Nine martial artists from Laban martial arts and fitness studio in Thompson captured 11 medals at the 2009 Manitoba Open Taekwondo championships June 20 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. Their haul included a pair of golds, five silver medals and four bronze.
"Nikolas Boychuk knew he was going to win gold this tournament," Laban owner and coach Chris Byrne said about one of his gold medallists, who won an exciting final match by a score of 11-10. "His confidence took him straight to the top. Nikolas enters each match like he has a job to do and he gets it done! He also showed off his power in his poomse [pattern] winning him a silver medal."
Byrne's fellow coach, Mitch Nicolas, was the other gold medallist from the Thompson martial arts club, capturing top prize in a division in which eight of the 10 competitors were ranked higher than her going in.
"Mitch Nicolas once again impressed the judges and caught the audience's attention with her flawless demonstration of the third poomse (pattern) of World Taekwondo Federation taekwondo," said Byrne.
Jade DeCesco captured silver in sparring and bronze in poomse at the tournament, where Byrne said she displayed tremendous improvement in her speed and power.
"Jade DeCesco demonstrated an immense amount of courage sparring against more experienced competitors," said Byrne.
Other silver medallists in sparring were Jayden Lapensee, Jeremy Lapensee and Austin Linklater, who were all attending their first-ever tournaments.
"Jayden Lapensee had an exciting match," said Byrne. "It was such a close fight! Jayden's kicks are quick and he extends well."
"Jeremy Lapensee's first ever tournament was an eye-opener for us all," said his coach. "His natural ability in taekwondo is amazing. He was pitted against a slightly taller and more experienced competitor."
After losing by only one point, Jeremy not only earned a silver medal but also personal congratulations from Master Sonny Pabuaya, founder of Ironfist Martial Arts of Winnipeg, which Laban is affiliated with.
The five-year-old Linklater was involved in one of the highest-scoring matches of the tournament, which ended 36-0.
"Austin had a great first experience and now understands that he has to work harder in taekwondo class," said Byrne.
Laban's Adam Moose, 4, earned a bronze in sparring.
"It was the cutest match of the tournament," said his coach. "Adam persevered like a little warrior even while injured from low kicks of his competitor."
Jessica Moore also placed bronze in sparring.
"She is now even more focused on training harder," said Byrne, who placed third out of seven competitors in patterns himself.
The 2009 Manitoba Open used the new style scoring chest guards, which use Bluetooth technology to register points based on pounds per square inch of force struck to the surface of the padding.
"This type of scoring eliminates poor scoring judgments and bias and forces the competitors to execute clean and fierce kicks," explains Byrne. "Judges are still used for the head shot scoring and for qualifying punches."
The next tournament for Laban taekwondo students from Thompson and Nelson House is this September in Minneapolis followed by another in November in Yorkton, Sask.
Some Laban students will also be attending an intensive taekwondo competition training summer camp in Winnipeg July 20-25 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
"They will be learning to get faster and stronger and will be learning many new scoring techniques and training drills," said Byrne, whose studio in the Thompson Plaza will continue to offer fitness and taekwondo classes over the summer and also introduce new boxing and aikido programs.
