A world leader in taekwondo is coming to Nelson to help award black belts to 20 students from the Kootenays, Alberta and Washington State.
Grandmaster Brenda Sell is one of only two ninth-degree black belt women in the world, and the highest ranked non-Korean woman in the world. She will be the lead examiner for the black belt testing at Kootenay Martial Arts on Thursday.
Sell is president of the United States Chung Do Kwon Association (USCDKA). She will bring her expertise to adjudicate at the black belt testing and teach two days of seminars.
“Kootenay Martial Arts is starting its 18th season with a bang. We’re testing 20 candidates, ages 10 to 60, for their black belts, which is pretty intensive, and pretty impressive,” said Dean Siminoff, owner of Kootenay Martial Arts.
“There are four hours of closed-door exams on all of the requirements for USCDKA and World Taekwondo Federation black belts. These are world-level credentials that are issued if the candidate is successful.”
The graduation and demonstrations are open to the public starting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the St. Joseph’s School gym. The demonstrations include breaking wood and concrete with bare hands, flying kicks and other martial arts skills.
Related: Kootenay Martial Artists earn their belts
“Sell and her late husband have been my mentors in taekwondo for almost 20 years. It’s an honour for our students here in the West Kootenays to have her participate in their training and help them celebrate their achievements,” Siminoff said.
“It is my pleasure be more of an observer during this testing and let the students stand on their own merits and trust that I have prepared them well to be evaluated by one of the highest ranked individuals in the world in martial arts.”
Kootenay Martial Arts is the largest professional martial arts centre in the Kootenays and now has a permanent home in Nelson with one of the largest and best equipped facilities in B.C.