When I first heard there was going to be a regional TaeKwonDo tournament, I actually wanted to go this time. There hasn't been a regional tournament or even a national tournament here in Texas for a really long time, since 2010. I thought that with it being in Tyler, it’s not that far away, and I thought it would be fun to compete with people from the same region because sometimes I think it can be fun to compete with people from your own studio then complete strangers you've never met or talked to before.
I don’t talk
about it but I don’t enjoy tournaments much because they can be scary. In class, everyone is nice and no one tries
to purposely hurt you. But in tournaments
sometimes kids really want to win and get real aggressive. And their parents really push them to want to
win and they yell a lot. I've done a lot of tournaments since I was 6 and I've gotten a lot of spirit medals. I've gone to tournaments where I got hurt and
had black eyes and bruises and no one apologies or helps pick you up when you fall. And I haven’t really understood tournament sparing
or why I always was ranked last out of the first 3 in doing my form at the beginning. But I have placed in four tournaments over the years and
those times I am very proud. I have all
my medals hanging up on my wall at home where they look really cool.
However I heard they were not going to give out medals for
placing at this tournament. I heard they
were only going to give out trophies. What? I had never gotten a trophy for TaeKwonDo before. I had only gotten medals. Medals are cool. You get to wear them around your neck and
they make a neat clinking sound when you walk around the tournament floor
afterward letting everyone know you won.
But a trophy? What are you
supposed to do with that? I don’t have a
place for a trophy. My mom and grandma
laughed at me and said that if I won they would tie a string around it so I could
wear it around my neck. Yeah okay.
So I was happy to get to go to a regional tournament with
all my Texas friends. But it was a long
drive to Tyler from Flower Mound sitting in the car with no internet connection. I don’t get to travel very much so this was a
neat vacation. I liked the hotel and I
got a king sized bed.
That Friday night we went to an awesome clinic for Master
Killen and Master Wadkins Weeping Style Jujutsu Seminar. We learned how to fall correctly and how to
make someone else weep if they were to grab you. This means they feel pain which causes them
to let go when you force them to bend in pain.
The class was mainly adults but there were some kids. It was really fun. There were a lot of people from Strickland’s there.
I got to the tournament before 8am and got to help set up
and see the trophies. They were really neat
because I had never really seen any trophies for TaeKwonDo other than what Mr.
Strickland has in his office. I got to
help stick the stickers on the trophies and line them up. Helping out is my favorite part of the
tournament. I got to sit in on the judge’s meeting and they went over
the rules, like there can only be time-stops when someone gets hurt, their gear
comes off, or the judges tell the time-keeper to stop time (I like that I
sometimes get to be the time-keeper). I
was time-keeper with Mr. Vickory and Mr. Holland (they are some of my favorite teachers). Mr. Strickland kept asking me to help him
judge his ring which made me feel good!
At 10 am I competed with 4 other people from Strickland’s
and 2 other girls, one from New Orleans and one from Tyler who I hadn't met
before. Everyone was between 12-16,
there was 4 colored belts, two 1st Degrees, and I was the only 3rd
Degree. I got to be the last one to do
my form this time which was good and so I didn't feel so scared this time.
After that we put our gear on and I was paired with the girl
from New Orleans. She kept trying to
body slam me and it scared me. So I didn't
let her do that again and I showed her that that wasn't right and I wasn't
scared of her. Then my next round was with
all my friends; Bella Dick from Strickland’s and I beat her but she was really good. Then I sparred Ariana Siegel and it was
really kinda close because she’s so good too.
And then I sparred Clara Dick for 1st and 2nd place – that was a very close round
because she was really good and neither of us didn't score any points until the
last 30 seconds so it could have gone either way.
I never really do well in sparing, especially at tournaments. However, my friends at Strickland’s keep pushing
me to get me better. Drew, Mr. Vickory,
Mr. Strickland. Mr. Vickory gives me
pointers like, “Keep your hands up unless you are sparing me!” Not quite sure
what that means, but now I do it anyway.
He also tells me to, “Wait for them to make the first move so you have
an opening for that.” Mr. Strickland always
tells me to stay sideways and I’m trying to.
So when I found out I won this time it made me really happy because
I've never got higher than 3rd in sparring before. Ever. I was just really happy. My friends did really well too so I liked this tournament. Maybe they are getting easier to compete in.
When I got home I took lots of pictures of my trophies to
show my friends and family. I thought getting
a trophy would be different from getting a medal. But it wasn't. I can’t hang them up on my wall but it’s just
the same as all my other award and spirit medals. All it shows is that I've been there and done
something. But it doesn't show who I am, just that I completed something I was scared of doing. So it’s going to be nice to look at these new
trophies and my old medals. But really the only neat thing about a trophy or a medal is that you can only just look at them and see something you once did not who you are.
To be honest I like my tournament t-shirts the most because I get to wear them all the time. In class and sometimes I even wear them outside of class. They show everyone who wears one that they are a winner even if they didn't
get a trophy or a medal. Because it
doesn't matter who really wins. All that
matters is getting the courage to be there.
No comments:
Post a Comment