happen," he said.
"I was always a big fan of professional wrestling and I wanted to be like my favourite wrestlers and hold up a championship belt and now I've gone and won one for myself."
Approximately 1400 competitors from 12 different countries took part in the World Cup in New South Wales, with Garcia's win marking the pinnacle of an almost 20-year journey.
Introduced to the sport by his dad Terry after being bullied due to a speech impairment, the ride to the top has not always been smooth sailing for Launceston's Garcia.
The Tae'Kyon Karate member was supposed to compete at the 2020 World Cup, which was cancelled due to COVID.
"I felt like I was at my peak condition and it was a bit disappointing to not be able to compete," he said.
The following year, he broke his left foot and was unable to train for a number of months.
"Since then, it's always been a struggle to get the fitness back and to control my weight issues and to build my confidence back up to compete again.
"I've was wondering 'am I going to hurt myself?' or 'is my body going to hold up?'"
In the lead-up to the weekend's event, Garcia also suffered a personal loss, with his Krav Maga teacher Drew Godfrey dying from cancer.
"I was hoping to come home and celebrate with him as well and it's unfortunate but he was a major supporter of mine," Garcia said.
"He helped me out during my time of injury and kept me motivated. One thing he said to me during my injury was 'you're pretty good but we need to make you great and I believe in you' - that was amazing."
As well as Godfrey, the new world champion thanked his father, his two Senseis - Sensei Alan and Sensei Steve - and close friend Justin Reinmuth, who also won the over-35 black-belt sparring division.
As president of the Tasmanian Martial Arts Council, next on Garcia's agenda is setting up a competition in the state as he aims to give back to the sport's community.
"We'd love to start small and build our way up," he said.
"Obviously, having a lot of contacts now through my years competing, I would definitely like to invite those from the mainland down but at the same time, it's going to be about giving something for Tasmanians.
"Over the past couple of years, there hasn't been that sort of competition here for Tasmanian martial artists and it's not always easy to go and travel and compete."