Team event breaks down barriers

The Flying Dragons Academy of Taekwondo took first place in its first ever team patterns event, on Saturday.

The Prince Albert based club competed in the winter warm-up Jook-am Taekwondo tournament, which was its first tournament of the season.

Club instructor, Christina Vis said she has competed in both individual and team sports. Vis said it can be hard to build a team mentality at the club when everyone competes individually. However, she said there are benefits to having your peers cheer you on.

“Having that support of 10 or 12 or whatever many other teammates behind you makes a big difference just in your confidence,” she said. “We want to give the kids a bit of a chance for that.”

Vis said the club did very well, bringing home several medals, but the highlight for her was seeing her students aged nine to 20, working together as one.

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“This team pattern thing broke down the barrier,” she said. “We had white belts to black belts and all of the belts in between all competing together in this pattern.”

Before the club planned to do the team event Vis said the white belts, or younger kids, were almost afraid to approach higher belts for advice. Since the club competed in the team pattern event Vis said the belts work together more.

“For the younger ones especially and the lower belts I think to kind of be in a group with the higher belts and those belts that they look up to I think it was really important for them,” she said.

In March the club will compete in its final tournament of the season, in the Celis Taekwondo provincial tournament in Regina.

Taekwondo myth

Vis said sometimes people get the wrong idea about Taekwondo or the sport of Martial Arts in general. She said people will relate it to something like UFC fighting or MMA, but she said Martial Arts is about more than fighting.

“If you draw blood or if you knock the other person out or if you hit them too hard … you get disqualified or you get minus points,” she said. “A big part of it is … teaching them (her students) how to persevere (and) how to push through things.”

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter:@KaylaBruch1