Great sportsmanship and hard work by all 220 fighters at this year’s Taekwondo Championship

The Whitecourt Taekwondo community greeted athletes from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta on Saturday, January 25 at the Allan & Jean Millar Centre as the 30th Annual Whitecourt Taekwondo Championship was held in honour of the late Jim Rennie Sr. This year’s competition featured a brand-new addition which blended the worlds of reality and virtual reality into one awesome combination sport. Aptly named 2020 Armor, the equipment had a light bar across the top of the chest plate which flashed green or red. If you took too many hits your light would flash red and indicate that you were out.

“A lot of people have seen this type of equipment as it was on Dragon’s Den and was funded. It is a lot of fun. They haven’t ever had such a large gathering of it, so we borrowed a lot of 2020 Armor from sister clubs and together we did something called tag team sparring. It’s a very different game. If anyone remembers Stampede Wrestling where they had a tag team and the wrestlers would tag out, well, this is similar except that they have a power bar, so it truly is like a video game that you play with your body,” explained Master Jim Rennie, one of three tournament hosts.

He said once they realized they had enough connections within the taekwondo community that would lend them equipment they decided to take advantage and be the first club to offer it on such a large scale, a first in Canada. “There’s never been this many pieces of the equipment in one place before as it is very expensive. It’s $500 per one person. We thought we could do something that would be a lot of fun and add it in with the other events that we typically have.”

Not only was this year the 30th anniversary for the tournament but the club is also celebrating its 40th year. Throughout the one-day event, 220 fighters hit the mat from toddlers to seniors. “We had black belts fighting for points that will get them to junior nationals or senior nationals. We also had black belts come just to fight or to do both. We have people who are competing in patterns and people who are competing in family patterns where they go together with other members of their family, and then we have the traditional sparring and patterns for coloured belts for beginners,” explained Rennie.

By the end of the last sparring match, over 1,000 people are estimated to have walked through the doors. “All I saw was good sportsmanship all around. That’s the usual for taekwondo. I really appreciate the sportsmanship that we see in the taekwondo families and not only for the students but for the coaches and parents. I’ve seen where one of our kids from Whitecourt loses and the parent for that kid ended up cheering for the other kid from another community who won. It’s a positive atmosphere for people to grow.”

He said had it not been for the roughly 60 volunteers the championship wouldn’t have run so smoothly. “Last night our schedule for setting up was for two and a half hours and we were done in an hour and a half. That’s the kind of thing you admire. It was an exciting day with lots of great sportsmanship and some great help by the community in putting this on. The reason this tournament is a success is because of the volunteers.” Rennie said his father would have had a lot of fun watching the athletes and that he knows he was there watching over everyone. “He would just be smiling, watching three-year-olds competing and he would be here coaching the 60-year-olds, too. He loved every moment of it. I feel he is here with us and that he is smiling for sure.”