tournament

Zoo Boy participated in his first karate tournament last week. It was a perfect first experience, as it was just for his school and was very low-pressure. But the buliding was big and unfamiliar, the floor was crowded, and he surprised us all with his calm, collected, controlled manner. Entering was a last-minute decision for him, but he's really glad that he did. And I'm glad we all had the opportunity to go watch and support him!

In this photo, he is waiting for his turn to do his form.




Here he is showing his form to the judges. This form is "Two Pinion," for anyone familiar with Shaolin Kempo Karate. He was competing against a few other purple belts, plus lots of blue belts and blue-with-green-stripe belts (both ranks above him). He did his form cleanly and accurately, we were very proud of and impressed by him.

The Map Man plays with Rosebud between events. Several people mentioned that she should have gotten a medal for "tournament's cutest baby". (Not much competition there, but I thought she deserved a medal anyway....)

Zoo Boy (on the left in the purple helmet) in his sparring match. He had told me before hand that he wasn't very good at sparring, but he really held his own during his match, it was tied for quite awhile before the other boy earned the winning point. I surprised myself by being VERY excited during the match -- I've never really had much interest in the sparring, but when it was my own kid in there, I found my competitive spirit!

He received medals for his work in both forms and sparring. He was proud of himself and had a really great time. A highlight of the day for him (and The Map Man and J) was watching the demo teams perform. Rosebud and I had fled the crowded building by then, so we missed it, but we'll get to see plenty of demo team action when Zoo Boy becomes a member of one (which I believe may happen this spring).