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Estevan Taekwon-Do club impressed at their home tournament

Estevan Taekwon-Do Club’s annual tournament, held at the Estevan Comprehensive School on Saturday, had 27 Estevan competitors demonstrating their skills and talents.

Estevan Taekwon-Do Club’s annual tournament, held at the Estevan Comprehensive School on Saturday, had 27 Estevan competitors demonstrating their skills and talents. Seven Saskatchewan clubs, including the Estevan Taekwon-Do Club, had their teams out at the Energy City for the event with a total of 55 competitors.

Estevan participants were impressive in all three competitions.

In patterns, Estevan students received 22 medals. Troy McClelland, Dan Pangan, Jorga Parkin, Raynaldo Lubreo, Rynze Lubreo, Marina Troyo, Maddex Steinke and Logan Morissette won gold; Brayden Renkas, Sophia Ramos, Tristan Parkin, Brandy Janecke, Jameson Magnien, Sarah Kiss, Claire Mochenko and Josh Mckeen claimed silver; and Danielle Stephany, Lisa Parkin, Bryn Gaignard, Tamara Ash, Carter Abbott and Lazarous Struble took home bronze medals.

In sparring, Estevan Club took 13 medals. Tina Longney, Dan Pangan, Bryn Gaignard, Raynaldo Lubreo, Rynze Lubreo and Eva Schmidt received gold medals; Troy McClelland, Tristan Parkin, Jameson Magnien, Tamara Ash and Claire Mochenko won silver; and Sarah Kiss and Marina Troyo had bronze.

Troy McClelland also took a gold medal in the board breaking competition.

The other participating clubs were Jook Am Taekwon-Do Club from Saskatoon, Dragan Caoin Taekwo-Do Club from Osler, Willow Taekwon-Do Club from Prince Albert, Hague Taekwon-Do Club from Hague, CA Taekwon-Do Academy from Oxbow and Rooks Karate and Fitness drawing from Estevan and Frobisher.

Estevan Taekwon-Do Club

The tournament director and Estevan Taekwon-Do Club’s senior instructor Don Dechief was impressed with the results.

“The Estevan team did really well,” said Dechief. “They all worked really hard, were 100 per cent dedicated, focused, and we all are really happy with everybody’s results.”

The judges were senior black belts. Dechief, who is a sixth-degree black belt, was the head judge and the arbitrator along with two other sixth-degree black belt judges from Osler and Saskatoon.

Dechief noted that there were no disqualifications or injuries throughout the day.

“It was very well controlled and we were pretty happy,” said Dechief.

This tournament is quite important for the club as it allows the members to compare their skills to others while preparing for bigger upcoming competitions.

“We train all year. We do about three tournaments throughout the year. The most important ones are the one in Estevan and the one that happens in Saskatoon. And we have a provincial competition in Saskatoon... that comes up earlier in the new year,” said Dechief. “So it’s all in preparation for that.”

The Estevan Taekwon-Do Club has classes twice a week, where students work on their patterns and their sparring. And the tournaments give a good indication of where they are in their training, which boosts their confidence and keeps them going.

“We have the world competition coming up in Bulgaria in July, so this is all working towards that also,” said Dechief. 

The Estevan Taekwon-Do Club is looking forward to the next year’s competitions, and they’ll be training hard for that. 

The club has about 60 members, however not all of them qualify to compete yet, and some just weren't able to make it on Saturday.

The general participation was down a little bit this year due to a number of factors including poor road conditions and overlap with some other tournaments throughout the province, but organizers were happy with the turnout.