A group of black belted martial artists gathered together to practice their punches, kicks and combos in Sparwood on March 3. The black and red belts of Kootenay Taekwondo are doubling down on practice time in preparation for this year’s Taekwondo World Cup in Slovenia.
Ten athletes from the club, accompanied by coaches Master Sant Saran and Gena Paton, along with supportive family members, will be making the trip to Koper, Slovenia to compete against the best of the best in taekwondo. The World Cup runs from October 5 to 11 and will welcome top athletes from all over the world.
According to Paton, in order to qualify for the worldwide tournament, you must be either a black belt or a red belt, which is one step below black. Athletes must also commit to the entire summer training which begins in May, and is in addition to the months these athletes have spent training already.
“It’s really about a commitment to the sport,” Paton explained. “If you’re not ready to go, we’re not going to take you. It’s Worlds and there’s going to be a lot of tough competition there.”
Although the competition will be very high level, this small club from the Elk Valley is well prepared to face the challenge. This is the sixth World Cup that Kootenay Taekwondo has participated in. In fact, this will not be the first time at the championship for several of the 10 athletes travelling to represent the club.
As the martial artists lined up for a group photo, Saran spoke proudly of the group, pointing out the members who already hold national and international championship titles.
“This is our sixth World Cup that we’ve gone to and we have brought home right in the area or 15 or 16 medals,” said Paton. “For a little community like this, it’s pretty good.”
Athletes come from the Crowsnest Pass straight down through to Fernie, including many from Sparwood and Elkford. The club also has athletes competing in every age category that the tournament offers. Their oldest competitor is in his fifties while the youngest is only around 12.
All of the athletes commit to training hard in order to do their very best at the World Cup. Although summer is often considered the off season, it’s when things will start to get really intense for the World Cup fighters.
“We have a place that has been donated to us and we train in there Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Paton noted. “Plus, there’s the commitment that they go to the gym and they run. It’s intense training that is different from classroom training because there’s bags and targets and it’s very heavy training.”
On top of that, most of the World Cup athletes are currently training up to three times a week.
Although training is no doubt an integral part of the preparation going into the championships, the athletes will also be competing in several smaller tournaments in the next few months.
As Paton puts it, “you have to get tournament ready. If you don’t compete, you’re not ready.”
As the athletes train and compete in order to get into their best fighting shape possible, they are also fundraising on the side to be able to cover the costs of the trip to Europe.
“Our kids do odd jobs to make money to go so if the community has something, or they need something done, that can let us know,” Paton said. She added that in the past, the taekwondo athletes have helped people move, lent a hand at the thrift store, held barbecues and more.
There’s no doubt that these highly skilled martial artists will be working tirelessly to prepare themselves in body, mind and spirit for the 2020 Taekwondo World Cup.
editor@thefreepress.ca
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