Two taekwon-do athletes from Airdrie will fly the flag of Team Canada at the International Taekwon-Do Federation's (ITF) 2023 World Championships in Tampere, Finland this September.
The two local teens, Makenna Vandenbrink and Octavian Ailenei, cracked the national team roster after successfully attending the CTFI Team Canada try-outs in Regina, Sask. from June 9 to 11.
Both black belts are members of Horizon Taekwon-Do, which has operated in Airdrie since 2001. The dojang's instructor and owner, Aron Johnston, applauded the two martial artists for putting in the work to include themselves among Canada's top taekwon-do athletes for their respective age groups.
He said the national-team tryouts were preceded by the national taekwon-do championships in Vernon, B.C. in May, where Vandenbrink and Ailenei both received medals in their respective categories for their strong individual performances.
“They’ve both put in hours upon hours of training and dedication, both physically and mentally, to prep for this event,” he said. “It’s just their dedication and wanting to succeed on a personal level. That’s how they got here.”
According to Johnston, the selection process for the national team took months, with seeding points being awarded for various other tournaments throughout the year leading up to the competition in Vernon.
He said there will be approximately 2,000 taekwon-do athletes from all over the world competing at the world championships in Finland in their respective categories.
“They’re two dedicated people and they deserve this opportunity, based on the dedication and effort they’ve put in to make this team,” he said. “From a club standpoint, we just wish them the best of luck as they move forward into the fall.”
Once in Finland, Vandenbrink and Ailenei will each compete in sparring, while Vandenbrink will also compete in specialty breaking, which involves kicking at targets at heights as high as 230 centimetres.
Vandenbrink, a 19-year-old recent graduate of Bert Church High School, said she was so excited when she heard she'd made the national team that at first, she didn't even hear what events she had qualified for.
“It’s still quite overwhelming and I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact I’m now on Team Canada,” she said.
A member of Horizon Taekwon-Do for the last 10 years, Vandenbrink said she'll spend the summer completing a training program created for her by her coaches, while also liaising with Team Canada via Zoom chats and possibly some training camps.
“Lots of endurance and strength training, as well as perfecting my techniques,” she said.
The 19-year-old said she recently became a second-degree black belt, after obtaining her first-degree black belt in 2018.
“The first-degree black belt, that’s kind of where you feel like you’re starting at square one again because that’s when you realize how much you don’t know,” she explained. “After you receive your first-degree, there’s more things you have to learn, more patterns – series of movements – and you have to learn more history.
“Then you go for your second-degree, where you learn more complex patterns, more theory, and you’re expected to be there for the students more. It gets progressively more challenging all the way up to ninth-degree black belt.”
As for Ailenei, the Grade 9 student-athlete of W.H. Croxford High School said he's eager to show what he can do on the international stage. The 15-year-old said he felt relief when he found out he'd be on the plane to Finland later this fall, as a member of Canada's national team.
“I feel I showed my dedication to taekwon-do and my skills in general to the coaches of Team Canada,” Ailenei said. “I just put myself out there and showed what I could do. I think that’s why I qualified.”
He said his strength and speed – the basic foundations of taekwondo – are his best attributes as a taekwon-do athlete, and that he hopes his skills and dedication will translate to a positive performance in Finland.
“I feel like I can fight fighters who are at my skill level or even higher,” he said. “That way, I can get some experience. If I’m good enough, I might even get a medal over there.”
The ITF World Taekwon-Do Championships will be held from Sept. 4 to 10.
