Mrs. GeoK and the GeoKids have been students of taekwondo since 2002. In addition to learning practical self-defence skills, taekwondo provides a great mix of cardio, flexibility and balance training while improving overall conditioning. The sport is multi-dimensional and requires skills development across four main areas: self-defence, poomse (set patterns of basic attack and defence moves), sparring and board breaking. It’s important to train in all these areas to progress to the black belt level, but the Olympics currently only includes taekwondo sparring.

In addition to the fact that taekwondo is a multi-dimensional sport, it appeals to this family for a couple of other important reasons. First, our taekwondo club, Calgary Taekwondo Academy, has a number of “open” classes on the schedule, which means all of us can train at the same time. There’s no need for Mom or Dad to drive the kids to their activity and then sit around and wait for them to be done. We can all stay fit together! Second, the sport of taekwondo is framed by a number of important tenets that apply both in the dojang (training studio) and daily life. These tenets are: Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control and Indomitable Spirit. From a parent’s perspective, it’s great to find an outside activity that reinforces some of the key character traits we work hard to teach at home.

Every year, Calgary Taekwondo Academy hosts the Western Canadian Tournament of Champions. The 2012 tournament was on Saturday, May 5th and, as usual, we volunteered to help out. Our primary duty as tournament volunteers was to keep one of the competition rings running smoothly throughout the day, but we brought along a camera to try to capture the feel of the day. It’s clear from some of these that we should have packed a faster lens, but fortunately, this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge theme is “Unfocused” so consider this post as doing double duty!