07/06/2026
Got in at almost midnight last night so saved this for this morning. Brace yourself, its a bit of a long ride.
Wow... what can I say about our experience at worlds other than it was amazing. Huge shout out to UTTC - United Traditional Tae Kwon-Do Canada for a well organized and well run tournament with amazing refs. We appreciate the fact that this was somewhat local for us and definitely a once in a life time opportunity for our students to partake in. Jamie and I competed in 2015 as a blue belt and a green belt and the fact that this year we got to bring our own students is an excellent turnaround.
Logan had the biggest challenge with huge divisions 13 in patterns and 19 in both sparrings. Despite that, he gave his all and we are very proud of his performances. Its hard when you end up going against the eventual gold medalists as your first matches.
I decided last minute to put myself out there and compete in sparring. When in Rome right? Lol. Point sparring is still not my forte, but i did manage to make it to the bronze medal match in continuous. I gave it my all (including a contact lens and a lot of blood) and ended up getting fourth place. Not bad at all for not competing in a long time and not really prepping either. I got the opportunity to spar international opponents including USA and Great Britain and that's a true experience in itself.
Beyla once again proved her patience and technical strategy and managed to podium in all of her divisions. The fact that both her and Harmony managed to fight their way to the gold silver match in point sparring makes us so proud. They really got to shine in continuous sparring by fighting opponents their size and skill.and it made for some excellent matches to watch.
Harmony, she was really the star of the show. I have a feeling she was probably the leader of what shall be known as the blue belt posse. Making friends with all the girls in their divisions and a few others as well. The cheering all those girls did for the other blue belts when they made the podium was definitely the experience and friendships you want to make at tournamnets like these. I truly hope we get to meet these girls at other tournaments down the road.
But... that not the only reason she rocked this weekend. The warrior spirit she showed was the true definition of perseverance and indomitable spirt. In her point sparring she threw a kick, but because the mats were brand new and slippery she slipped and ate the mats hard. Old harmony would've been done at this point and honestly it was a hard fall and we would've expected nothing less. Nope. This girl gets back up, brushes herself off and then proceeds to win that match to put her in the finals against Beyla. Same thing in continuous sparring, she manages to get nailed by a front kick. Grabs herself and goes down winded. (I know exactly how she feels, eating quite a few side kicks in my own matches) 25 seconds left in her match. Again, this girl proves her warrior spirt, gets back up and again proceeds to win her match, securing herself the bronze medal.
Once again, I am so proud of everyone this weeknd and so glad we had the opportunity to experience this. It will definitely go down as one of the great memories to put in the books! Thanks for having us!!
