Five members of Cascadia Martial Arts will be competing at the Canadian Taekwondo Championships in Toronto, April 15-17.
Oliver Anderson, Matteo Bennett, Oscar Brown, Sydney Easthom and Danielle Easthom having been preparing for the national event and will pit their skills against the best across the country.
Instructor Brett Fee indicated the team, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, found ways to keep training going amid several lockdowns and restrictions.
“We had to modify what we did but we never stopped,” said Fee. “We are ready to go.”
The team ramped up training significantly in the past 12 weeks, including a trip to the Lower Mainland during spring break to participate in a training camp hosted by Vortex Taekwondo, a club known for producing elite level fighters.
“We took our lumps over there during multiple sparring and training sessions per day but came out stronger and more ready than ever,” said Fee.
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The national tournament was scheduled to be held in January but a spike in COVID cases in Ontario forced organizers to postpone. It was rescheduled for April 15-17 at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto. It will feature senior, youth, junior and cadet competitions.
Anderson, Danielle Easthom and Brown will compete in the junior category, ages 15 to 17 years, while Bennett will be compete in the cadet division (ages 12 to 14)
Sydney Easthom is a former gold medalist in the cadet division two years ago. She will compete in both the junior and senior this year.
The Canadian championships are used to select the members of the Canadian senior, junior and cadet teams that will compete in international taekwondo championships.