Tourney time

The girl participated in her first Tae Kwon Do Tournament last Saturday. She was nervous and frankly, I was nervous for her. TKD tends to be a sport of improving oneself and she wasn't really observant of how she compared to others. She wanted to compete in forms and board-breaking.

On the plus side, this tournament was arranged so that the competitive groups allowed for every one to medal but there were still rankings: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. So even though she wasn't the best in her group in forms, she was pleased that she got a Bronze medal. Also I think doing this competition opened her eyes at how much stronger her forms can be.

In the board-breaking competition, I was much more nervous for her. She had never broken a board yet but she still wanted to try to break it with a side kick. Everyone was given 3 tries. As soon as I saw her first kick, I knew she wasn't going to break the board. Mentally, she was placing and pushing the kick, not "going through the board". I immediately regretted not practicing with her myself. I was mad at myself for not making the realization that this being her first attempt at breaking the board, she needed some individual attention from me. Though she handled herself well as she saw everyone else in her group break the boards and medal, I knew she was upset. We left shortly after and in the car, she expressed her frustration with tears, why did I think I could do it? why did I even try?

I told her that it's always best to be prepared, but sometimes you don't know how prepared you need to be or how much more preparation you needed. I told her that I was proud of her trying and that by not succeeding, she had an opportunity to take this experience as a learning lesson and not give up, and figure out how to improve her game so she can break the board. Sometimes it takes more practice, sometimes it takes more guidance. I told her I would help her. She brightened up. And then I resolved to pull out those old practice pads.