It is considered an honour in martial arts when the student becomes the teacher. But when the student battles the teacher, it’s a different kind of kudos all together.
A couple of weeks ago, 31 students from Cochrane’s Trinity Taekwondo were some of the more than 350 competitors who travelled to Lethbridge from around the province for the 2016 Alberta Taekwondo Cup.
Cameron MacDonald, a fifth degree black belt and Trinity’s head instructor, and Colin Fetaz – a third degree black belt, assistant instructor and one of MacDonald’s students – both signed up to participate in the sparring portion of the tournament.
Since he and Fetaz are in the same age and weight classes, MacDonald said he quickly realized they would be facing off if they made it to the medal round.
“I saw that we were on opposite sides of the sheet,” recalled MacDonald. “If we were ever going to spar each other, it would be in the finals.”
Sure enough, each athlete won their matches, and it was MacDonald and Fetz in the gold medal match. MacDonald said competing against a student was a first in his long martial arts career.
“That’s something that’s never happened,” he said. “In training, we’ve sparred lots. When you get into the competitive ring – it’s just different.”
Fetaz and MacDonald went at it for two two-minute rounds, each scoring points against the other. Though the points were close, judges awarded the gold medal to MacDonald.
“(Colin) actually did really well. He had me beat partway through the match and was doing really good,” said MacDonald, adding he was proud of his protégé.
“I ended up coming out on top – this time. Who knows about the future, though? He’s really talented … if it ends up like that again, he might give me a run for my money.”
The rest of the tournament saw coloured belts Derek Lenson, Graeme Murphy and Jacob Mate each medal in power breaking and specialty breaking – competitions in which athletes break boards for either speed or agility. Several other Trinity members also earned medals for their patterns.
The taekwondo troupe will next travel to Crossfield on Dec. 10 for a competition with the Lil Kickers, who range in age from four to seven and are the youngest members of the Trinity club.
MacDonald said, no matter what the outcome of his match – or any others Trinity competes in – the students always remain friends, partners and teammates.
“It’s one of those unique sports.”
