Nickolai Roussow, Jared Poirier, Erica Jacobson stand with instructor Lucien Phillips. (Facebook/ North Wake Martial Arts)

By Nigel Maxwell

Martial Arts

P.A.Tae Kwon Do students to represent Canada at world championships

Jun 14, 2023 | 4:00 PM

Three students who train at North Wake Martial Arts in Prince Albert, have earned the right to represent their city, their province and the country at the ITF world championships in Finland this September.

Nickolai Roussow, Jared Poirier and Erica Jacobson were all invited to last weekend’s selection camp in Regina, following an outstanding performance at Nationals last month. Poirier told paNOW it was a great experience.

“We learned a lot of different things and my favourite part was just meeting all the people from around the country,” he said

Poirier also acknowledged his teammates on the Canadian are the same people he’s competed against in the past.

“We have to work together, build each other up,” he said. “We have to be on the same page and give our best.”

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(Facebook/ North Wake Martial Arts)

Both Poirier and Roussiow will compete in individual sparring, team sparring, and team special techniques. Roussow compared the first days of the camp to a competition.

“There’s a bracket and you fight him, then him, but [the judges] didn’t tell us who would win. You just fought and they took notes,” he explained.

Describing his own experience at the camp as amazing, Roussow noted that following the camp, a group of experienced black belts came in and shared their knowledge from competing.

The Team Special Techniques category will involve various kicks and targets at varying heights. Roussow plans to do a flying sidekick.

“For the flying sidekick there’s two poles and a piece of tape at a certain height and you have to jump over it and hit a target,” he explained.

Jacobson, who just competed at a national weightlifting competition, will compete at worlds in individual sparring. She told paNOW the two mesh together very well.

“With weight training, it’s building cardio a little bit and it gives strength because a lot of the girls I compete against are a bit taller and heavier than me,” she said.

Erica Jacobson. (Facebook/ North Wake Martial Arts)

Jacobson acknowledged that prior to the selection camp, she was feeling nervous, but that’s now been replaced with excitement.

In total, there are nine athletes on the national team from Saskatchewan.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

@nigelmaxwell