MADISON, Wis. — At 9, Iliyan Hoskins took his Judo fighting career to the highest level possible by winning both the Junior Olympics and the International Junior Olympics.
This year, Iliyan Hoskins has taken home three championship titles and Iliyan’s father, Robbie Hoskins, said it was amazing to not only see him win, but to see how Iliyan reacted to his accomplishments.
“The second time when he won at Internationals he was happy, but he went to each competitor and congratulated them on their performance, and that was the proudest moment for me to see him not gloat,” said Robbie Hoskins.
Even though Iliyan Hoskins has taken his fighting career to unimaginable heights, he does not plan to take a break anytime soon.
“You just keep competing every year and then hopefully, by the time he is seventeen, as long as he doesn’t get hurt, Olympics,” said Robbie Hoskins.
Robbie Hoskins originally enrolled his son into Judo so he could learn to protect himself against bullies. After watching him practice, he said he knew Iliyan would be good, but he never imagined that he would win two Olympic championships in one year.
“I knew that he would do well but to win all three, from the National to the Olympics and then to the International Junior Olympics, that was a blessing,” said Robbie Hoskins. “So, I was really proud of him.”
Iliyan Hoskins is currently following in both his father’s and his older sister’s footsteps.
“His older sister is a three-time kickboxing world champ, and so he is trying to get to that level now,” said Robbie Hoskins.
In his youth, Robbie Hoskins was in Tae Kwon Do, wrestling and boxing. He said he learned from his life experience that you can’t push your kids too hard.
“What I tell him is, we don’t care about winning, it’s how you perform. You know, I don’t want that pressure on him,” said Robbie Hoskins.
Iliyan Hoskins’ family isn’t the only factor at play when it comes to his success. His coach, Sensei Os Millan, has played a huge role in his fighting career.
“They listen, and they train hard with me and I push them,” said Millan. “I will really push them. I think that’s the result, and it works really well.”
During a regular week, they train on Tuesday and Thursday and when the tournaments get closer, Millan increases their training.
“When I used to train for competitions, I trained six days a week, eight hours a day,” said Millan. “These kids go to school, they can’t do that, and I think the fact that they are really into it, very focused and they want to do really well, is why they are good.”
Iliyan Hoskins still has eight years until he can try to compete in the Olympics for Judo, but with the support from family and friends he said he feels confident about his future as an Olympic athlete.