St. Albert boy does taekwondo from B.C. on Zoom

A boy who moved away from the Edmonton space final summer time isn’t letting geography cease him from advancing his taekwondo expertise.

Liam Potvin, 12, has been with Phoenix Taekwon-do in St. Albert since he was seven and at the moment holds a junior black belt. Final June, his mom’s job relocated their household to Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, pulling him away from his courses.

“I turned a part of a household, so leaving it was sort of onerous and I made a decision to proceed though we had been aside,” Liam mentioned over Zoom.

“I like taekwondo itself, however I additionally actually appreciated the dynamic and the those who surrounded me.”

Liam Potvin taking a taekwondo class from his front room. (Equipped)

Liam was unable to discover a Dojang on the island and tried different varieties of martial arts however ultimately reached out to his grandmaster, asking if he might proceed courses by means of Zoom.

Myriam Potvin, Liam’s mom, says shifting to Vancouver Island was a household selection due the character of her spouse’s job.

“Each time we transfer round any individual loses one thing. On this occasion, Liam misplaced an enormous a part of himself. He was coaching two to 4 occasions every week,” Potvin mentioned.

Potvin additionally describes the Dojang as an enormous household with everybody cheering one another on, wanting their college students to achieve success in life.

“It’s not only a martial artwork. It’s not simply going to coaching a pair occasions every week and also you go residence, it’s a lifestyle.”

Craig Stanley, Liam’s grandmaster, instructing him taekwondo by way of Zoom. (CTV Information Edmonton)

Craig Stanley, Liam’s grandmaster, says he’s a devoted pupil and instructing just about is one thing he did through the pandemic.

“What I do is that I do a piece with these guys and I’ll add 5, six, seven strikes and provides them some corrections after which whereas they’re at residence, not on Zoom, they will repair these corrections,” Stanley mentioned.

Whereas Liam isn’t in a position to showcase his patterns in particular person, he’s nonetheless in a position to check for the following stage of his black belt.

“We all know he’s energetic, we all know he’s practising so when the time rolls round the place he might be eligible for his subsequent diploma, we all know he’s engaged on coaching,” Stanley mentioned.

Liam can be coming to Edmonton in April for an upcoming match and together with his digital coaching, he plans to be prepared.