The B.C. Taekwon-Do Cup is expected to bring 250 competitors to Prince George this weekend. The tournament, being hosted by Family Taekwon-Do, will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday at Duchess Park secondary school.
The youngest participants will be four- and five-year-olds and they'll be on the mats at the start of the day.
"We have like 20 of the little guys signed up, which is pretty awesome," said Jordan Boudreau, head instructor at Family Taekwon-Do. "And I think our oldest competitor is going to be 59.
"It's pretty hilarious to watch the little guys go at it," Boudreau added. "The whole thing kind of kicks off with the little pre-schoolers. If you want to watch some little firecrackers, those are the ones to watch, for sure. But we'll have a lot of colour belts here. All of our colour belt divisions are going to be large groups - lots of exciting, up-and-coming competitors. Our black belts, they'll go in the afternoon, starting at about noon or 12:30."
More than 60 people will compete in the black belt divisions.
"And that ranges from pre-junior, which is your 12- and 13-year-old black belts, all the way up to our super seniors, which is 35 and up," Boudreau said.
Four Family Taekwon-Do black belts - Brent Matijevic, Jeff Gruending, Brandon Jennings and Cole Abou-Tibbett - fought on Team B.C. at the Western Canadian championships last month in Regina and all four will be in action at Saturday's meet.
Prince George's Freedom Taekwon-Do will also be represented at the tournament. As well, athletes from five taekwon-do schools in Alberta will be in attendance.
Disciplines will include sparring, power breaking (or board breaking), patterns and special techniques. Taekwon-do is a Korean martial art in which students use punches and kicks as a means of self-defence.
Family Taekwon-Do hosted the B.C. provincial championships in 2014. Boudreau said the goal of the school is to host a major event every two years.
