A Day of Karate

We had a fun day at our first karate tournament! This was totally new to me, but I compare it to a track meet. People, gear, Powerade, and cameras were everywhere. Sometimes, there was a big event taking up the floor of the gym, and other times there were six "rings" full of different activities out on the floor.

My "little" brother and I took all my girls, plus a friend of theirs about 2 hours away to Oklahoma. I was anxious, of course, about J-she has decided to explore the world and is now afraid of very little! I had to constantly worry about her toddling into the ring, where she could at the least distract someone competing and at the most be seriously hurt or worse. Here she is with a new friend-she kept trying to share her sippy cup and soggy graham crackers with this kind man (we've never met him; he wasn't with our group!






The girls both competed in sparring (fighting) and kata (kind of like a serious dance using karate moves). Neither placed, but that's not a surprise given their limited experience. They both kept a great attitude and showed much bravery. Hope fought against a boy (!) 6" taller than her! Ash fought a boy, too, but he was smaller-but feisty for sure!



I want to give kudos to the girls' karate team-the leaders did an excellent job taking care of all the kids' needs, even when it went against the wishes of the kids. The adults, especially Doc H, who is wonderful with the tiniest karate choppers, was constantly giving me tips or all of us encouragement. Everyone-both kids and adults alike were so helpful and thoughtful to me-from before we left the church parking lot through dinner. I'm very impressed!

Oh, and one of the leaders, a PS teacher applauded me for educating the girls well at home. She said she'd wished she'd been able to homeschool one of her girls and was happy about homeschoolers who take it seriously. That's always nice to hear!