Another Karate Tournament

The boys recently went to another Karate Tournament, and while it was with the same 2 dojos it has gotten more popular with them.

Samuel, an orange with black stripe belt, was in a division with orange and orange stripe belts. I think there were about 7 or 8 kids in it. He placed first in forms! Shocking as we thought the 2nd place child actually did better. He does such a good job, and hopefully this coming week he'll finally be able to test for yellow belt. He need to make sure he knows the basic form kata (he forgot it), his kicks, and his self defense moves. In sparring he placed 2nd this time (no kicks to C's head). It was a division based on size/weight, and he was in the major heavyweights. He weighs 36 pounds. LOL He and C are the only two in the under 40 pound division so 2nd out of 2...and he did not score any points while C scored 6. LOL

JM, yellow belt, was in a division with about 15-20 kids. It was HUGE. He did not place, but I would venture a guess that he did well (top 10 at least). He just wasn't as intense, his thumb was out a little too much, and his horse stance wasn't quite deep enough...the form was done correctly, just the details got him. Sparring he was in a division with about 10 kids. He did not place in that either. He sparred against a girl (oh my gosh all that training on being a gentleman!). That little girl won though! She has a perfect roundhouse kick that she used and kicked all the boys (it was her against 9 boys) and she got them in the stomach/chest numerous times. So good in fact that both Senseis would ask the boys "Are you okay?"

Other cute updates from Karate class are that one time Samuel was doing something and Sensei actually had to tell him "not so hard!" Since Samuel weighs a whopping 36 pounds and is 42 inches tall, he just does not ever get enough momentum or strength behind kicks and punches...so this was good to hear! He must kick/hit harder for higher belts.

Samuel still can not do a sit up. We've worked with him and worked with him, and he just can't do it. Sure he can if you put a finger behind his shoulder and nudge it up a little. But alone? He can't. We do our best to contain laughter while Samuel looks like a turtle on it's back trying to do a single sit up. Sensei keeps working with him to get him to do them.

JM refuses to stretch at home. Stretching at home is a must to be able to kick higher. We're just not sure what to do to make sure he understands that relationship. Doing the splits is crucial in being able to kick over your head.

JM is doing well with sparring in class, but he loves Jedi Battle game. LOL I think he takes delight in "extending" the death of attacker (if you hit an arm or leg with the blocker thing they can't use it anymore). He hits each arm, then each leg....then he hits them in the chest or on top of the head (LIGHTLY of course). Poor Samuel just doesn't stand a chance with this game either...he's the shortest by FAR in the class.

Katie? She just runs around, and every once in a while she's bow with the class. Trying to figure out when she does it. I suspect it's when Sensei calls out the Japanese words for "ready" and "bow" though.