Seven athletes from Beiseker’s EastSide TaeKwonDo club brought home 12 medals, including four gold, from the World Martial Arts Games last month.
Sensei Gary Lloyd, Sensei Brandy Contreras, Danielle Schmidt, Von Morris, Tristan Morris, Tyler Trudel and Taylor Brown were among the 180 Canadian athletes who competed against six other countries at the games, which were held at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, Sept. 17-19.
“Everybody was quite excited and proud,” said Christina Trudel, Tyler’s mother. “The club had been training for this event since March and when we first found out all seven competitors qualified, that was a really big deal. My son just started a year ago, so we weren’t at all expecting to go this. It was a big deal for us.”
Of the tournament’s 720 overall medals, Von Morris won two gold and a bronze, Tristan Morris had one silver, Trudel had one gold, Schmidt had one gold and one silver, Contreras had one silver, Brown, the youngest team member at age seven, had one silver, and Lloyd, the oldest competitor at age 63, earned one silver and two bronze.
Team Canada claimed first overall with a 370-medal haul.
The various competitions involved martial art skills in traditional, musical and creative weapon and hand forms, as well as point sparring, continuous contact sparring, combat Ju Jitsu and grappling.
The next World Martial Art Games will be held in 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland.
