It was a day of tears and of joy, of losses and victories, of cheering and proud families. It was another exciting Olympic style taekwondo tournament. On Dec. 5, Olympic taekwondo coaches, Chris and Mitch Byrne of LABAN Fitness brought 20 students to Winnipeg to compete in the fourth-annual Taekwondo Manitoba Winter Classic Competition. There were more than 200 competitors in attendance at the West Kildonan Collegiate in Winnipeg and the LABAN team captured six gold, 12 bronze and eight bronze medals in total.
Second-degree black belt Terrance Thomas, originally from Nelson House and now the lead instructor at LABAN’s Fisher River branch, impressed the judges with his gold medal performance of the Keumgang form, sending the others in his division home with their tails between their legs. Green stripe Aliyah Cook, lead instructor of LABAN’s future Cross Lake branch, also blew away her competition with her gold medal performance in the forms competition. Green belt Dwayne Anderson, one of the lead instructors from LABAN’s Norway House branch, got a taste of his first-ever tournament and brought home a silver medal in forms.
Thompson students also came back proud and confident with multiple medals. Green belt Zander Reddy, who has now attended three tournaments, received a gold medal in forms and a bronze in sparring.
First-time tournament competitor green stripe Austin Kelly made everyone proud when he “kicked butt” and took the gold medal in sparring. First-time competitor green stripe Alexandre Parent received a received a bronze medal in forms after a close battle for the top in a large division, then he fought his way to a silver in sparring.
The Nepitabo family’s three green stripe belt siblings Rowan, Evander, and Lennox Nepitabo competed in both sparring and forms and brought home a total of four bronze and two silver medals.
Phyllis Bignell and husband, super parents and foster parents, brought their group of Aiden, Ethan, Darnell, and Nate to the Winnipeg competition and earned a household medal count of two gold, two silver and two bronze.
Blue stripe Erjonit Shabani, who attends tournaments often to gain more experience, brought back to Thompson two silver medals in both forms and sparring.
Yellow belt Krish Joshi’s second-ever tournament, impressed coaches and his very supportive mother, taking back to their new home in Alberta two shiny silver medals, defeating many in both events.
Yellow belt Gerald Hart and white belt Keiston Halcrow of Thompson, but under the Norway House taekwondo program, brought home a silver in forms and a silver in patterns respectively.
Kyle Chartrand’s sparring match was one of the most intense fights of the competition as he had to compete against a more experienced student. The battle was difficult as his opponent hit hard and was accurate. His opponent was quick and able to block and move away from Kyle’s fury of kicks. Despite getting kicked numerous times, he never fell to the ground. Kyle demonstrated what taekwondo training represents: confidence, self-control, perseverance and indomitable spirit.
Win or lose, LABAN Fitness taekwondo students fought well in both categories, gained experience and confidence, met new friends and contacts, and are now back in their training with more focus and determination than ever to do even better in their upcoming competitions scheduled for the end of February in Regina and another in Denver, Colorado.
