No limits
Bethel Park martial arts instructor and world champion Alicia Tavani joins hundreds of players vying for victory in a high-stakes Netflix reality series.
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BY NICOLE TAFE
When Alicia Tavani stepped off a plane in London to film“ Squid Game: The Challenge,” she knew exactly what she was walking into— and what she was leaving behind. No phone. No schedule. No certainty. For most people, that kind of isolation would be unsettling. For Tavani, a 13-time world champion martial artist and owner of No Limits Martial Arts in Bethel Park, it was simply another challenge waiting to be met.
At 38, Tavani has built a career— and a life— around stepping into the unknown. A master instructor and 7th degree black belt, she is also the first Black female master instructor in the American Taekwondo Association.
While her résumé includes appearances on“ American Ninja Warrior” and world championship titles, her most recent venture had a different kind of international spotlight— as a contestant on Netflix’ s“ Squid Game: The Challenge,” filmed in London with hundreds of competitors from around the globe.
Unlike traditional competition shows,“ Squid Game” is designed to unsettle. Contestants are isolated for days before filming, cut off from the outside world and immersed in an atmosphere of uncertainty
PHOTO BY KATHRYN STABLE
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