Simply being back on the mat competing was enough to ensure that the appearance of Minnow Lake Place Taekwondo competitors at the Black Belt World Championship Tournament earlier this month at the Markham Pan Am Centre was going to be considered a success.

Adding a solid handful of gold and silver medals to the mix was an awfully nice bonus.

"For three years, the kids just kept doing what we do, even if it was on-line," noted MLP TKD head instructor Ghislain Mayotte. "When we were able to get back to the club, there was no contact and we were only allowed X amount of students at a time."

"We were at least a year and a half behind the other clubs in (southern) Ontario."

Still, if given the chance for a do-over, Mayotte would not change a thing.

"We followed the protocols and we did an awesome job here," he stated. "I say that because we never had to close because of everyone being sick at the same time. If people were sick, they stayed away."

Covid-19, however, would take a toll.

"We went back to the basics, the true hard style of Taekwondo - and it worked," said Mayotte. "We run against the newer (softer) style."

That message is engrained both as his students head off to tournaments in the GTA and elsewhere, but also as they work their way along the progression of martial arts belts.

"Testing is very important because you learn all of your requirements. You learn the poomsae, the forms. You learn the kicking. And then there's the self-defense aspect of it. This is where we separate it from the competition, which is the sport."

"As a martial artist, you need to understand the art of self-defense. There's old techniques that don't apply to sparring today. We have a fine balance."

Showcasing that balance in Markham were gold medal winners Owais Sambo (age 9-10; Yellow belt to Green stripe; gold in sparring; silver in poomsae), Mariia Lapshykova (age 9-10; Red belt to Black stripe; gold in sparring), Cédéric Woychuk (age 11-12; Red belt to Black stripe; gold in sparring) and Sierra Marunchak (age 13-14; Yellow belt to Green stripe; gold in sparring).

Adding to the silver medal collection were Iliyas Sambo (age 11-12; Green belt to Blue striple; silver in sparring) and Jessica Fu (age 11-12; Blue belt to Red stripe; silver in sparring), with Khalid Sambo unfortunately falling ill on the first day of competition.