Lucas Feeley, right, and his dad/coach, Chris, will be in Finland in September as Lucas competes at the ITF World Championships. Supplied Photo
For Lucas Feeley, a world Taekwon-Do title has been the dream for quite some time, and he’s now one step closer to turning that dream into a reality.
Roughly two months ago, 18-year-old Feeley, who trains out of Torrent TKD, was mentally preparing to compete at the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) National Championships in Vernon, B.C.
Jump ahead to the present and Feeley is once again preparing for competition, but this time, for the ITF World Championships in Finland from Sept. 4-10.
After winning national gold in sparring and silver in specialty technique in Vernon, Feeley punched his ticket to a selection camp from June 9-11 with hopes of making the national team.
Things went well for Feeley during the selection camp and he described the entire experience as something he’ll never forget.
“It was pretty surreal lining up with my Team Canada teammates for the first time,” he said.
With only 53 days until Finland, Feeley knows it’s time to give it his all in order to mentally and physically prepare to face the best Taekwon-Do athletes in the world.
“I know a lot of sacrifices have to be made because now I’m training at least two hours a day, six days per week, so I’m only getting one rest day per week,” he said.
“On that one day off I’m focusing on recovery, so sleep, we just got an ice bath, so I’m doing ice baths, I’m trying to do heat therapy as well, stretching twice a day; it’s just non-stop.
“This is now the number-one thing I’m focusing on. Everything I do I try to put second while thinking ‘is this going to benefit me to be a World champion?’”
Feeley made three spots on Team Canada for Worlds in specialty technique, which is a high-kicking event, individual sparring, as well as team sparring, something his dad/coach, Chris, is looking forward to seeing.
“Team sparring is a prestigious spot,” said Chris, who’s also the owner and lead instructor at Torrent TKD.
“Out of all the people fighting individually, there’s six selected for the team, so he’s one of those six.
“That’s the event where you’re really carrying the flag on your back for the team.”
Having been in his son’s shoes not long ago for Worlds in Germany, Chris said it’s important to shoot for the moon.
“You can’t control what other people will do, but preparing yourself the best you can and getting yourself in as good of shape as you can for the event is key,” he said.
“Objectively, I think he’s got a good chance, especially in the specialty kicking event, I think he’s got a very good chance at the podium there; he has a good chance in sparring as well.”
At Worlds, Feeley is looking forward to seeing how athletes from different countries fight, what kicks they use the most, and how they punch. He also explained he doesn’t worry about the competition too much before a fight.
“I don’t like to look at the guys I’m going to be competing against and building them up in my head because they become a bigger problem than they actually are.”
Feeley also noted he’s excited to potentially trade his Team Canada dobox with international athletes after the competition is over, a long-standing tradition at ITF competitions.
“There’s guys on Team Canada with dobox from Ireland, Ukraine, and Poland; it’s super cool and pretty prestigious to get a dobox from one of these countries where Taekwon-Do is the number-one sport. To bring it back home and wear it during team training is pretty awesome to see.”
For Chris and the entire team at Torrent TKD, having an athlete make Team Canada has been inspiring.
“This is huge. It’s been a huge boost in morale for the students already; it’s amped everyone up and gotten everyone excited to know it’s a possibility,” said Chris. “I’ve talked about this with our students since they were young saying ‘hey, you guys are my future world champions.’”
The Feeleys, as well as Torrent TKD, would like to thank all of their sponsors for helping get Lucas to Finland.
Sponsors include The Sticks Billiard and Lounge, Noralta Technologies, Guest Controls, Cenovus, Home Hardware, Classic Oilfield Services, A&K New Life, the Rurka family, the Reineger family, the Samarin family, the Hunt family, the Tomayer family, the Proskurov family, and the McLean family.
