Leadership Camp with John McCrae High School
April 30, 2011
I filled out an application to go to an overnight leadership camp. The camp is for students in grade 9-12 and I was really happy that they accepted my application.
I wanted to to go the camp for a lot of reasons. First of all I am looking for a way to feel more involved and connected to the school. With all the training for the World Championships I really put all school activities on hold. This was a good way for me to meet more people.
I also wanted to go to camp to hopefully learn some more skills that I can use with kids that I’ll be coaching all summer at Taekwon-do and soccer camps. I figured anything to do with leadership can only be helpful in everything I want to do.
We left the school at 9:15 am to go to Rideau Hill Camp. The camp was organized and run strictly by senior students and the teachers cooked and supervised. We were put into groups the day before that were mixed with 9th graders to 12th graders. I was the only ninth grader in my group but I actually liked that. I really enjoyed my time with the older people in my group. I made some new friends and had a great time.
We had lots of sessions focusing on team work, taking leadership in different scenarios, trust exercises , time management skills and how to deal with stress. There were also some games where all the groups came together. I learned a lot and it felt so good to just laugh and have have fun.
I might be a bit more confident than a lot of other teenagers just because of always competing. I could see what a big stretch it was for a lot of people to open up and share their views about some things. You could see how hard it was for some of them and I think it was great to push themselves out of their comfort zone.
The part of the whole camp that blew my mind was that 40-50 teenagers were put into a camp with terrible cold and wet weather, rustic cabins without electricity and outhouses in the woods, no showers but everyone worked together, smiled and didn’t complain once! We were having too much fun. Now if that isn’t a group of special teenagers then I’m not sure what is. I was shocked how nice everyone was.
I had one favorite part about the camp and it wasn’t even about leadership but it was a special moment. The first night we were there, there was a bond fire. We all ended up linking arms, swaying back and forth, singing with at least two guitars going. It was special because most of us were practically strangers to each other but we all came together and united. It was really sad to see all the graduates depressed about this being their last year of camp and at school.
It was an amazing time and I am 100% going back next year but next time I’m taking rubber boots. Lol. It’s weird, I already miss everybody. I really needed those two days to enjoy some time with friends and to just completely let go. It was an amazing experience.
When I got off the bus Friday night my parents were waiting with some food and my soccer bag so they could take me directly to soccer practice. I didn’t even have time to go home. Within minutes I was back to reality. I was in such a great mood at soccer that I didn’t care how many push-up or sit-ups our coach told us to do 
This weekend will also be filled with coaching the junior coloured belts to help them get ready for their tournament next week as well as my own training. I feel energized after the camp so watch out….
Fun Training over Easter Weekend
April 24, 2011
Saturday I spent 5 hours at the dojang. At the beginning I trained one-on-one with Mack. Last month when our dojang did a fundraiser for Mr. LeGrow I donated 2 hours of private training for people to bid on. Mack’s mom bought my training time so I wanted to make sure Mack had a good work out. He trained really hard and I see a big improvement in him.
Good Job Mack
Then I helped with the coloured belt competition training. It’s so fun to see how they are getting so excited for the upcoming tournament.
Once everyone left I had a chance to work on my own patterns. It felt awesome! It was the first time since I’ve been back from Worlds to really do my patterns full force. I’ve been having lots of little injuries on my ankles. The rest did them good. I’m still waiting to get x-ray results but I’m sure they are fine. I just have a few more physio appointments booked for this week.
Since my soccer team is still in Dallas I trained with another team and that was a lot of fun. It’s always cool to learn new drills from different coaches. I want to show them to my coach when he gets back since I think they will help our team.
It was still nice out so I went back to the track. I want to take every advantage of the equipment while I have it and I know that once school starts again I won’t have the chance except at track practice.
It was starting to get dark so I knew it was time to finally go home. I had spent the entire day doing my three favorite things: Taekwon-do, Soccer and then Track and Field.
Happy Easter!
I LOVE chocolate but I’m trying to be good so my mom made chocolate covered strawberries for Easter Morning.
Yummy
After brunch my family including grandpa went to the track. My Grandpa loves being outside in the fresh air. I had fun playing soccer with my dad while mom and Grandpa walked the track. My grandpa used to do a lot of track and field in high school and college so he was dying to give me some advice.
I think I got my love for sports from my Grandpa
He's still got it!
It was a great day and now I’m looking forward to a nice Easter dinner with everyone. Happy Easter Everyone!!!!
Thanks for all your help dad.
Practicing Shot Put and Discus on my Own at the Track
April 22, 2011
Today is Good Friday and it was a beautiful day. After spending several hours in the dojang I headed off to the track. I was so surprised how many other people were there either running sprints, power walking or just walking their dogs. I loved the atmosphere!
Since this is my first year at high school I feel like I have to catch up to the senior students who have been doing javelin, shot put and discus for the last four years. My track coach let me borrow a shot put and a discus for the long weekend to practice. Unfortunately they aren’t allowed to hand a javelin out in case of injury.
I started practicing the shot put first.
The Ball is Really Heavy
Then I worked on my Discus throws.
Discus is a new event for me and I find it really exciting. It’s so much harder than it looks. I love it since it’s really frustrating and then all of a sudden you have a nice throw and it feels so good. I always seem to need the challenge. It was really cool because an older gentlemen was walking laps around the track minding his own business and after about 30 minutes he came over to my dad and asked if he was my coach. When he knew he was my dad he told me that he was a retired track coach and gave me some useful pointers. He was so nice and helpful.
Tomorrow I know I’ll be at the dojang for about 4 hours but then I want to go back to the track for more throws. I was at the track for an hour today and it was great since I was able to get in so many more throws than I do at the track and field practices in the morning. Thanks Ms. Rusch for lending me the equipment
I also have a soccer practice tomorrow night with a different team. My team is in a big tournament in Dallas this week and I wasn’t able to go since I’ve been away so much already but at least I get to train with another team to keep my foot on the ball.
One-On-One TKD Tournament Training
April 22, 2011
The Eastern Canadian Taekwon-Do tournament is two weeks away. I am really happy that so many coloured belts have registered to compete. Tournaments get so much more exciting when there are a lot of competitors and coloured belts need to compete as well in order to eventually be better black belts. You always want new people coming up the ranks and it shouldn’t only be about the black belts.
It can be very intimidating to compete if you’re not used to it. I want to help build confidence in as many coloured belts as possible in the next two weeks.
Since it’s the long weekend I have lots of time. Today I spend a couple hours with a very special student. Cameron is special since he and his family have always supported me in my training and competitions even though he trains at another school than I do. He is very quiet and shy so I wanted to spend some one-on-one time to help prepare him mentally. He has an amazing instructor so I certainly wasn’t there to contradict anything that she has taught him. I just think that sometimes it’s nice to get a little extra attention to help build confidence. I know how much I used to appreciate it when the teenagers helped me when I was his age. Everyone is so worried about making mistakes or forgetting the patterns in front of everyone. I explained that everyone has done that at some point or another and if the people watching don’t practice TKD they wouldn’t realize it anyway Most kids are also really worried about getting hurt in the sparring. They have to realize that there is the center referee to make sure the contact is under control. Sometimes just talking about what their own goals for the tournament are can be very helpful so it’s not only about winning a medal or not.
- Showing what the movement is for really helps to do it properly
- Doing the patterns together helps correct the timing and the sign wave
- I stretched Cameron out after the training and then I let Cameron and his younger brother help stretch me out
We went over every movement in his pattern and his mom videotaped it so they could review it on their own. There are so many things to remember. I enjoyed my time with him and I hope he did too. I really just want him to do his personal best and have fun at the tournament. It’s such a great place to make friends.
Testimonial at the Visalus Meeting in Front of 200 Strangers
April 21, 2011
I got a taste of what it’s like to speak in front of 200 complete strangers in a Visalus business meeting. I was asked to say a few words about how drinking Visalus shakes helped me during all my training. I was called to the front of the room and I was surprised that I didn’t feel intimidated in front of so many adults that I’ve never met before.
Here is my story…..
Before the World Championships I was training approximately 30 hours a week plus I was playing for a Provincial level soccer team which was an additional three practices a week plus had 70 minutes of gym class every day.
As you can imagine I was burning a lot of calories every day and I really needed to make sure I had a high level of nutrition not only for energy but also for maintaining a strong body to help stay injury free.
In many ways I’m the typical teenager. I hate vegetables and I don’t like eating breakfast since I’m usually running out the door for school after going to bed very late after training the night before. I also don’t like packing a lunch for school and the food in the cafeteria is disgusting.
Since I train right after school for soccer and then go directly to Taekwon-do until about 10:30 at night it’s very difficult for me to get the nutrition fit into little meals throughout the day.
I started to drink a Visalus shake every morning and one at every lunch. I was feeling really good but to be honest I didn’t really give much credit to the shakes. I just thought I was getting stronger and fitter through my training. I wasn’t drinking the shakes to lose weight so I would also eat a meat sandwich and some fruit with it so I wouldn’t be hungry.
Last November I competed at Nationals in Vancouver and I didn’t take any shakes with me since I really didn’t think it would make that big of a difference. I was shocked after about 3 days I was really missing the shakes. It was like my body was saying ‘Kayla, you need a shake’. I quickly learned that when I was drinking them regularly my body worked better and it wasn’t until I didn’t have them that my body missed them. My body is like a car, if I put bad fuel in it, it won’t run properly. I can now tell immediately if I’ve eaten the right types of food before I train. That is why I like the Visalus shakes so much. I know how I will perform on them.
Recently a soccer team mate saw me drink one and I gave her a sip. She now drinks them on a regular basis since she also hates vegetables and exerts a lot of energy. I’m sure it won’t be long before several of my team mates will be drinking them as well. We all travel together to Toronto almost every weekend during the summer and the shakes are really convenient, they taste great and you feel better while it’s part of your daily diet. My friends at school always ask for some of my shake at lunch and want to start drinking them just because they taste so good and are convenient. My older brother in university also drinks them everyday while he is running between classes and work.
As an athlete, I have to ensure that I get enough rest, training, healthy mind set and the best nutrition possible. Thank you Visalus for helping me reach my goals.
Article in the Ottawa Sun, Saturday April 16th, 2011
April 16, 2011
This article was in the Ottawa Sun, Saturday April 16th, 2011
“Barrhaven’s Kayla Maduk discovered she had a gift for martial arts at a young age.
Now just 15, she already outranks her older brother and her father, James. And she’s enjoying plenty of success in competitions.
“People think once you have a black belt you know everything, but it was when I finally got my black belt that I realized I know nothing,” claims Maduk, whose 11-plus years of taekwon-do training resulted in three medals for Canada at the world championships. She’s been studying taekwon-do since she was 3½, training with her brother and father.
“I fell in love with it watching them,” said Maduk. “At the time, they didn’t let kids as young as me start. So I started doing mostly stretching and exercises. By the time I was five, I was starting normal classes. I’ve heard I was a natural. As I progress, though, I realize how much I still have to learn.”
While the Maduks are all black belts, Kayla is the only one still competing.
“She’s a senior belt now. I have to bow to her,” said her father.
Earlier this month, in New Zealand, Maduk won gold for Junior Female Patterns 2nd Dan and brought home silver medals, in Junior Female Sparring Hyper over 60 kg, previous World Champion and Junior Female Team Power Breaking with teammates Maxine Noel and Miranda Seifert.
It was the first time travelling to an international competition for Maduk, the youngest female member of the team.
“It was really cool being in another part of the world,” she said. “It was really mind blowing to represent Canada there.”
Maduk plans to continue honing her craft. She hopes to continue to be involved in sports in some aspect, even when she is done high school,
“I want to be in a sports environment. It’s a cool atmosphere.”
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Article from the Ottawa Citizen – Saturday April 9th, 2011
April 16, 2011
This was written in the Ottawa Citizen Saturday April 2011
“Winners’ circle: Nepean’s Kayla Maduk, a Grade 9 student at John McCrae Secondary School, won the gold medal in patterns 2nd dan, and silvers in sparring hyper over 60 kilograms and team power breaking in the junior female class at the International Taekwon-do Federation world championships in Wellington, New Zealand. The youngest member of the Canadian women’s team, Maduk won the most medals of any of the 50 athletes on the squad. University of Ottawa student Isabelle Bond won the senior women’s patterns in 4th-6th dan and helped Canada to second in team patterns. Stephen Le-Grow of Ottawa, the owner of Blackburn TKD and coach of Maduk, won bronze in the senior men’s sparring hyper over 80 kilograms.”
Track and Field Season Begins
April 10, 2011
I was warned by several people to expect a bit of a depression or ‘let down’ after competing at the World Championships since I will suddenly have so much extra free time on my hands without a big goal to work towards.
I definitely miss my TKD friends on Team Canada. That`s the problem when your friends are from coast to coast but I know I will see a lot of them in a few weeks at the Eastern Canadian Championships. I miss all the preparation and the anticipation leading up to the competition. I wish I was still in New Zealand since I wanted more time to actually explore different parts of New Zealand. I keep reliving the whole experience in my mind since it was so much fun and the highlight of my life. I absolutely loved the atmosphere but I am certainly not depressed. Maybe it`s because I have so many new challenges and fun times to look forward to.
I am having a blast learning new events for my high school track and field team. I love the new challenge. In the past I’ve broken the City Board record for Shot Put so I am going to continue with that event but now I’m also trying Javelin and Discus. I`ve never tried these events before. They are so different from TKD and soccer. I have good core strength and upper body strength from TKD so it’s a good fit. I’ve been watching YouTube videos to learn the proper technique since I don’t have much time to learn. I ask the coach and the older guys from the higher grades a lot questions since it`s amazing how good they are. The only thing I don’t like is the early morning practices. I train so late at night that I normally sleep in until the very last minute for school At least it doesn’t conflict with my other training or soccer practices. Apparently there will be several track and field meets but they are during the day which works well. I’m having a lot of fun with it, and I am excited to continue to learn and get better.
Helping out With a Trigger’s Taekwon-Do Black Belt Test
April 10, 2011
I train with Mr. LeGrow at Blackburn TKD but Ms. Trigger from Triggers TKD has been very good to me by helping me with Power Breaking training and just overall support during the last year.
She was having a large test with 8 black stripes testing for their black belt and 4 other 1st degrees testing for their 2nd degree. These tests take so long so the more help the better.
As soon as my soccer game was over I rushed to the dojang. I felt bad that I missed the Theory and the Pattern portion of the test but I was asked to spar with the students. It’s always hard to spar in a test since you want to push them so they feel good about their test and have the opportunity to show their skill but you also don’t want to hurt them and every school has different levels of intensity. I’ve never sparred with these guys so I didn’t know how far to push them.
After the sparring there was lots of boards to break for the test. There are several techniques that are used to break the boards. I was really impressed with how well everyone did. It can be very intimidating breaking boards in ways that you’ve never done before but they were all up for the challenge and overcame their fears.
It's so rewarding when you accomplish what you set out to do
Good technique always wins
Everyone was up for the challenge
As each person was promoted Ms. Trigger asked them to tell everyone what they learned about themselves during the test. I was so touched by all of the comments. They were all so real, inspiring, motivating and sincere. There were comments like:
‘I’ve proved that perseverance does pay off. I’ve been working towards my black belt for 10 years’
‘I’ve learned that it’s not luck, but how much you want it.
‘I’ve learned that I can push myself to do more even when I’m physically really hurt.’
“I’ve learned that you have to get out of your comfort zone to improve.’
These were just a few types of comments that were made but they were all very similar no matter how old or young the students were. This is just another reason why Taekwon-do is so important to me. I love being surrounded by positive people that are all working hard towards a goal. Being there yesterday reminded me of just how special it is getting your black belt. How big of an accomplishment it is. I have wonderful memories of my first class as a black belt. I don’t think I have worked so hard in my life.
Congratulations Everyone!
After the test was finished we all went out and had a nice celebration dinner. Congratulations to everyone!!!
