Tournament Number 2

It all started with a hairstyle.  Basia requested that I do her hair just like the newer Karate Kid boy, so we counted his cornrows.  3 or so hours later, she had her 10 cornrows to match.  She instantly felt like she had super powers.  Who knew that braids could get a girl so pumped.  

Tae Kwon Do tournaments are few and far between in these parts of the world.  The kids got to compete in one early in the year, so this was just their second go.  They felt excited about it, having gleaned some experience from the first one.  They also went in KNOWING they wanted medals.  Basia had a specific girl she wanted to beat.  At the previous tournament, Basia beat her in forms and the other girl beat Basia in sparring.  The girl is a couple belt ranks higher than Basia, so it turned out that they didn't even get to compete in forms this time.  Basia was ready for anyone, though.  She got out there against the other girl and won a unanimous vote each time.

I was very happy to see they had trophies for forms.  Basia eats this sort of thing up.  You give the girl a trophy for a job well done, and she is sure to continue with the sport and with extra practice for years to come.  We will put up a special "trophy shelf" in her room.   She was very proud!  

Before long it was time for sparring.  She got to compete against the girl who had beat her at the previous tournament.  See the score back there?  That is about what it looked like at the end of the first round of two.  Basia is in red.  She was way behind, so far behind that I told Brishen that he was not allowed to tell her the final score if she didn't notice it herself because I didn't want her to know how badly she lost.

WARNING:  I, too, used to be the sort of person who values peace and kindness at all times.  I, too, used to cringe at thinking of my children hitting or kicking other children.  I, too, used to be the type of person who wouldn't loudly cheer when her daughter started repeatedly kicking another sweet, adorable little girl in the head.  That was me in the olden days (a year ago, that is).  If you are still that sort of person or would like to think that I am still that sort of person, perhaps you better skip the next section.

Ah, but then came the second round.  Basia heard the other coach telling his girl to "kick her in the head," and Basia thought that sounded like a good plan for her to use.  Head shots are worth 2 points.  A girl who can do the splits can also do kicks to the head pretty easily.  Her score started rising quickly.  She did get a little too gung-ho at one point and punched the other girl's head for her first-ever penalty.  At that point the score was tied at 14.  From there, it was no competition.  Basia went for it.

This was truly one of those moments of parenting when you are so in the moment and so very sure your child is in the right place, doing something that he/she is made to do.  It was beautiful, in a horrible, make-the-other-girl cry sort of way.  I know it sounds so wrong.  I only console myself with the knowledge that the this is the point of these matches, and every competitor goes in knowing what the other person will be doing and trying to do the same themselves.  

The family and friends gathered in front of her ring were cheering like crazy.  It seemed like the whole world was focused on that ring, and now I am curious if the noise was enough to make others around the gym look to see what was happening.  I do know that all the boys from our TKD school were paying attention.  It's hard for a girl to get much credit in this sport.  Sometimes the boys take it easy on them because they have been taught manners and such and don't want to hurt a girl.  I can tell you that Basia earned some serious credit with the boys in attendance!  She won the match 22-16 and was awarded the gold medal.   You should have seen the boys whip around the ring, yelling about how awesome and cool and amazing it was to see her "annihilate the other girl".  Good stuff.  Her coach later told me that the other girl is really, really good, one of the best there is in that age division.  Yep, we're proud.  Ridiculously so.  

As these sorts of days go, Brishen was scheduled to compete many, many hours later.  We watched some others compete.  We went out to lunch.  We watched more groups compete.  We stood around.  Finally, his group was called up for forms.  Brishen didn't do as well in forms as he would have liked in his last tournament.  That lit a spark in him that made him work a lot harder.  He did his form a LOT the week before the tournament.  He set a goal to at least get a silver medal.  He was up against some other guys his age (and half his height).  He did really well.  The judges even made him beat the second place boy 3 full times before they would give him the 1st place trophy.  He stayed strong and got that 1st.  Master Martinez came over and congratulated him, and it takes a lot to make Master Martinez happy with you.

Brishen then did sparring.  For some reason he was competing and thus not taking pictures for me, so I have no proof of that event.  I'm not sure how we forgot those.  He didn't do as well as he had hoped, but I am still so very proud of him.  He is the gentlest boy I know, and he goes to sparring class three or four times a week with some VERY tough guys.  He signed up for the sparring without a moment's hesitation.  That's a huge stretch for his personality, but he went for it.  He got a silver medal out of it and some great experience as a first-time fighter.  I know for a fact I couldn't have done that at his age, and I didn't see too many others there who were willing to do it, either.  Again, this mom's heart is full!

I didn't know a thing about martial arts until we were asked to be "guinea pigs" by a friend who was starting a school at our church.  We are adventurous folks, so we went for it.  It is now an important part of our life, and will probably dictate where and when we take a lot of future vacations (qualifying tournaments in the spring, nationals over 4th of July).  It is something that my kids enjoy, that they do well in, that gives them some amazing life lessons.  Honestly, so much comes so easily to Brishen that it is really good for him to have to work so hard at something like sparring, that is outside his comfort zone.  He is becoming a stronger person before my eyes.  At the same time, some things are really tough for Basia, and it is a beautiful thing to see her do something that just comes so naturally.

Now I will stop all the gushing and bragging.  I may even go take a picture of Basia's room so you can see where I really fail as a parent and where my daughter is a slightly less than spectacular.