Students from the Estevan Taekwon-do Club had the opportunity to showcase the skills they have learned over the past year in hopes of earning their next belt. Saturday saw the students displaying not only their physical skills, but their mental as well as they were asked to perform the patterns and moves they have learned as well as demonstrate their knowledge of the history and background of the martial art. 

Head Instructor, Wayne Brown, reflected on the past year.

"I think in this last session, from January to the end of May, we saw some real, huge strides in a couple of the students. I think that impressed me most. Even our black belt testing was incredible, it was really, really good, They showed themselves extremely well." 

"I would say probably some of our junior students advancing ever further," agreed Senior Instructor, Don Dechief. "There are a lot of red belt, black stripes and we had black belt testing, staying this long and carrying it through to the end."

"Now you watch class and there are so many higher degrees, higher belt levels and that is exciting," adds Mr. Brown. "This year was different than other years in just the level of competency that we're seeing in the higher belt levels. That impressed me the most and that's really inspiring to me."

"Because it's a hard, hard journey and many, probably 95% of people never make it to that end result and to see the numbers that we have making it to that level is most impressive to me." 

"Two more that has joined the family and that's always exciting for us. It's a tight knit family and they fit in really well." 

Friday evening saw the promotion of two students, Craig Conquergood and Simone Saigeon to black belt. A lot goes into earning a black belt. The test alone lasts over two hours of physical testing and then under an hour of questioning regarding the history, background and terminology of Taekwon-do. 

"I've been training for 6 years," explained Ms. Saigeon. "We have organized classes twice a week for an hour and a half.  And then countless hours at home training. It was worth it, not just to prove to myself that I could do it, but to prove to my kids that you don't ever give up. You set a goal and you work toward it until you achieve it. It doesn't matter how much time it takes and how much dedication it needs, if you want it, you go hard."

With this season now at an end, the club will be looking forward to the World Championships held in Cyprus where they hope to send a handful of students.