Students from Cody Skog’s Atlantis Taekwon-do fared well under pressure at the International Chang-hon Taekwon-do Federation (ICTF) Western Canadian Taekwon-do Championships in Edmonton late last month, with 17 out of 21 students winning medals.
And sensei and trainer Skog took gold in sparring and solo patterns, which will help to raise the profile of the club.
“Almost every student exceeded their abilities, which is pretty cool,” he said. “Because sometimes the pressure’s on and you kind of choke.”
This is the fifth year Atlantis has travelled to Westerns – always a successful teambuilding mission, he said, because the team takes the train together and has time to connect.
“The whole trip is pretty awesome because we take the train, and so there’s time to connect with everybody and just team bonding,” he said. “We go to the tournament, kick some butt, and then we go to the waterslides and celebrate.”
The team was more prepared this year because they’d already hosted a tournament at home – the first in Terrace – although they typically do well at Westerns, said Skog.
“We do well,” he said. “We’re a bit stronger in our sparring, so I’m going to do some research as to why we’re not doing as well with our patterns, talk to some of the seniors.”
The team fundraises all year for Westerns, but they’re also looking to the ICTF World Cup set to be held in Edmonton this October, meaning it will be easier for the club to attend.
This year marks the ICTF’s 10th anniversary. The federation started in Edmonton in 2003 with two countries and has grown to encompass nine countries and an ever-growing membership.