Newly promoted men's and women's taekwondo Assistant Coach Julia Eesley stands beside Head Coach Tom Childress (left) and a Lady Flames student-athlete (right) during her first season as a volunteer coach.
Taekwondo assistant coaches bring nursing acumen, commitment to program
7/31/2026 7:29:00 PM | Taekwondo
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Julia Eesley (’25) and Jenna Gonino (’24) both won NCTA national titles before completing their BSN degrees at Liberty.
Members of Liberty University's taekwondo team will be in good hands in the event of injury in the upcoming 2026-27 season as both assistant coaches, Jenna Gonino ('24) and Julia Eesley ('25), are not only recent National Collegiate Taekwondo Association gold medalists but also BSN graduates of Liberty's School of Nursing.
"Julia and Jenna are both alumni from the nursing program who were able to stay on the team their entire collegiate career and who both wanted to come back and dedicate their time and energy to that," 12th-year Head Coach Tom Childress said. "Both have seen their own trials and have issues going on, so the fact that they are willing to come back and serve, and that they have taken so much ownership, is an absolute blessing."
Eesley, who works for Centra Health in Lynchburg as a neurological ICU nurse, was promoted to assistant coach this summer after serving as a volunteer assistant last season. She has embraced the role of coach and carries her knowledge of nursing and empathy onto the mat, but doesn't feel obligated to be the first responder in most situations.
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Eesley offers coaching tips to a competitor at this spring's National Collegiate Taekwondo Association championships at UNC Chapel Hill.
"I am licensed to work as a nurse, and it is part of my coaching role to serve in that capacity with Liberty University taekwondo," Eesley said. "I can provide first aid to athletes, then refer them to athletic trainers or even take them to the emergency room when needed."
"It is a sport of kicking, and occasionally athletes do get head injuries," she added. "There is usually a team of highly qualified emergency medical personnel, as well as coaches and referees who monitor the matches to keep them under control and who help provide a very safe atmosphere for our sport."
Host schools for tournaments are required to have medical staff such as paramedics and EMTs on site.
"USA Taekwondo has its own athletic trainers because most teams don't have a staff big enough to send their own," Childress said. "To be in a combat sport where head trauma is a concern and there are bones making contact that could lead to injuries, the fact that (Julia and Jenna are) both RNs and have more medical training than most of the staffs of other programs is an extra blessing. It's like traveling with our own nursing team."
Gonino, who earned her NCTA national championship in fighting as a junior black belt in 2022, and Eesley, who won a blue belt sparring crown as a sophomore in 2023 and a red belt title in 2025, both trained and now coach under Childress, who is another excellent resource, not only as a coach, but also as a police officer.
Now serving as a security guard for BWX Technologies, Inc., Childress has 34 years of experience in law enforcement and has been a defensive tactics instructor at the Central Virginia Criminal Justice Academy for the past 30 years.
"Being able to learn from Coach Childress has been a highlight of my career," Gonino said. "He's been doing it for a long time and I definitely would not be where I am today without his guidance and help. It's been incredible to see how he was able to coach us as athletes, but also now to train us as coaches. He has a lot of experience and he's really gracious. If you make a mistake, he'll let you learn from it and help you make your way through it."
Childress is appreciative of Gonino and Easley for giving back to the program they made such an impact on as student-athletes.
"It is absolutely a godsend to have two people serving as assistant coaches that were already on the team and know the expectations, to help us troubleshoot things we could do better as a team," Childress said. "They have already been a huge blessing as far as taking on administrative responsibilities and registering the team for some tournaments."
Due to a knee replacement last season and tending to his wife who has undergone two back surgeries, Childress has had to miss competitions and entrust the team to Gonino and Eesley.
"We are always prepared knowing we might not have all three of us at an event, but we love it when that does happen," Childress said.
Eesley and Gonino will play key roles in organizing and leading a semester-opening women's self-defense class on Thursday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. out of the team's practice facility in the former Liberty Mountain Skate Park at Candlers Station.
"Community outreach is a big part of everything we do," Eesley said. "It is very important to not just care about the people outside the community, but inside, so we are excited to be offering that class again. That is Coach Childress' project, and something he holds very dear to his heart. We'll be there in a supporting role."
"There is obviously a big need for self-defense training, especially with a lot of younger women on campus," Gonino added. "It is important for women to be able to protect themselves."
She has benefited from taekwondo from a self-defense and self-confidence standpoint and now enjoys pouring into and mentoring others in the sport.
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Gonino high-fives Flames student-athlete Joseph Norris as teammate David Varner and her son, Jax, look on. (Photo by Katrina McMillen)
"It's been really fun to step into this coaching role after being on the team for so long as an athlete," Gonino said. "Coaching is different from competing, but it is a fun challenge, fun to step into a different role. I definitely think competing is more of my strong suit, but I haven't been coaching as long, and everything is a learning process. Coach Childress is the absolute best coach to learn under."
Eesley is looking forward to helping Childress and Gonino develop a highly competitive team this season that can build off its sixth-place showing at this past spring's NCTA National Championships hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"We are very passionate about the sport and about the program, so we are very excited to see our returners get back on the mat," Eesley said. "A few of our national champions from last season graduated, so we are always looking to recruit more."
"I am very excited about the upcoming season," she added. "It has been a joy to be able to compete with these people. It's going to be a joy to watch them compete, and I really can't wait to see how everyone grows."
Easley was a team captain for the Lady Flames and worked closely with the team's designated Disciple Makers.
"Spiritual development is our goal, and any time we compete, we always want to make sure Jesus comes first," Eesley said. "It's really nice to work with people who have the same energy and passion for the sport, and it is really wonderful to be a part of the mission."
"We all want to bring our physical skills as well as our spiritual journeys into this so we can build each other up and leave each other better than we found ourselves," she added, noting Childress is an excellent spiritual role model as well as an experienced coach. "We're very blessed to have a head coach who is very serious about our spiritual development. He allowed us to grow, not only in competing in our sport but also in fellowship with other believers. Any time we go anywhere, whether we're hosting something on campus or traveling, Coach emphasizes that we're not just going to compete, we're going to be ambassadors for Christ. He has made that an emphasis of the team — how we care for each other and support each other and our competitors."
