Blazing a trail

St. Vital

Westwood

North End

Sunthaya Chea is blazing her own trail in the local taekwondo community.

Since last September, the 10-year-old has been taking classes at Elite Taekwondo in St. Vital, following in the footsteps of her two older sisters.

But there’s one significant thing different about Sunthaya’s journey — she’s hard of hearing and takes her classes with an American Sign Language interpreter nearby. The interpreter is made possible through funding from KidSport Manitoba and the Manitoba Deaf Sports Association.

Julius Bañares, Elite Taekwondo’s owner, explained that Chea’s mom, Florence Dumaguing, approached him about her daughter taking lessons. He said he hadn’t experienced having a hard-of-hearing student in 30 years of teaching the sport and was happy to give it a try.

“It’s fantastic,” said the Westwood resident, a fifth dan who is known as Master Bañares to his students. “Having an interpreter means Sunthaya is able to ask the right questions. She’s God’s gift to our club, and she inspires so many people.”

Bañares said he reached out to Darryl Elyk, tournament director of the Ultimate Taekwondo Super Series, to ask if Chea would be able to compete in an upcoming event — the Victory Cup, part of an Ultimate Taekwondo Super Series tournament at Louis Riel Arts & Technology Centre on March 14. Elyk said he’d run it by tournament officials — and got the green light.

Elyk said he’s delighted to include Chea in the tournament, where she will be aided by an interpreter, as she is in her club activities.

“It’s important for us to be inclusive for athletes of all abilities and give all athletes opportunities while keeping everything fair and safe,” Elyk said.

“This feels fantastic,” he added, noting this is a first in the province in his two decades of experience.

“A driving (thing) for me is being able to help create opportunities for kids in sport.”

On Feb. 10, Chea was among 20 youngsters in a class at Elite’s St. Vital location (1212 Dakota St., at Dakota Lawn Bowling Centre) and started off with a number of stretching exercises before ramping things up by practicing a series of moves, including roundhouse kicks.

Through an ASL interpreter, Chea — who attends the Manitoba School for the Deaf (242 Stradford St.) — said she initially wanted to do taekwondo because she wanted to defend herself after being bullied, and she quickly fell in love with the sport.

She admitted she’s feeling a little nervous about the upcoming tournament, but she enjoys the variety of moves taekwondo provides.

“It’s cool when we get put into groups and compete against each other… and we have patterns to do, and lots of different blocks,” Chea said.

“I think, really… there’s lots of positivity in taekwondo, and the values it instills is something that makes sense to me.”

Chea’s dad, Ratha, said he’s noticed his daughter is more disciplined since she started taking part in taekwondo.

“She listens more, and you don’t have to ask her to do something twice. She also never wants to miss a taekwondo class,” Ratha said.

Dumaguing said staff and students at Chea’s school are excited about her participation in the Ultimate Taekwondo Super Series and said one or two of may attend to cheer her on.

“They’re super-excited to share this with her, and we expect at least one or two teachers and friends and family members to be there,” Dumaguing said.

Bañares said he hopes Chea’s participation in the sport will inspire others and lead the way for other local athletes, in the same way she’s an example to other club members.

“It’s an exciting thing, and I hope it will open doors for others. This is the first time this has happened to me in my club, and I’ve been training for so many years,” Bañares said.

Visit elitetkd.ca for more information about Elite Taekwondo, or visit www.facebook.com/ultimatesuperseries to learn more about the tournament.