Dominic Boudreau and Isaiah Waldren are just a year apart in age but put them together in a taekwondo dojang and there's a world of difference.
As a three-year-old toddler, Dominic started learning the sport when he started coming to the Family TaeKwon-do gym with his father Jordan, the school's head instructor. Now at the age of 11, Dominic has already achieved his first black belt and in April won bronze in pre-junior sparring at the International Taekwon-do Federation Western Canadian championships in Warman, Sask.
"When you're at black belt level it's definitely a bit of a change, now I have to know all the patterns instead of the one I'm used to, I think that's 13 patterns," said Dominic. "Sometimes, when I used to be a colour belt, I had a pattern I just loved and I would always practice it and probably win with that pattern, but not do as well with sparring, but sometimes I do well with sparring."
He'll have to think on his feet a lot more now that he's a black belt. He not only has to know all the patterns, a series of prescribed movements performed in front of judges, but he won't know which one he has to perform until just before the final round when the judges tell him which one they've chosen.
Ten-year-old Isaiah is new to the sport and doesn't have that worry just yet, having joined the Prince George club a year ago. He's worked his way up from white belt to yellow belt status, but has never competed in a high-profile tournament like the B.C. provincial championships he and Dominic are entered in this Saturday at Duchess Park secondary school.
"This is my first tournament so I'm not too sure what it's going to be like," said Isaiah. "It takes lots and lots of practice. The hardest thing is remembering the pattern to get your next belt. I like sparring, it's pretty fun."
Isaiah's only competition experience was Family TaeKwon-do's in-house event in the fall. It started as a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society, but for the past six years all entry/concession fees have been donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to help kids like Isaiah.
He was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was just 18 months old. The effects of the disease can mostly be controlled by careful monitoring of his blood sugar levels, but Isaiah's condition is sometimes debilitating, leaving him with massive headaches which require overnight stays at the hospital. He has good days and bad days when his energy levels fluctuate and as he grows older, he's getting better at recognizing when he can and can't practice taekwon-do.
"You can definitely tell some days when he comes in if he's feeling a bit low and usually a quick drink will give him that pick-me-up he needs to get through the class," said Jordan Boudreau, a fifth-dan black belt who competes in the hyperweight division.
"It is hard to see when you have a kid who really enjoys the sport but it's hard to do it because of the disability. But he's a strong kid and he's always working through it. He kind of troops his way through and that's his diabetes team name, Isaiah Supertrooper."
The one-day provincial tournament, starting Saturday at 9 a.m., has 225 athletes entered from 18 B.C. clubs. Family TaeKwon-do has 55 entrants, while 40 athletes will represent Freedom TaeKwon-do of Prince George.
Isaiah's goal for Saturday is to beat at least one of his seven opponents in the boys 10-11-year-old sparring event. Considering his experience in inter-provincial events, Dominic's expectations are obviously much higher.
"He's been training for nine years now and just recently started training with the adult class and is definitely getting a lot out of it," said Jordan Boudreau. "Having some older peers, some national champions, Western champions, provincial champions, and being able to train in that atmosphere helps a lot.
"There are days where he may not want to come, he'd rather go riding his bike with his friends, but you'll always see him training hard when he is here. He sacrifices a lot to come here and train and get to the level he's at. He has aspirations of going on to bigger tournaments and I'm glad he has that goal set for himself."
The Family school has three teenaged black belts -- Kyle Graham, Dan Watt and Cole Abou-Tibbett, who expect to do well in the provincial event. All three were part of the five-member B.C. team which won gold in Warman in junior men's sparring. Abou-Tibbett won middleweight gold in individual sparring, while Watt was a silver medalist in heavyweight sparring and won bronze in second-dan patterns. Graham was a Western Canadian silver-medalist in lightweight sparring.
Family's powerbreaking specialist, assistant instructor Gary Hausot, is entered in the men's black belt sparring and patterns events Saturday. He's won several provincial titles throughout his career and will be looking to improve his third-place standing from last year.
Powerbreakers no longer break wood with their feet and fists due to the inconsistency of wood boards, which made it difficult to grade category winners. The ITF uses re-breakable boards to determine breaking champions.
Watt, who stands six-foot-two, will compete in the special technique powerbreaking event, which involves two high kicks (front and reverse hook) as well as a flying side kick which requires horizontal travel over a prescribed distance.
