Whitecourt and area Taekwondo students celebrate their belt promotions with elaborate demonstrations

 

On Saturday, June 2 members of Whitecourt Taekwondo were joined by members of area clubs to celebrate new beginnings. “Today is the ceremony where all the students who have recently been promoted to their first Dan black belt or second or third or fourth, and the kids that have been promoted to Poom which is the black belt for children,” explained instructor Cindy Richardson.

Each group took turns on the mat performing for the crowd and sharing in each other’s successes. The testing to receive their new belts took place roughly a month ago. “They’ve done all their testing already and today is the actual ceremony where they receive their new belts and promotion certificates. They will also do a bit of a demonstration to show what they had to do for their test.”

The demonstrations featured different musical pieces and showed off a variety of different techniques. Some wildly flew through the air to break boards while others chose to bring comedy into their acts and rile up the spectators. One of the most memorable moments of the morning was when the Whitecourt group took to the mats in honour of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team.

They began with a loud Broncos cheer, incorporated hockey sticks into their routine, waved Humboldt flags and, at the end, held up a picture of each of the team members who passed away along with a big “We Are Humboldt Strong” banner. The routine lasted over nine minutes and ended with a rousing standing ovation from the crowd. It was emotional to say the least and very well done.

Following Whitecourt’s routine, members from different teams came up to the mat for a very popular and exciting event: brick breaking. One by one, competitors smashed their way through the cement, seemingly with ease, before the new belts were handed out.

Cindy has been a Taekwondo referee for a few years and has working at local tournaments as well as the Canadian National tournaments. Once a ref works within their area for a bit, and is a fourth-degree black belt, they can move up to be an international referee. International referee courses are held all over the world a few times a year and one was recently held in Burnaby, BC which Cindy attended. “We haven’t had one in Canada for a long time, more than 10 years, so this one in Burnaby was a good opportunity,” she said.

She will find out in another week or two if she passed her testing for two different certifications, and she is on pins and needles as she waits. Once certified as an international referee, Cindy can literally travel the world and referee events almost anywhere. Her growth in the local club is a reminder to everyone taking part in Taekwondo that there is always another level you can rise to and another path that it can take you if you are willing to put in the work. Congratulations to all the promoted students.