14-Year-Old New Canaan Twins Earn Black Belts in Taekwondo

It took almost seven years to achieve, but 14-year-old New Canaan identical twins earned their black belts in Taekwondo last week.

On Friday, Aug. 22, Vanessa and Lindsey Kanter, who graduated from Saxe Middle School and will begin ninth-grade at New Canaan High School on Wednesday, did something over their summer break that few people of any age can claim — they earned their black belts in Taekwondo.

The two-hour test, held at World Championship Taekwondo on Vitti Street in New Canaan, involved showing mastery of various forms, self-defense techniques and sparring against a number of highly trained opponents. The final stage of the exam was breaking more than two dozen 1-inch wood boards with spinning kicks, fists and elbows. The final, and most difficult, task was the power breaking, where they had to break through at least eight boards with one jumping hammer fist.

Lindsey and Vanessa plan to continue their training along with their father Buzz, who is also a black belt.

Photo: from left, Master Hwang, Lindsey Kanter, Buzz Kanter, Vanessa Kanter and Master Cho at the World Championship Taekwondo in New Canaan. Contributed photo.