Tournament Moments

This weekend marked the kids' third home tournament for karate . . . I think :) The girls were *strategically* scheduled first--and then able to help with judging, time keeping, scoring, etc. throughout the afternoon. The boys were also able to help with the aforementioned tasks between events. Their final event was the very last sparring match of the day--most everyone else had left, but we were still there :) It's okay though, I had enough downtime between cheering from ring to ring to get some knitting done--everyone's a winner!

And speaking of winning, our kids seemed to do plenty of it. I'll just go oldest to youngest . . . Caelan took first place in her form, first in sparring, first in combat sparring, and second in weapons. As you may have guessed, Gabby took first place in weapons :) She came in second for sparring and form, but chose not to participate in combat sparring. This was our first tournament participating in combat sparring, but it is Buck's favorite to watch. Basically, the kids hit each other with giant sticks. The more hits you get with your stick, the more points you earn! Instead of just going to five points, combat sparring goes all the way up to 10, so matches take a bit longer. But not always long enough--Brennen and Caelan had combat sparring matches at the same time on back-to-back rings. This I didn't realize until I was required in both places for photos. I did the mom dash through the gym :)

Brennen received first place in sparring and weapons; second place in form, and third place in combat sparring (he won traditional sparring against the boy who won combat sparring, which Brennen said was a super close match of 9-10). Graysen took first place in his combat sparring ring, second in weapons, and had a battle for third in regular sparring (he ended up with fourth place). His first match was against the tall boy that Brennen won against in the final match. It was fun to see G$ ducking out of the way of the tall kid's kicks--evasion master! Well, I mean except for the kicks the tall kid landed to win the match--however, all the rest was very impressive :)

You may have also gathered that the girls sparred each other for the championship match. Before them a pair of twin sisters competed for third place. "The Sister Showdown!" laughed their instructor :) Gabby had the lead on Caelan at the beginning of the match. A head kick by Caelan put her ahead by a point, I think. Then time ran out, and they were both glad because they were exhausted :)









A good, busy day for everyone--just look at all that bling :)