Two Stettlerites will be on the Canadian national Tae Kwon Do team at this year’s world championships in Telfor, England in September.
This will be the first time that any Dual Dragons TaeKwon Do student from Stettler will be representing Canada at an international level.
Cade Bengert and Dave Hargreaves of Dual Dragons TKD Studio in Stettler are among the 14 black-belt athletes that will compete for medals in the two-day event.
“The selection process for the team started about two years ago, and to be accepted, we were observed competing in tournaments, seminars and training sessions,” said Hargreaves with reference to how they were chosen to be part of the team.
“We also had tryouts for the team on March 21 in Camrose, where we competed for spots on the team.”
“Both Mr. Cade Begert (the youngest of the team members) and I will represent Canada as a member of not only Dual Dragons but also Unified TaeKwon Do International,” Hargreaves added.
They will be officially inducted into the team on May 1 in Saskatoon.
Now that they are on the team, Stettler’s TKD practitioners have to work hard on two fronts, one to prepare for the competition, the other to raise enough support and to secure sponsorships to be able to travel to the event.
The first seems to be the easier one.
“We have already reset our exercise programs for the adult classes and incorporated many specific exercises to increase endurance and explosive movements,” said Hargreaves,
“We will be attending many extra training sessions throughout the summer in Wainwright, Camrose, Saskatoon and here in Stettler. The coaches we have are located in these centers and will be ensuring we are up to the fitness level we need and running us through specific drills for the level of competition we’ll be facing.”
A press statement by Unified Team Canada said “Most of the team relies on local sponsorships and fundraising to help them afford the costs incurred with training and competing.”
Bangert and Hargreaves have already announced a local TKD tournament in Stettler for Saturday, May 29 with a view to raising funds to enable them to cover their training and travel expenses.