Evan Snow and Jacob LeBlanc may be only 16, but for the last two years they've been preparing to take part in a historic moment in Canadian athletic competition. 

The two teens will be part of New Brunswick's karate team at the 2023 Canada Winter Games, where the sport is being included for the first time in the event's 56-year history. 

"We get to show the world what karate really is," LeBlanc said. "Because a lot of people think it's chopping wood and all of that, but it's very not."

The pair will join three other athletes on the karate team at the games, which will run from Feb. 18 to March 5 on Prince Edward Island. 

To prepare, LeBlanc and Snow have been training six days a week at KV Karate in Rothesay. Also the home dojo of the team's coach and team manager, Hilary Pond, who's an athlete on the national team.

For the sport's first year at the games, competition is limited to athletes who are 16 and 17. 

While Pond said it's too bad the pool is so limited, she thinks the games will be an important stepping stone for young athletes before they move into adult competition. 

"It's good to have a nice big event like this to get used to being on such a big stage, before they move on to further challenges when they get older," she said. 

Snow will be competing in kumite, which is when two athletes spar against each other, while LeBlanc will compete in kumite and kata, where athletes perform choreographed movements by themselves.

LeBlanc and Snow came to the sport in different ways. 

LeBlanc's been in the dojo since he was eight years old, after his father thought it'd be a good way to make sure he was disciplined. 

For him, the sport quickly had an impact on his life outside athletics. 

"I learned English by doing this sport. So this is very awesome for me," said LeBlanc, who is francophone. "Now I'm a black belt. So that's awesome, too."

Snow only picked up the belt four years ago, when a friend's family was looking for a sport all ages could take part in. Snow tagged along and fell in love. 

"I thought I was just in it until I got my black belt. And then I would probably move on to other things. But honestly, I'm gonna stick with this as long as I can," he said. 

Four years and a few competitions later, he said the sport has left an indelible impact on his life. 

"It's not just a sport, it's what I do. It's who I am," he said. 

LeBlanc said karate provides a unique perspective.

"It's a self-defence sport. So if someone attacks you, you attack them back. But it's not about hurting them," he said.

Pond said the three of them will often talk about karate's impact in the same way, because it's true. 

"I think that's because of the martial art way behind the sport," she said. 

"So the sport is one thing, but then all the discipline and the mental aspects that comes with it, that we're taught when we join, I think that's what really sticks with you."

LeBlanc's looking forward to sharing the sport with Canadians at the games. 

"I know there isn't a lot of people in New Brunswick that do karate," he said. "But I'm very happy to be one of them and represent the whole New Brunswick [karate community]." 

Pond hopes the games will help drive interest in the sport. 

"You see it in the movies, but people don't know the sport side of it," she said. "So I think just having more opportunities to broadcast this for people to see will hopefully help participation." 

Snow said the sport isn't as mainstream as hockey, basketball or soccer. 

"But it's something that is, in my opinion, just as good if not better than those sports, but people don't give it a try because they don't think of it like those," he said.