NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY Jade Hirsche practices at Fire Dragon Taekwondo in Medicine Hat Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 prior to receiving her certificate for reaching black belt status.
She speaks better than most 20-year-olds, tested well enough to be a top-notch official in her sport and earned her black belt in taekwondo this summer.
But Jade Hirsche is only 10 years old.
Hirsche was among 19 Fire Dragon Taekwondo members who achieved new or higher-level black belts, the certificates for which were presented Monday evening in Medicine Hat.
Unsurprisingly for someone already so accomplished, she seems to already understand it when her head instructor says the black belt is more of a starting point than a goal to be reached.
“To get my black belt, I was excited and nervous at the same time,” said Hirsche following the awards ceremony at Fire Dragon’s location on Kingsway Ave. “It’s kind of like when something really good happens in your life, like you win an award. It’s like that, but bigger.”
Hirsche pointed out she wasn’t even the youngest one of the 19 who did black belt testing in June, but had to wait for the official designation from Korea. It was close though, as fellow 10-year-olds Carter Prince and Jayden Frederick have birthdays within weeks of hers.
Fire Dragon master Mark Pellerin – a seventh degree black belt – can’t help but be impressed by Hirsche and the entire class of students who either earned their first black belt or gained another degree to their existing one.
“She has an incredible skill set for her age,” said Pellerin. “Our school definitely focuses on character development, teaching discipline and respect, and leadership skills.
“The kicking and punching, that’s a bonus.”
There’s one big bonus coming up next month, as Hirsche is among a group from the local studio who will compete at the Canada Open Oct. 4-6 in Montreal. It’ll be her first international competition, with more than 800 athletes and 30 countries represented. She’ll be in a 10- and 11-year-old division doing sparring and patterns.
She’d like to add weapons to her taekwondo repertoire someday, the only limitation of which seems to be the studio’s location – downstairs, with a short ceiling.
“I saw a video, my granny showed me a video of a girl doing sword things,” Hirsche said of why she started in taekwondo four years ago. “She was doing a martial art, so I decided I want to do that.
“I thought we would do weapons; we have a leadership program that does teach us weapons, but we don’t have enough room to do swords because we’re already hitting the ceiling with the bow staff.”
Aside from that, it seems the sky is the limit.
Black belts
Fire Dragon Taekwondo black belt earners from this summer’s testing (including black belt degree if more than one in parentheses):
Gavin Abela
Kaden Abela
Luke Aberle
Jack Bourne
Ryan Christoffersen (fourth)
Dakota Cole (second)
Kyrina Cole (second)
Sheldon Delorme (second)
Brian Edey
Charlie Fairbrother
Jayden Frederick
Kobe Guckert
Koen Guckert
Jade Hirsche
Jayden Lanz (second)
Carter Prince
Justin Vannini (second)
Eddie Yang
Ryan Yang
