Athletes from the Westlock Family Taekwondo Club brought home medals from a Taekwondo tournament in Puebla, Mexico.
The local martial artists competed at the Torneo ITOM on Aug. 24 and 25, an event that saw more than 1,000 competitors from around the world with only 63 Canadians.
“We had an amazing experience,” said Shaune-Marie Hiebert.
Mexican teams, eager to test their skills against the Canadians, were so enthusiastic that they kept approaching the Westlock team for exhibition matches.
“The Mexican teams, they all wanted to fight a Canadian,” said Hiebert, adding that they had to insist on completing their official matches first in case they got any injuries.
In Mexico, the group encountered a few cultural differences that were a bit of a shock, said Hiebert.
In Canada, head shots at tournaments are for sanctioned events and once athletes hit the age of 35 they are considered a senior.
“In Mexico that's not a thing,” said Hiebert. “In Mexico they start training head shots at four-years-old and they do it until they can't. It's quite different.”
What struck Hiebert was the fact that not many Mexican women participate in Taekwondo.
“They don’t have a lot of adult women and it’s considered inappropriate once they get to a certain age. So a lot of Canadian women were fighting against other Canadians or people from other countries but not from Mexico.”
In Canada, the kicking, blocking and punching techniques are called Poomsae, whereas in Mexico they call it Forms. The free-form fighting during training in Canada is called sparring and in Mexico they call it Combat, said Hiebert.
“Their training is different, everything is different, but everybody is super friendly. That’s one of the things I truly love about Taekwondo. It’s very inclusive. You can go somewhere like Mexico and you're in the ring and you're trying to kick the ever-loving crap out of each other but then when the match is over you're shaking hands.”
The language barrier was also an issue because they weren’t in a tourist area where they encountered many Canadians and spoke English. But even that brought a pleasant surprise.
“We weren't ready for how awestruck the Mexican people were going to be by Canadians,” said Hiebert, adding that even children along the bleachers were asking to have their photos taken with the Canadians.
Other issues the athletes had to adjust to were the humid heat, a lack of sleep and a whirlwind of training and competitions.
“It was definitely more humid there and everybody was just trying to drink more water.
The competitors from Westlock and their wins include: Will Hiebert (Silver in Forms); Shaune-Marie Hiebert (Gold in Combat and Silver in Forms); Sherry Tollenaar (Bronze in Forms); Jill Henderson Grainger (Gold in Forms); Nathan Hiebert (Gold for Combat and Forms); Corissa Barriault (Gold in Forms); Jaycee Hiebert (Bronze in Forms); Kiara Tookey (Silver in Forms); Jessica Hamilton (Silver in Combat and Bronze in Forms); Charles Hiebert (Bronze in Combat and Gold in Forms); and Candida Tookey (Bronze in Forms).
The Mexico trip follows the club’s previous year’s visit to Thailand, which was focused on training rather than competition.
