STRATHDALE teenager Jasmine Hocking will fight for her country next month, after being selected to represent Australia at the World Junior Taekwondo championships in Turkey.

At just 13, Jasmine could well be facing much older and more experienced opponents as she contests the 14-17 years fin weight division for competitors up to 42 kg.

The first dan black belt earned her national call-up after performing well at trials held in Melbourne this month and was given the good news at training last Thursday by her coach, Joon No, who is also part of the Australian entourage.

"Master No came up to me and said that I was on the team and going to Turkey," Jasmine said.

"It's (great) to know that I am at that standard that I can go."

Being named in the Australian team was a fitting reward for the time and effort Jasmine and her family devote to Taekwondo.

Her father, John Hocking, said they travelled to Melbourne three times a week for Jasmine and her sister, Janelle, to train.

After school on Mondays, they drive down to specialist black belt training, leaving Bendigo and 5pm and returning about 1am.

On Thursdays, it is a journey to Doncaster for workouts at coach No's Taekwondo academy, again leaving home about 5pm and arriving back close to midnight.

And on Saturdays, there is fight training in Kew - another round trip that takes from 2pm until 9pm.

"I don't know whether we are dedicated or just silly," Mr Hocking joked.

"But we travel about 1100km a week for the girls' training."

Both Jasmine and Janelle, 15, will fly to Korea later this year to compete in the Koraen Open and the World Taekwondo Festival.

Jasmine said she would love to win at the junior world titles, but her longer-term aims were to compete in the Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010 and to ultimately become a world champion.

Her coach said she was a talented student who was still developing and would benefit greatly from her bouts in Turkey.

"She is still very young and she needs these types of experiences so she can aim even higher in the future," Mr No said. "This is a great opportunity for her."

No, who coached Lauren Burns to an Olympic Taekwondo gold medal, said Jasmine was hardworking and a pleasure to coach."

"I think all of Bendigo should be supporting her."

The junior world titles will be held in the Turkish port city of Izmir from May 7-11.

Written by Raelee Tuckerman