They say life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. When Sue Oevermann took up the martial art of taekwondo over two decades ago, she never imagined how busy her life would get.
Now, 22 years after her first taekwondo class, Oevermann finally fulfilled a lifetime goal in December, 2014, of becoming a graded black belt.
“It was a dream come true. It brought tears to my eyes to accomplish that goal.”
Oevermann got involved in her first class in 1992 and trained hard for several years before getting married and having children. But she always dreamed of resuming her training and gaining her black belt.
“It was one thing that I truly wanted to achieve in my life. There are times in my life that I didn’t think I would accomplish it,” she said.
With a young family and the lack of local taekwondo classes, Oevermann only resumed training in recent years, under the tutelage of her husband Ryan, whom she met in a taekwondo class.
Oevermann said the most challenging aspect of her training was learning to work through her weaknesses.
“It’s not overcoming weakness. It’s working through it. Things like injuries or weight gain. You have to learn to put that stuff aside and decide to just do it anyway.”
As she approached her grading, Oevermann said she made training a priority, working alongside friends in and out of class to hone her technique and learn her sequences.
Oevermann said the grading itself was physically intense, and involved sparring against multiple opponents, striking techniques, and self defense.
The traditional board breaking was one of Oevermann’s easiest obstacles to overcome.
“It’s actually a lot of fun and not as hard as it looks. It’s a mind thing. If you think you can do it, you can do it, but if you hesitate, you won’t break the board.”
Oevermann dedicated her black belt to her late taekwondo master, Mr Black.
“I could imagine him looking down on me from somewhere and saying ‘what took you so long.’ He means a lot to me and everyone in the taekwondo community.”
Now, taekwondo is a huge part of her life once again. Husband Ryan runs classes in Sun Peaks, and her two children, Landon and Montana are also learning the martial art.
“We’re a taekwondo family. It’s great to see them learning something that Ryan and I are so passionate about,” Oevermann said.
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