If you ever get stuck in the forest without an axe and want to start a campfire, put the call out to the guys sporting black belts at Family TaeKwon Do in Prince George.
They've been known to break a board or two in the pursuit of excellence in their chosen sport and showed their wood-splitting capabilities last weekend in Kelowna at the Canadian TaeKwon Do Federation International Western Canadian championships.
In individual black belt competitions, Jordan Boudreau, a fourth degree dan, won silver in senior male board breaking. Gary Hausot, also a fourth dan, won bronze in senior male hyper over-85kg sparring and bronze in senior male patterns.
Daniel Watt, a second dan, won bronze in senior male patterns, silver in special board breaking, and bronze in senior male heavy under-85kg sparring. Victor Liu, a first dan, captured bronze in senior male patterns and bronze in senior male sparring heavy under-85kg. Brent Matijevic, a first dan, won bronze in senior male hyper over-85kg sparring and bronze in senior male patterns.
The Family TaeKwon Do black belt team of Boudreau, Hausot, Liu, Matijevic and Watt won bronze in team sparring.
In other individual black belt events, Cole Abou-Tibbett, a second dan, claimed gold in junior male under-65kg sparring and was a silver medalist in junior male patterns.
Kyle Graham, a first dan, won silver in junior male light under-56kg sparring and silver in junior male patterns.
Dominic Boudreau, a first dan, climbed to the top of the podium, winning gold in pre-junior boys black belt sparring, and won bronze in pre-junior mixed first dan boys.
In coloured belt competition, Jeff Gruending clinched silver in patterns and silver in senior men's red belt sparring; Patrick Abra won gold in senior men's green belt and bronze in patterns; and Robin Abra captured gold in senior women's green belt sparring and bronze in patterns.
Parker Yaskow won gold in patterns and bronze in sparring in the pee pee boys red belt division.
In red belt competition, Dylan Watt fought to gold in sparring and bronze in patterns in the peewee boys division; Nolan Hull won bronze in pre-junior boys sparring; and Aidan Bryden was the pre-junior boys silver medalist in sparring.
In blue belt events, Liam Abra won gold in peewee boys patterns and silver in sparring, and Keiran Gruending clinched bronze in bantam girls patterns. In green belt categories, Katrina Abra won bronze in bantam girls patterns, while Gregg Broster was a bronze medalist in the peewee boys division.
Jordan Boudreau, Daniel Watt and Abou-Tibbett will represent Prince George at the 2015 ITF world championships in Jesolo, Italy, May 27-31.
