Drill Sergeant

My daughter knows how to do a lot of things and she is learning to do a few more.  She auditioned for and was accepted into the cast of the high school winter play, with two days notice.  Of course, the winter play isn't a big "oooo, let's go try out for the musical" sort of thing, but it sure is a good place to start. 

Anyway, every cast member has to be on a committee, or whatever the call all the different things that have to be done to put a play on, and she chose set.  So, she has learned a few things about building and putting a set together, including running a drill, and not wearing good clothes to paint in. 

So, when it came time to hang another shelf to put her grand champion trophy on, she used the drill to put in the screws.  Which she did quite nicely, the shelf was hung, the trophy ready to put on, and.....it's too big.  Not, too tall, we compensated for that.  The base it too big to put on a 6" shelf.  So, it is sitting on her bookcase, and she spread out the rest of her trophies.

She does have a lot of trophies, five years of competing in taekwondo, translates into a lot of fun and a lot of hard work.  If you want to see what her grand champion trophy looks like go here.

Champion at Last

This weekend we went to Franklin for a Taekwondo Tournament. Franklin is quite a ways away, it takes an hour to drive there.  One thing about participating in a non-traditional sport is the lack of close competition.  We very often drive an hour to tournaments. 

This particular tournament was very small.  The first year we came here, Lynette's friend from class won grand champion in youth color belt form, and last year Nathan won Grand Champion in youth black belt form.

With students from our school taking a grand champion two years in a row, Lynette was just eaten up with the desire to win a grand champion trophy herself. 

And that is part of the problem.  While the desire to win goes a long way, it needs to be backed up with hard work in practicing the skills needed.  And Lynette was in a slump.  She has been unsettled ever since our school changed instructors.  She has been used to being instructed with a mature teacher with plenty of experience under his third degree black belt, and now is being taught by college students with very little experience.  It is a difficult adjustment because she needs to take more responsibility for her own learning.  To see where she needs to improve and be proactive in asking for it, and working on it.  Thus, her attitude has been down, where it is usually over the top. 

Competing Saturday, made  a big difference.  There weren't enough adults (16+) for judging, so she was elected to help out, even though she is 15.  So, it was a big day, first the board breaking, which she had a cool break and I had a camera operator glitch, and not only got bad pictures, I couldn't get the video going. 

So, you'll just have to use your imagination. She did a jump double break with both legs split, and came down immediately to a hammer fist on the ground. She didn't break the left board the first time, but did the second and got a first. She has trouble with that left leg.  (She can do this, really.)

Then is was judge, judge, judge, forms, padded sword sparring, regular sparring.  And her first time, too.  She did very well, her scores were compatible with the older judges.  It is nerve wracking work, but that is part of the deal when you get to be a black belt.  There are responsibilities as well as the fun.

Then came the form part of the competition.  Lynette does forms very well, but she wasn't as prepared as she could have been or as confident.  And, she knows that her teammate (the one who won grand champion two years ago) can blow her away in forms.  And she did.  Lynette got third, removing any chance of getting a grand champion trophy in forms. 

She was MAD.  I knew it.  It was the kind of mad that spurs Lynette on to really good performance.  It's the kind of mad that works really well when sparring is the next event.  I knew what was going on in her mind.  She was going to win that event, no matter what.  And she did.  I have never seen her spar that hard or with such determination.  And where some people when they get mad, they spar so aggressively, someone gets hurt or they get warnings.  But not Lynette.  She was quick, and clean, and fast.  She was in a division with 5 young women all older than she was.  She won the first match by four points, the second match by two.  And then the final match, for first and grand champion women's sparring, she was facing two 2 minute rounds.  At the end of the first two minutes the girls were tied 3-3, Lynette would get a point, and her partner would match it.  Lynette said she knew she needed a bigger margin, and pushed up a notch to make a two point spread just as the match ended. 

She did it.  And she was happy!  And we were proud.  I was so nervous through the whole match.

  

 Not very many people go to a TKD tournament.  Usually all the people there are competitors and sometimes some extra family.  Not all the competitors even stay to the very end. 

Here is a picture of what a tournament is for the competitors and the spectators:

The competitor has to be able to set up her board breaks, tell the judges what she is going to break, give warning, and break.  They are judged on a 9.0 scale.  

Set up 

Ready,... jump.

Forms

Well, here is NOT a picture of what a tournament is like, since I can't get the videos to load.

Accepting 3rd Place

Judging

Sparring

No video here either.

At the end of the first 2 minute match.

First Place

Grand Champion

I think she looks pretty pleased with herself!

Working Together

Taekwondo is an interesting sport. To TKD enthusiasts, it isn't considered a sport but a way of life. I'm not ready for me and mine to go that far, but like anything we do, one would hope that it betters ourselves instead of hindering. Our kids have discovered that school coaches don't really think martial arts are a sport at all. It isn't like football, that's for sure, which seems to be the only sport high schools can see most of the time.

We went Saturday to the regional championships in Hastings. This is a tournament our kids love to compete in. They didn't do as well as they usually do. We could use as an excuse that Lynette was a little busier than usual with track season starting up, and Nathan lost a lot of practice due to an ingrown toenail. But, it was a very big tournament with more competition than usual. It makes any medal or trophy won there a real accomplishment. They competed with as many as six or seven in each division.

We start our tournaments just like any other sporting event, with the national anthem. It never fails to make me proud to be a citizen of the United States.



Nathan and Lynette had good success with their board breaks this time. They both tried something new, showy, and a little more difficult. Board breaks go so fast it is hard to get a photo, and anyway, I didn't have enough battery to do any videos. I keep forgetting I could put a video on here to show them off.

Lynette did a double front kick break. A both feet off the ground, hit the boards at the same time break, and didn't break one, but she did the second time. Nathan's best break was a back kick, front punch done simultaneously, with no looking back. Very nicely done. Nathan got a 1st, Lynette a 3rd.

There also was competition for team form. These kids haven't competed with team form very often, but they did an excellent job on this one. All four did the same form in different quadrants of the ring, coming back together to finish up. Very good! They got a third out of the six or seven teams in their division.

Black Belts at Last

A black belt in the martial arts is the goal most people that continue very long aim for. I didn't encourage Nathan and Lynette to proceed up the ranks too quickly for a couple of reasons. One, the cost of testing, which was doubled for us, as they usually tested at the same time. Two, I wanted to keep them busy as long as I could, and third I wanted them to really know their stuff.

Our school, Harmony Martial Arts, has affiliated itself with the UTA, so these kids had to be tested by a third degree or above black belt. That meant a trip to Hastings to be tested by Masters Mike and Vicki Nieman, 7th degree black belts.

Nathan and Lynette were pretty nervous, but soon settled in as they did their forms.

Nervously waiting for their turn.

To pass they had to perform their forms as asked, spar without touching their partners, and perform knife self defenses.

I didn't get any good photos of those, but Chelsea's mom did so I hope I will get some later.

The Newest Black Belts in Harmony Martial Arts


As a gift for achieving Black Belt status, these kids were awarded belt racks. Lynette has hers filled and hanging on her wall already. Nathan's is still leaning against the wall and doesn't want me to take a picture.




Congratulations on a lot of hard work!!

Franklin Tournament

Nathan and Lynette had a successful taekwondo tournament in Franklin on Saturday. They have been involved in TKD since March of 2005 and get to about six tournaments a year in this area. They have worked up from their white belts to recommended blacks in 4 1/2 years. Every tournament is different. Some times they have good luck and good competetion and some times they don't. Nathan had an excellent tournament. He received first place in everything, forms, sparring and board breaking. The first in forms entitled him to compete for the youth black belt grand champion, which he won. He won't be competing for this anymore since at 16, he will qualify for the adult division. Congratulations Nathan!!!

Nathan and his instructor with his Grand Champion Trophy

I didn't get any pictures of actual breaks, but this is the procedure for breaking. It is the competitor's responsibility to set up her breaks and tell the judges what she is going to break.

Ready, SET, break.

This is what it looks like when sparring. Lynette and Nathan were in the same division in everything except board breaking. Lynette got 3rd in form and sparring, 2nd in breaking. Both of them do very well when competing.

Nathan