Down, but not for the count
Today was one of those lost days. I feel like I have jet lag. We spent about 10 hours at a martial arts competition near Trenton. C competed in forms and sparring. N refused to compete. He spent the day with his PSP and T's cell phone and had a one-man video game marathon. Once both batteries died, his whines of "I want to go home" were more than well understood. By the end of the day EVERYONE's batteries had died and we all wished we were home.
It was overwhelming. We spent the day trapped in an overcrowded, loud gym, where we were constantly inundated with announcements of lottery ticket sales, ring placements, requests for more people to help judge and reminders that spectators should not be blocking the ring areas (all of which were ignored).
It was a huge waiting game. C was in a large group: 10-17 year old girls from intermediate to black belts. First the intermediate girls from ages 10-12 competed in weapons (a demonstration of their skills using weapons, not attacking one another with weapons), then ages 13-15 in the same level, then ages 16-17. Then they repeated it for advanced belts. Then repeat for black belts. There were some 5-10 kids competing for each group. Finally! Weapons done. C didn't do weapons.
Weapons only took 2 hours.
Then there were forms. C is an 11 year old black belt. So repeat the entire group listed above twice, and finally C got her turn after more than another hour! There were several different types of martial arts represented, making for a challenging, even biased, scoring system. Even within similar martial arts there are huge differences in the presentation of the same form. C went first before the judges had anything to compare her to.
From the biased mother's perspective, I thought C's forms were done very well and she deserved to place in the top 3. She presents her forms with a demonstration of balance and flexibility. Maybe her arm movements could have been stronger? The judges like the 10 other girls better, and she didn't place.
Then sparing (repeat group order). C was in a group with about 6 girls. One girl was 12 in name, but 15 in body. Strong, big and bold. C had to spar her first!
All you heard was "WHAMO" followed by "Thud!"
One punch and C was down on the ground. She fell straight on her elbow and thigh. Tears, fear and I felt a bit sick to my stomach, imagining trying to find an ER... but she pulled it together. You know how I mentioned that I thought the judges were not totally unbiased? This time it worked in our favor. One of the judges sided with C time and time again, and she won the match.
On her second round C just didn't have what it took to fight. She had no gumption. Her opponent, who was a bit smaller than her, easily beat C (and deserved to win!). C ended up with 3rd place.
C was finished, but we thought we would stay and watch some of her instructors. Bad mistake. It took more than 3 hours before they even started! We could have eaten and returned to the venue before they would have started.
Both instructors lost! It was sad to see their disappointed faces. C asked "is it as hard to watch me spar as it was to watch Mr. F?" I told her it is even harder.
At about 6:30 we left the crowded, noisy, and smelly gym. We arrived at the PF Changs (we'd been dreaming of their food all afternoon) only to be told that the wait for a table was 1 hour 45 minutes! We headed next door to On The Border. We ate in the bar instead of waiting 45 minutes for a table.
We finally made it home to our puppy. He surprised us by keeping his crate clean after nearly 10 hours alone at home.
If you think this blog entry was a little too long, you should have been there with us today.
Despite the long day, my thoughts were never fall from a hospital bed in my hometown where Dr G was taking out MCM's appendix. Glad you made it through! Get well soon. Love you!
It was overwhelming. We spent the day trapped in an overcrowded, loud gym, where we were constantly inundated with announcements of lottery ticket sales, ring placements, requests for more people to help judge and reminders that spectators should not be blocking the ring areas (all of which were ignored).
It was a huge waiting game. C was in a large group: 10-17 year old girls from intermediate to black belts. First the intermediate girls from ages 10-12 competed in weapons (a demonstration of their skills using weapons, not attacking one another with weapons), then ages 13-15 in the same level, then ages 16-17. Then they repeated it for advanced belts. Then repeat for black belts. There were some 5-10 kids competing for each group. Finally! Weapons done. C didn't do weapons.
Weapons only took 2 hours.
Then there were forms. C is an 11 year old black belt. So repeat the entire group listed above twice, and finally C got her turn after more than another hour! There were several different types of martial arts represented, making for a challenging, even biased, scoring system. Even within similar martial arts there are huge differences in the presentation of the same form. C went first before the judges had anything to compare her to.
From the biased mother's perspective, I thought C's forms were done very well and she deserved to place in the top 3. She presents her forms with a demonstration of balance and flexibility. Maybe her arm movements could have been stronger? The judges like the 10 other girls better, and she didn't place.
Then sparing (repeat group order). C was in a group with about 6 girls. One girl was 12 in name, but 15 in body. Strong, big and bold. C had to spar her first!
All you heard was "WHAMO" followed by "Thud!"
One punch and C was down on the ground. She fell straight on her elbow and thigh. Tears, fear and I felt a bit sick to my stomach, imagining trying to find an ER... but she pulled it together. You know how I mentioned that I thought the judges were not totally unbiased? This time it worked in our favor. One of the judges sided with C time and time again, and she won the match.
On her second round C just didn't have what it took to fight. She had no gumption. Her opponent, who was a bit smaller than her, easily beat C (and deserved to win!). C ended up with 3rd place.
C was finished, but we thought we would stay and watch some of her instructors. Bad mistake. It took more than 3 hours before they even started! We could have eaten and returned to the venue before they would have started.
Both instructors lost! It was sad to see their disappointed faces. C asked "is it as hard to watch me spar as it was to watch Mr. F?" I told her it is even harder.
At about 6:30 we left the crowded, noisy, and smelly gym. We arrived at the PF Changs (we'd been dreaming of their food all afternoon) only to be told that the wait for a table was 1 hour 45 minutes! We headed next door to On The Border. We ate in the bar instead of waiting 45 minutes for a table.
We finally made it home to our puppy. He surprised us by keeping his crate clean after nearly 10 hours alone at home.
If you think this blog entry was a little too long, you should have been there with us today.
Despite the long day, my thoughts were never fall from a hospital bed in my hometown where Dr G was taking out MCM's appendix. Glad you made it through! Get well soon. Love you!
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