27th Annual Whitecourt Taekwondo Tournament featured on Eastlink Live

Smile! You’re on candid camera! Two hundred and ninety-five fighters from British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan arrived in Whitecourt for the 27^th Annual Taekwondo Tournament on Saturday, January 28. The full-day event took place in the ATB Fieldhouse at the Allan & Jean Millar Centre and segments of it were broadcast live to Eastlink viewers across the country.

Master Jim Rennie said the relationship with Eastlink made it possible to have parts of the competition televised across the nation. “About a year ago, Eastlink did a community interview on our club and it was really popular. We put it on our Whitecourt Taekwondo webpage and our Facebook page and it was just great footage. They told us if we ever had anything else coming up to let them know and I said that we had this tournament in January. So, we followed up and now they are here, streaming this live across Canada as they do the Black Belt ring.”

“It’s really cool to have this opportunity and it’s fun for people who have relatives in other communities served by Eastlink that they get to have a chance to see these fighters from anywhere in Canada,” said Rennie.  Along with the Black Belts, Eastlink also featured another event live on television. “We did a tile-breaking contest between 11 different community teams and they also featured that which was a lot of fun for us.”

“It’s a great chance for kids from three years old up to seniors in their 70’s to compete together in the same environment. They get ranked and paired up according to their abilities, height, and age. It’s just a very safe place for a person to compete not only with the team environment of the group but for themselves as well. It’s such a powerful thing to see,” said Master Mike Braun who has been with Whitecourt Taekwondo for 19 years.

“These Black Belts that are being televised are our next Olympic fighters; this is where they start. So, to have fights like this that lead to the Olympic level and having them aired on TV is really cool,” said Master Braun.

The yearly event is highly regarded for its professionalism and organization and, as Master Rennie explains, it is also a supportive family-like atmosphere. “Whitecourt pulls off one of the largest and best-run tournaments and it is 100 per cent because we have really good volunteers who have done it for many years and they just keep on making it a little better every year. I’m very happy to be a part of that team but it’s a big team and everyone pulls his or her weight equally. It’s fantastic.”

For information on joining Taekwondo and trying it out for yourself, please follow the club on Facebook at Whitecourt Taekwondo or at www.whitecourttaekwondo.com.