LAC LA BICHE - The Lakeland Taekwondo club hosted a black belt testing class on recently, graduating all seven local participants to their next belt level.
The Lac La Biche Taekwondo club is a part of the Alberta Taekwondo Alliance, and normally the black belt testing would happen in Whitecourt, but because of COVID-19, the testing was cancelled back in April. To help people stay in their cohorts, two Masters from Whitecourt visited Lac La Biche to give the hopefuls the test.
Master Calvin Crossland, the President of Lakeland Taekwondo, explains how difficult the black belt testing is.
“The first part of the testing involves having to memorize nine patterns, and each pattern has 20 to 25 moves. The second part is they need to display certain abilities for sparring, which is a fight match, but it’s with full protection, and then the third part is a self-defense scenario. They also have to do board breaks and brick breaks to pass,” said Crossland.
The Lakeland Taekwondo Club has been operating for several years in the area, offering entry-level to black belt instruction for all ages. In recent years, the club trains out of the gym area at the Light of Christ Catholic School, but due to pandemic measures, the space is no longer available, so only the black belt training and testing is currently available through special arrangements.
Black belt training and testing is currently the only classes Lakeland Taekwondo is allowing to run at this time because of the risks of COVID-19, and their normal training space is no longer welcoming outside groups to use the space.
“We used to train in the Light of Christ Catholic School’s gym, but because of COVID-19, we are no longer able to use the space,” said Crossland. “We were hoping to be up and running at full speed again come January, but seeing how things are going now, I don’t think that will be happening.”
Although there is no foreseeable end to the hiatus the Lakeland Taekwondo club is on, anyone wishing to test for their black belt can contact the club’s organizers through their social media page.