Since November 2016, TyVes Taekwondo in St. Davids has been a place where people, young and old, can come together to learn and practice the art of taekwondo.

It’s an art that Badri Ricciardelli, who operates the local studio, got into as a means of learning self-defence — something she started 26 years ago, at the age of 37.

However, her age was never a barrier, she says — and, she wanted to be a role model to her two daughters.

“Until you’re 70 or 80, your body is able,” she said. “It’s how you treat your body.”

Niagara-on-the-Lake town council honoured the six-degree black belt last Tuesday for her contributions to taekwondo and her success in the sport nationally and internationally.

Ricciardelli, who attended the ceremony with several of her students, received a certificate recognizing her achievements and posed for photos with her black belt and medals.

“It’s truly an honour to be recognized by the town and the council,” she said during the council meeting.

The certificate now sits prominently in her basement dojang — the taekwondo equivalent of a dojo or gym — alongside her medals and trophies.

Ricciardelli has operated TyVes Taekwondo in St. Davids since November 2016. Her students range in age from five to seniors.

She competes in poomsae, a taekwondo discipline focused on technique and pre-practised movements rather than sparring.

Among her accomplishments are a bronze medal at the 2024 World Championships in Hong Kong, where she became the first Canadian to reach the podium. She said she was proud that she “beat the American” to win bronze.

“This is the equivalent of the Olympics for us,” she said.

Ricciardelli also earned two Canadian national championships in 2024 and 2025. She began competing nationally in 2018.

Originally from Iran, she paused competition in 2022 to stand in solidarity with protesters in her home country following Mahsa Amini’s death.

She won gold medals at both the 2024 Pan-Am Games in Brazil and the 2024 Canadian Open Championship.

Ricciardelli immigrated to Canada from Iran in 1978 during the Iranian Revolution. 

She described her upbringing as “strict,” noting her father valued education and wanted her to pursue better opportunities in Canada.

She studied construction engineering technology at Niagara College and later joined Vesuvius, a heat-resistant materials company in Welland. 

She eventually became head of the company’s precast division, which took her on business trips across North America.

“I remember one time in Regina, I was in an elevator coming down and this guy was really, really close to me and I looked at him and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he said, ‘You smell good,’” she said.

That incident became her motivation to learn how to defend herself.

Ricciardelli said taekwondo appealed to her because of its self-defence benefits and the distance it allows between opponents.

“It’s a dynamic sport,” she said. “Because of its dynamics, because of its movements, because of its energy, that’s what drew me into it.”

Over time, taekwondo became more than just self-defence. Ricciardelli opened her own studio after hearing that other dojangs lacked strict technical standards.

“My studio is high-performance,” she said. “We train champions.”

She said her classes started small in 2016.

“It was slow at the beginning,” she said. “But then they opened up.”

Now, she teaches her students the same self-defence skills she learned through the practice.

“(The self-defence) is part of the taekwondo,” she said. “I’m a big fan of it myself.”

She said taekwondo also teaches confidence and mastery of a challenging physical discipline.

Her journey wasn’t without setbacks. In 2003, she was in a car accident that completely fractured her right wrist, requiring a bone graft from her left hip.

She also needed shoulder surgery and suffered a punctured eardrum. The injuries sidelined her for a few years, but she credits taekwondo with helping her recover.

Ricciardelli has since trained three times in South Korea with Grandmaster Chinchul Kang, an internationally recognized master whose photo hangs in her dojang.

Through it all, her dedication to the sport never wavered.

“I never thought of giving it up,” she said.

She teaches classes for ages five to nine, 10 to 18, and adults. More information is available at tyveslife.com.

daniel@niagaranow.com