“It has brought us closer together,” said Dale Crossland who has just received his third level black belt alongside his wife Leona and their two sons, Calvin and Ryan. The Crosslands are the first family in Alberta to receive their third level black belt together and provincial taekwondo officials believe they might be the first family in Canada to test together.
“We were surprised when we heard we might be the first family in Canada to get our black belts together,” said Crossland, who also teaches taekwondo with his wife and sons to Northern Lights taekwondo students in Plamondon.
The Hylo area family have been doing the sport together for over eight years now, and started practicing with the couple’s two other sons who decided to not continue the sport after high school. But Calvin and Ryan continued.
Their parents say the sport is also a great way to keep in shape and bond with their sons.
“Taekwondo allows us to always have something to talk about with them since we have this common ground,” said Dale.
Their sons agree, and say that the sport is a great bonding experience with their parents.
“It keeps us very active and we enjoy doing the sport together and nothing can take that away from us,” said Ryan.
