On the 3rd of this month, our 9 year old son participated in his first Taekwondo competition. It was the 2013 U.S. Masters Taekwondo Open Championship, a local competition and a supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He competed in one form plus sparring for his division. I cannot say how proud my husband and I are of Jake because it takes a lot of courage just to compete. I know there are many students who are older than he is who never took the leap to take part in a competition. The organization even recognized this by presenting each competitor age 11 years or younger, who did not place first, second, or third, with a medal of participation. I thought that was wonderful because it really is an extremely long day for someone who is young and it could be disheartening to go home with nothing, making a younger student hesitant to return the following year.
Our son did not place in forms, but we are so proud of him. He got out there in front of a gymnasium full of people to compete even though he must have been so nervous.
What our son was looking forward to the most was the sparring competition. He had been training for about 5 weeks for this day. He had a great coach, who is also one of his instructors.
Jake's first match only lasted seconds. Once he got his first kick in, his opponent seemed to get the wind knocked out of him and could not continue.
After all the matches in his division took place, Jake ultimately placed second and took home a silver medal in sparring. We were so proud of him and I knew he was feeling quite proud of himself.
One major theme for such a competition is to meet defeat gracefully and to accept a win humbly, and our son did both those things that day.
