On the eve of Canada Day 2019, 7 taekwon-do schools from the BC Lower Mainland banded together to show their support for Mr. Darryl Paul Andaya of DSA Taekwon-do through their participation at the 2019 Lower Mainland Friendship Tournament held at the Bonsor Recreation Centre in Burnaby, British Columbia.
A total of 64 athletes from Pacific Rim Taekwon-do and Triumph Taekwon-do based in Coquitlam, Northern Taekwon-do from Whiterock, Sage Taekwon-do from Pitt Meadows, Richmond Martial Arts from Richmond, Jonsun Taekwon-do from Vancouver and DSA Taekwon-do from Burnaby, tested their skills against each other with a round of friendly Taekwon-do competition in Patterns, Sparring and Coloured Belt Powerbreaking.
Mr. Andaya, a 1st degree Blackbelt with Down Syndrome, who started the event with a demonstration of his pattern, Kwang-gae, and a sample of Mixed Abilities Aparring, is set to represent Canada at the International Special Needs Taekwon-do Games in New Zealand on October 5 of this year. After his performance, the President of ITF of BC, Master Hal Lipscombe, presented Mr. Andaya, with a cheque to help him with his competition expenses.
In behalf of Darryl and my family, we would like to thank everyone who donated time and money to help him get the full experience of Taekwon-do, including being able to compete at an international competition. Thank you to all our volunteers, to the full time umpires and officials, who came just for the love of our sport, to the parents of DSAtaekwondo, as well as friends and past students who came back just to help us out. Through their efforts, the competition went exceedingly well and ended an hour ahead of schedule.
Finally, our special appreciation goes to all our participants and their instructors, as well as their parents, for helping us gather all these amazing talents in one roof, in celebration of a sport we love, on the eve of the birthday of the country we all aspire to represent proudly.
-Darius S. Andaya, 5th Dan
DSA Royal International Taekwon-do