Lisa Halvorsen and Susan Joyce went almost on a whim, but are glad they went to the Tri-Provincial Taekwondo tournament, Nov. 5, in Lloydminster, Alta.
Halvorsen, 15 and her mother Joyce, 48, collected two silver medals and a gold medal at the taekwondo tournament, which featured competitors from B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan.
A Grade 11 student at Correlieu secondary school, Halvorsen earned silver medals in the sparring and patterns competitions for yellow belt to blue-stripe belts in the 13 - 16-year-old category.
“It’s pretty good for my first tournament,” Halvorsen said matter-of-factly.
“I just focused on doing my best.”
The tournament results mark a strong return to Taekwondo for Halvorsen who had taken a two-year hiatus, a return that was inevitable.
“It’s just an enjoyable thing,” she said.
“It helps with stress.”
Although the sparring does serve as a stress relief, Halvorsen said she also enjoys the repetition of performing patterns because each repetition allows her an opportunity to improve.
Although she takes her taekwondo seriously, Halvorsen did look back at the tournament with a smile, recalling an unexpected incident in the gold-medal bout.“I kind of fell,” she said with a chuckle of her spill during the gold-medal match.
“I was punched a little too hard and fell backwards.”
Having a mother who also practices martial arts is a plus Halvorsen said, especially in the month before the tournament when she did extra training alongside her mother at the track behind CSS.
However, Susan said, they spent very little time sparring together.
“She’s younger and quicker than me, I have to mind my P’s and Q’s,” Susan said with a chuckle.
As a mother, Susan said she appreciates the discipline martial arts instills in youth, as well as their sense of self-esteem and confidence.
“I see that in Lisa,” she said.
Like daughter, like mother.
That very same confidence and discipline is obvious in Susan, who prefers to practice Kung Fu where the patterns are based on animal movements.
Dedication, determination and practice are the keys to success at any level, Kung Fu instructor Marc Valois explained, adding Susan has each of those in spades.
“She’s been training really hard,” Valois said.
“I’m very pleased with her results.”
At the taekwondo tournament, Susan competed in the sparring event in the 35 and older category.
Prior to competing in the tournament she put in extra training time because she wanted to finish on the podium.
In addition to training with her daughter, Susan also spent time cycling, jogging, skipping and walking.
Because she was competing in the sparring event, Valois had Susan sparring with different opponents in quick succession to help build up her conditioning.
“The bouts are only 90 seconds, but they’re exhausting,” Susan explained.
The extra sparring also helped Susan work on her strategy, which on the advice of instructor Angelo Sia was to keep things simple, be patient and move in when the opponent tried a fancy kick.
“That’s exactly what I did and it worked,” Susan said.
Coming home with the gold medal was an unexpected surprise given her opponent was the defending champion who told Susan, after their bout, she had never been beaten before.
“I thought I was going to go there and learn a thing or two and I was more than shocked when I took the gold medal,” Joyce said.
Valois also helped Joyce work on her control, the strength with which she punched her opponents.
“We had to teach her to back off on the power she hit her opponents with,” Valois said.
“These tournaments are light touch and I didn’t want her to get disqualified.”
Control is a central tenet in martial arts, Valois explained.
Students are taught to respond in an appropriate manner, appropriate to the situation.
Both Lisa and Susan said they planned on attending more tournaments in the future.
But before that happens, Susan said there was one thing she needed to work on.
“I have to stop punching like a girl,” she said with a chuckle.
Until then, Susan and Lisa will continue their martial arts classes for the sake of physical fitness and overall well being.
“After a class of martial arts you feel feel really good about yourself,” Susan said.
“No matter how bad you feel coming in, you feel uplifted at the end.”