A weekend of irony

Well, we survived the weekend and the Tae Kwon Do tournament. None the less, it was a busy weekend. It started with a trip to Addison at about 7:00 AM on Saturday morning. We arrived a few minutes early although it was still a major rush once we got there. For some reason, Graham had decided to take all of his equipment out of his bag after the last practice and he showed up without any gear or a belt. Don't ask me why or how he did it. I have no idea. It was a first for all of us. However, with a little trading through the team we were able to cobble together a full uniform for him.

Both kid's sparred well. Graham absolutely dominated his first match. He obliterated the poor little kiddo. Within about 10 seconds of the second round they called the match and Graham was declared the winner. It was a great start for Graham. The Gold medal match was more difficult and Graham would lose by a point in the last few seconds. Honestly, he could have one the match. The boy he fought was a little taller and it was an advantage that Graham just could not get over that day. An another note, the child Graham fought was so dominate last year that he often fought older kids. So, the fact that Graham stayed with him toe to toe and almost won was a sign of significant improvement. In the end, Graham won a silver medal in sparring.

Sydney had a tougher time in the ring. Although her technique was there and she looked pretty good, something was missing. Honestly, I just don't think she wanted to win enough. She just did not have that fire. If I am being honest, she had psyched herself out before she had even made it to the ring. She saw that the majority of the girls were taller than her and that just took the wind from her sails. She never had a chance. In her mind, she was beat before she even got on the mat. The sad thing is that she probably could have beaten every single girl there. But, it is for this reason we have Sydney in Tae Kwon Do. For her, I could care less if she became the national champion. I honestly don't care if she wins or who she beats. The biggest competition for her will always be in between her ears. In the end, she received the bronze medal.

We weren't expecting to really even place in the forms competition. It has only been a couple of weeks since the kiddos received their new belts and for the most part they really had not even begun to work on their forms until the early part of this week. In fact, Graham did not know his form until one of the other kiddos on the team taught it to him Saturday morning. The great irony is that Graham would learn it so well that he would actually face the boy that taught it to him that afternoon in the gold medal match. Somehow Graham won. I am not going to get into the specifics of whether I truly believed that he won that match but the judges sure seemed to think so. Either way Graham brought home the gold.

Sydney's matches were different. She clearly won every match she participated in. In fact, she was far superior. Unfortunately, the judges seem to miss just about every mistake the other competitors made. Sydney performed her form perfectly and lost the gold medal to a girl her forgot her form and had to stop twice. She lost the silver medal to a girl that made several mistakes. I did not know what to tell Sydney. She clearly deserved the win but walked away with bronze. Oh well, maybe next time.

The tournament took the better part of the day. After a team dinner at chilis we would arrive home at about 6:30PM. Sunday was all about getting our chores done so that we could go help the team move into their new studio. We spent about 7 hours, sweeping, cleaning, laying down the new mats, and moving. I think everyone had a good time.

The kiddos fought in several matches on Saturday and then spent all day yesterday working and playing harder than I.

Yet it is me whose body hurts.

Go figure. At least I have got purpose.