It's a long way from a school gymnasium to an Olympic Oval, but six members of the Moose Mountain Wado Kai Karate Club have travelled that rare road and each one of them say the sight of the Olympic rings at the venue where they competed was both thrilling and inspiring.
Senseis Quinn Brown and Savanna Bryce-along with fellow competitors Ethan Anderson, Marlee Cormier, Payton Humphries and Nathen Schmidt-were all selected to compete as members of Team Saskatchewan at the Karate Nationals at Richmond, B.C.'s Olympic Oval, which was one of the venues constructed for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. At the Karate Nationals, held at the same site Jan. 29-31, Brown brought home a bronze medal.
All six of the members of Team Sask-who usually meet and train at the Carlyle Elementary School gym-agree that competing at the national level in an Olympic venue was “an amazing honour,” according to Cormier.
“To be a part of Team Saskatchewan and to represent the province was really cool,” she says. “The entire experience was completely amazing and it really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to compete in an Olympic venue.”
Bronze medallist Brown agrees. “The whole experience is kind of hard to sum up in words,” he says. “It felt pretty historic being part of the first Saskatchewan team ever to go to Nationals.”
And Saskatchewan's appearance at the competition didn't go unnoticed at the podium, adds the first-degree black belt.
“The official who presented us with our medals congratulated me and then made a little joke about how Saskatchewan hadn't been to Nationals before, but now we were making our presence felt. It was a nice joke.”
“Being on the podium was an amazing experience,” adds Brown. “And looking into a crowd of people instead of looking up at the podium was an experience I'll never forget.”
“But it was great for all of us on the team,” Brown continues. “Not just getting noticed, but being treated as equal competitors in a very competitive environment. For us, as competitors, that was really nice.”
Fellow black belt Savanna Bryce agrees, adding: “In November, at our (30th Anniversary) tournament in Carlyle, Sensei Heather (Fidyk) from Calgary watched us and said we should try for the Nationals. Without her-and so many people I call our karate family-we wouldn't have the chance to go to Nationals.”
“Everyone there was super-welcoming,” continues Bryce. “After my second fight, the team from PEI said, 'It's so great to see Saskatchewan here.' We were surrounded by amazing talent from across Canada and that just makes you more motivated.”
“You say to yourself: 'Oh, I want to be like that' or 'I'm going to use that.' You take all the best from each competitor and you decide to learn from all of them to be the best you can be.”
“And we all felt the support of our families, our friends and our karate family, whether they were watching us on the livestream or there in Vancouver with us,” says Bryce.
“I was lucky enough to have my mom (Connie Bryce) there to support me. She's my number-one fan.”
“But we all felt the support from so many people. Everyone has awesome family and friends and everyone at our club was behind us, too. Without any of those people, none of us would be here.”
All of the team agree that competing at the national level in an Olympic venue was an unforgettable experience.
Blue belts Nathen Schmidt and Ethan Anderson say that the combination of wearing the Saskatchewan provincial crest and seeing the Olympic rings was “amazing.”
“To represent your province is amazing,” says Schmidt. “To be recognized like that is also a big responsibility and it makes you want to strive to do your best.”
“When you fight, you go out there and strive to do your best, which you should really do with anything you like, whether it's dance, volleyball, or anything.”
“It was a very good learning experience,” adds Anderson. “And it makes me want to go back and do better.”
“For us,” continues Anderson, “We learned a lot from other teams' mindsets and it's something to learn from and use.”
“It was a really intense experience compared to past tournaments for sure,” says blue belt Payton Humphries. “The level of competition between ourselves and others was incredible, and we learned so much.”
“Even though none of us placed except Quinn, it was really enlightening for all of us and to see how far our sport has come-in Saskatchewan, especially.”
“No matter what, we'll all be able to look back and see that we were all part of the first team that Saskatchewan sent to Karate Nationals,” adds Humphries.
“Our names will all be there, and that's really cool.”
