Sara-Lynne Knockwood is a Canadian taekwondo athlete and a band member of Nova Scotia’s Indian Brook First Nation. She was raised in

Enfield, Nova Scotia Enfield is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in both Municipality of the District of East Hants, East Hants Municipality and Halifax Regional Municipality. Enfield is situated along ...

with her two sisters by her father Ron and her mother Jennifer. She won gold medals in the 2002

North American Indigenous Games The North American Indigenous Games is a multi-sport event involving indigenous North American athletes staged intermittently since 1990. The games are governed by the North American Indigenous Games Council, a 26-member council of representativ ...

(NAIG) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was inducted into

Miꞌkmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

sports hall of fame in 2016 for her achievements in taekwondo.

Taekwondo

Knockwood was introduced to taekwondo by her father who was an

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

officer who encouraged Knockwood and her sisters to learn self defence. She first started training with David McKenna at McKenna’s Taekwondo club. Soon after she began training, Knockwood attended her first sanctioned

World Taekwondo Federation World Taekwondo, formerly the World Taekwondo Federation, is an international federation governing the sport of Taekwondo and Para Taekwondo. WT is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). The World Taek ...

tournament in Moncton, New Brunswick where she won gold. In 2002, Knockwood attended her first NAIG in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Knockwood won gold medals in the junior division of both sparring and poomse, while representing team Mi’kmaw Nova Scotia. In 2006, she attended the NAIG in Denver, Colorado, winning silver in sparring and gold in poomse, both in the senior division. Knockwood competed in the 6th World Open Championships Taekwondo international in Miami Beach, Florida. The event was hosted by the Taekwondo Association of Great Britain (TAGB) with teams representing Canada, US, South America, and Europe. Knockwood has also competed internationally at the

Pan Am Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

NAIG awards

* 2002 NAIG won gold in sparring junior division in Winnipeg, Manitoba * 2002 NAIG won gold in poomse junior division in Winnipeg, Manitoba * 2006 NAIG won silver in sparring senior division in Denver, Colorado * 2006 NAIG won gold in poomse senior division in Denver, Colorado

Tom Longboat Award

Knockwood was awarded the Tom Longboat Award in 2002 at the national level.

After competition

After competition, Knockwood attained a human kinetics degree at

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Fran ...

. Knockwood is currently working with the Mi’kmaq sport council of Nova Scotia regarding sport, recreation and health in

Mi’kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

communities. In 2014, she was involved in the Halifax NAIG bid committee and has sat as a member of the board of directors with AthletesCAN and the Association of Canada’s National Team Athletes. She has been a standing member of the tripartite forums sport and recreation committee. Knockwood was also involved in opening a taekwondo club within her community in Nova Scotia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knockwood, Sara-Lynne Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century First Nations people Canadian female taekwondo practitioners First Nations sportspeople Pan American Games competitors for Canada St. Francis Xavier University alumni Sipekneꞌkatik First Nation people First Nations sportswomen Martial artists from Nova Scotia Sportswomen from Nova Scotia