Normal grandpas take their grand kids out for supper sometimes. They’ll go fishing with their grandchildren (if the child wants to); they’ll maybe even spoil them with some presents here and there, if their parents aren’t looking of course.
Victor Surjik, grandfather to Jakob and Hannah Surjik, would do all those things and more, just to put a smile on the faces of his favourite people.
But while he’d do all of that, the fact remains that Victor is not your normal grandpa. Well… he is... kind of.
But he’s also more than that.
He’s a grandpa with a black belt. A second Dan black belt, to be exact. “I originally got involved with taekwondo back when I was 55 and it was at Fairview School,” mentioned the soon-to-be-78 Surjik, who admits he could be at least a fifth Dan black belt if he was able to do the belt tests properly. “I’ve always wanted to be involved with a group like this for the exercise and everything else that goes with it because when I was working in business it was pretty stressful, but this let me go out and get rid of that stress.”
But while Surjik loves taekwondo, he almost never even got involved with it in the first place. Of course he had always had an interest in martial arts, but taekwondo simply didn’t exist in Yorkton prior to 1992. “I had always had interest in martial arts so I’d read articles and books on it,” offered Surjik. ‘Karate was in town and I looked at going that way but my daughter was big into swimming at the time so I decided not to bother with it, but then when taekwondo came in I was quite happy to join them and get involved with that sport back then.”
Surjik is still happy with his decision to choose taekwondo over karate.
He even continues to be involved with taekwondo, practicing twice weekly, Monday and Wednesday, at Kee’s Taekwondo in Yorkton.
But that’s not the only reason he’s happy about taekwondo. He has another reason.
Wait, make that two. “I didn’t really push the grandchildren into doing it, but I’m happy they are,” said a smiling Surjik as he watched his granddaughter Hannah spar at the competition this past Saturday. “My son gave them the opportunity.
“He brought them down to see if they’d like to do it and Hannah and Jakob decided to join. They like it so they continue to do it.”
Surjik himself admitted that he makes sure that his grandkids continue to enjoy taekwondo. Not by pushing them towards it, though.
Instead, he shows his support by stopping by their training classes and showing them videos he has taken of them, or, more recently, training with them. “The other night we did train together. I made a point of taking part in their class,” offered Surjik, continuing, “It was a lot of fun because it was a family evening and we trained together and had fun with it. It was really great.”
One other reason they continue to do taekwondo is Surjik himself, who at the age of 77 (78 at the end of the month), still takes part in competitions; although sometimes he keeps it to himself until the last moment. “Today during competition I didn’t tell them I was coming down to do my form and they were very glad for me,” laughed Surjik. “They expressed it through a lot of hugging and stuff like that when they saw me compete. But you know, that’s what grandparents look forward to, the hugs, the love.”
Even if that grandparent is a black belt.
