a lil' bit of me

I was too tired earlier to post about how the tournament went, so here it is. There were 24 different karate schools competing. Big competition. Bigger then we have seen. Tons of people. Kids and adults. The kids are always first, with the big show stopper being the adult black belts at the end.

It started at 9am, and O went on at about 10:30. She was in a division with 10 kids up to 9 years old and up to purple belts. So she was on the lower end of belt rank and age. Her first event was kata, and she did great, but she went to fast (I am assuming nerves), and didn't place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

In weapons which was right after, she did great, and placed 3rd. She was so excited to get a trophy. She was beaming.

Her final event would be sparring. This is the hardest thing as a Mom to watch. I am so nervous when she fights, if I was a nail biter, they'd be soo short. Anyways, this was our first American tourney, and they do things a little different. For starters, 99% of the kids fighting had chest protectors, and face shields. We had never seen that before. This made me nervous.

She was due next to spar, and as she stood on the outside of the ring, one of the 3 judges, went over to her, and because I couldn't stand behind her, I couldn't hear what was going on. All of a sudden, I see him take her glasses off, and walk away.

My heart sunk. Her glasses are THICK. She needs those glasses to see, she doesn't just wear them for TV or reading, they get put on the minute she wakes up, and often when I go back in her room to fix her covers after she has fallen asleep, I take them off for her. It's like she doesn't even know she's wearing them.

I look over, and I see her countenance change. Her shoulders are hunched forward, and her confidence is gone.

The fight starts, her opponent comes in, and throws a punch, and I can see that O is having an extremely hard time. The other girl thows a round house kick, and she doesn't even see it coming. She got a good kick to her side. Opponent gets a point, and they reset. Only O is hiding her face behind her little sparring gloves. This girl is not a cryer. She absolutely hates for people to see her cry.

My heart breaks. It wasn't a fair fight, and it was unexpected. The judge goes over to her, and gives her the option of quiting. She gladly accepts.

Sensai goes to her, as I cannot enter the area, until its all over. Being in karate, they really encourage the kids not to "run and cry to mum", but to wait, finish out the obligation, and then go.

For probably 8 minutes, she is getting over from crying, and is sitting on deck, with her little shoulders heaving, from being kicked and crying. That was sooo hard. I was crying, trying not to look like I was. I kept reassuring her with my thumbs up, and our Little "its okay" sign.

She got over it, and was ok, and fun the rest of the day. Something I learned from all of this, I will be getting her a face shield so that she can always wear her glasses.

I will post a few funnies later, and my story from my event too. This has been a super long post, and I know there are skim readers out there!!!