Students from North Wake Martial Arts. (Facbook)

By Nigel Maxwell

Martial Arts

Prince Albert TKD students succeed at Nationals

May 10, 2023 | 12:00 PM

The International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) national championships were held last weekend in Vernon, B.C., and a group of athletes from Prince Albert made a big impact.

North Wake Martial Arts, under Head Instructor Lucian Phillips won multiple medals in sparring and patterns, and three students have received invites to attend national team tryouts next month.

Nickolai Roussow, 17, won gold in Junior Male Black Belt Sparring (65.1 kg – 70 kg). He told paNOW the medal made him feel like he redeemed himself, after he didn’t like his performance at Westerns in October.

“That’s exactly what I had in mind and that’s what I did,” he said, adding he put in a ton of hard work since the fall to improve.

Jared Poirier, 15, won gold in Junior Male Black Belt Sparring (over 70 kg). Reflecting on the invite to attend tryouts next month, Poirier said he was really excited.

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“I’ve been working hard. Mr. Phillips has been helping us, pushing us for this a lot so a lot of relief has been lifted off that we got the invite and we are able to show our skills to everyone around Canada,” he said.

Also receiving an invite to camp is Erica Jacobson, who won silver for Female Pre Junior Black Belt Sparring and bronze in patterns.

“I’m really glad I got the selection and I am really excited to go and I hope I make the team,” she said.

Head Instructor Lucian Phillips also competed in Vernon and won gold in Veteran Male Sparring. He expressed to paNOW how proud he was of his three black belts.

“They work hard all the time. I’m hard on them and they are just really great, coachable kids that do want to perform their best and they did.”

Also competing at Nationals were Celina Jacobson, who won silver for Red Belt Sparring (light weight), and bronze in patterns. Aliviah Burns won gold for Green Belt Cadet Sparring, and N’lopa Kalwoule received silver Pre-Junior Red Belt Sparring.

The ITF World Championships will be held his September in Finland.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell