They offered several competitions we had never entered before: team poomsae (forms), height breaking, distance breaking, and an obstacle course. All the black belts age 16+ would wear the electronic scoring gear. My children and I entered the team poomsae competition. We performed TaeGukOhJang. We competed against three other red belt teams who performed TaeGukChicJang or TaeGukPalJang. My daughter and I competed as red belts since our black belt certificates had not yet arrived from Korea. My son competed as a blue belt, that is why we didn't perform TaeGukPalJang.
Anyway, we were not very good, in my opinion. The other teams were much older. They had better technique, and one team was VERY well rehearsed. They had clearly done this plenty of times before. I was rather certain that we were not going to medal, but fortunately they gave bronze medals to two teams, so we didn't come home with nothing.
We were all entered in sparring competitions, too. My seven-year-old son did very well against his first opponent, but his second opponent was much faster than he was, so he brought home a silver medal.
My nine-year-old daughter was placed in the same bracket with someone who was clearly not in her weight class. They made some changes, and she sparred against someone more appropriate. She won quite soundly. It was very exciting for her. It is the first time that she had actually beaten someone in a tournament.
Not surprisingly, they did not have anyone in my age, belt and weight bracket, so I was given a gold medal before even entering the ring. They did find me someone to fight. She looked a bit younger than me and a good bit heavier, and she was only a green belt. I'm sure it was the first time that I fought someone who was slower than me. I won the match with a score something like 14-2.
In the middle of the tournament they had a ceremony where they read off some lottery numbers. My daughter won a bottle of soy sauce. The sauce manufacturer was in attendance. I think he was one of the sponsors of the tournament. Another student from our school won a giant television. That was neat.
Master Kim was there, but I didn't see any other students from any of the other schools. I think only the Scappoose school came, and brought seven students, I think. Robert had a really rough match. I think he was kicked or punched in the throat. That hurts.
My daughter was the only one of our family who entered the breaking competition. She entered height breaking. It was really a very interesting contest. The judges held up a big yard stick, and then the competitor indicated how high they wanted to set their board. They were only allowed one break, so they had too choose wisely. Samantha didn't understand this, and she let the ref set the height of her board, but she won a gold medal anyway.
All together, we brought home three bronze medals, one silver medal, and three gold medals!
No comments:
Post a Comment