With classes expanding at a rapid pace, Parksville Taekwondo grew to a point where it was no longer just a taekwondo school and needed to do something about it.
Enter Cascadia Martial Arts, the new name for the former Parksville Taekwondo School, which brings more of a widespread approach to the programs and classes it now has to offer.
“We sort of outgrew that name,” Master Brett Fee said. “It was weird to start with because we had a class in Qualicum Beach, but we kept calling ourselves Parksville Taekwondo, so that was strange to begin with. The name change was something we felt that we needed to do with the classes we have to offer and the ever-evolving aspect of what we teach and what we do at our school.”
With kickboxing classes taking off, it was only a matter of time before the name change took place. In fact, the change had been a year in the making and recently came to light after meetings with others on the Island to be part of the Cascadia name.
“We’ve been thinking it over for a while,” Fee said. “We wanted to have something that would be catchy and have people give us a second look. We’re no longer known as just a taekwondo school; we offer lots of different classes to our 500-plus members.
“Kickboxing, taekwondo, training with weapons, we’ve got a bit of everything.”
Going forward, the Parksville portion of Cascadia Martial Arts will be run by Brett Fee. Cascadia will also open up a school in Nanaimo, run by Brock Fee. There will also be a school opening in Victoria.
“Cascadia is going to be up and down the Island,” Brett Fee said. “We’re really excited to be opening up schools in Nanaimo and Victoria. The biggest thing for us was to expand and get our name out there to the public. Having Cascadia all over Vancouver Island allows us to not only reach out to a larger group of athletes but will give our athletes the chance to train at all of our schools across the Island. It’s a great thing to be able to offer that and we’re very excited about it.”
For now, Cascadia Martial Arts has officially changed its name and its new signage will be coming in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, classes will continue under the new banner and students are already enjoying the benefits.
“We’ve got students over on the Mainland right now,” Brett Fee said. “They’re at a camp with Master Dan Thornton, who was over here helping us out with some classes earlier in the year. We’re hoping that more of this sort of thing will be able to happen in the future with Cascadia. We’ve got the chance to really branch out and reach an entire new group of athletes who want to take part in the classes we have to offer and that’s a really exciting prospect for us.”
