This will be a running chronicle of my taekwondo exploits and feelings and all passings related to taekwondo. I will post pics and maybe videos as I can. Current or upcoming tournaments will be in blue; past tournaments will be in black.

 

 

Update 9/28/09: Yesterday, from about 1pm-9:30pm I coached at the tournament for both JKTC and OMS members, my total being 5 young kids. One of them, a five year old blue belt, fought like a lion. For starters, she was fighting in the six to seven year old division, and her opponent must have been six inches taller than her. The real kicker (no pun intended) was that within the first thirty seconds of the first round, the other girl kicked her low and gave her a dead leg. The girl was reduced to tears, yet she did not give up, nor did she stop fighting. She kept kicking and moving and making her utmost effort to win the match, which was all anybody could ask of her. She made it through the match, losing 1-3, but it was nevertheless an awesome display of sheer willpower in a girl so young. I also coached another young boy, whose exact age I have forgotten, through two fights and to a gold medal. I had just finished coaching the aforementioned girl when one of my teammates who was also coaching asked that I coach this little fellow because he did not have a coach with him, and his mother was standing there with him. So I went over there, talked to him to get him psyched up for the match, an dhe did marvelous. He won his first match in overtime, and the second one he broke a tie score with one second left on the clock. I can only hope he sticks with taekwondo, because he could very likely do very well for himself. After another several hours, most of which was waiting around for an athlete I was coaching to be taken out to the ring, the tournament was beginning to wrap up and so, per the tournament chairman's request, proceeded to fill two heavy-duty trashbags full of trash from around the arena. It was not a pleasant job, but the students of JKTC and OMS and volunteers always do so, so we might make the venue custodians' lives a little bit easier. It is not a pretty sight, the amount and variety of trash that gets left on venue floors. After filling the trashbag and depositing them into the appropriate receptacle, I assisted the rest of the team in taking apart the mats and stacking them for transport and other various odds and ends to help clean up. At about 9:30 pm, my dad decided that we had all done enough (as in him, my brother, and myself, for we had all been doing similar tasks to what I was doing) and said that we were going to clear out. After arriving home and eating dinner, it was a collapse straight into bed for me, for I was exhausted. Alas, it felt very strange to not be competing at this tournament, and it did not help that a lot of athletes I know, both in my division and out, were surprised to hear that I was not competing, and I genuinely missed th competition.

 

US Nationals, in Austin, Texas. June 30-July 5th.