Members of the Cascadia Martial Arts team had an impressive showing at the recent Korean Consul Cup taekwondo tournament held in Richmond.
The team competed in both poomsae (fighting patterns) and in sparring events and came home with a huge haul of medals. Two members, James Cartwright and Bee Han, also represented the club as referees.
“Everyone competed hard and did an exceptional job,” said instructor Brett Fee. “We certainly still have work to do, but this was our first competition of the season, and we are gradually ramping up the training to peak in early January for the nationals in Toronto.”
Fee said three of their official athletes went up a weight division to ensure they had an opponent. Sherman Campbell, Danielle and Sydney Easthom all competed in one division up from their natural weight divisions.
“They all had exceptional performances with Sherman and Danielle winning outright, and Sydney winning in the semi finals and eventually taking home silver.
Among junior black belt, Danielle Easthom, 15, finished first in the 68-kilogram weight class and Oscar Brown, 16, topped the 73 kg weight division.
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In the senior level, Campbell battled his way to the final and ended up clinching the gold medal in the 63 kg men’s division.
In the colour belts competition, Caelyn Corcione, 15, won the gold medal in the women’s blue-red division while Rafe Bennett, nine, was first in the Blue-Red male division.
Other medal winners in sparring were blackbelts Sydney Easthom, 17, who came in second in the junior women’s 59 kg, and Jared Dudley, 13, took the silver in the men’s cadet 41 kg division. Taking home bronze medals were junior Matteo Bennett, 14, who finished third in the men’s 68 kg, and Lael Kim, eight, who finished third in sparring and also in poomsae.
In poomsae competition, Wendy Wilkins, competed in the black belt division and took home a silver medal, while Sofia Tremblay, seven, won a bronze medal.
“The Consul Cup was a good measuring stick to see where we stand,” said Fee. “I’m very happy with everyone’s hard work, attitude, and team spirit. Although the results did not always go our way, we had some tremendous performances and not one of us gave up and everyone fought til the end.”
The next stop for Team Cascadia is the Governor’s Cup in Olympia, Wash. on Oct. 22.
— NEWS Staff