Wow, what an incredible training weekend! We were extremely privileged to be training in the presence of these two incredible Masters. Master Suarez from Queens, NYC and Master Downey from Newfoundland were our special guests.
Friday night Master Suarez led us through our patterns. Since there were so many students in the seminar it was so helpful to have Master Downey walk around the room to make sure we were all making the correct stances and to reinforce his expertise.
Saturday was the action pact Sparring portion of the seminar. We started in the morning with a few sparring games, the basic foot forward and a few practical drills. It was an insane work out for all of us!
In the afternoon, we put our sparring gear on and started to build on the footwork drills practiced earlier, adding counter attacks.
Master Suarez’s perspective and strategy are fantastic when practiced properly. It’s hard work, but it’s extremely effective. I have been fortunate enough to train with Master Suarez both in Ottawa and NYC many times and I have been practicing his drills for the past couple years and they have been extremely helpful to me in the ring. The key is to do the drills enough times that it works into your muscle memory since the moves are so complicated.
I think the other students enjoyed them too! It was a long day, so we saw a lot of perseverance in the room! It was nice to see so many familiar faces training. Several guests and instructors traveled from all over Ontario and Quebec for this special event.
Thank you to Master Mr. LeGrow for organizing the Seminar and bringing these opportunities to us and to Mr. Denis from the Edge Taekwon-do Academy for housing the event. You have a beautiful dojang and you made everyone feel very welcomed.
The night finished with TKD friends and mentors getting together for a late dinner. A perfect way to end the day.
When I woke up Sunday morning I could hardly move. Every single muscle in my body ached but I was given the opportunity to train with World Champion, Mr. Maxime Bujold from Quebec City so I couldn’t wait to get back to the dojang. I wanted to pick his brain and learn some of his training routines since we are both on Team Canada and looking forward to Italy. It was reassuring for me that our workouts are very similar but I still learned some drills that I can’t wait to incorporate into my routine. My dad took notes and my mom took photos/videos for reference.
TKD is for the most part an individual sport but the beauty is that we all learn from each other and bond through joint training sessions like this.
The timing of this seminar/weekend was absolutely perfect and the tools I gained and lessons learned will be implemented in my prep as I continue to train for the World Championship in Italy!
Click the image below for all 133 pictures from the event. Thanks Mom (Heather Maduk) for taking and sharing these photos.