Rumble in the Rockies

This ATA Tournament was Sam's 1st, and he loved it! He started out a bit goofy (self-conscious I think) but did get into it eventually and did a great job. He got his trophy for "Great Kicks." He had a good snap to them. He was SO PROUD. I about died at the cuteness of it all.

I placed 3rd in Sparring! BWA HA HA HA! Let me tell you the specifics of REAL (ahem, I mean, not Tiny Tigers) competition. First, we were divided Camo through Purple, then Brown through Black Belt Recommended. Off we went. Within our group we were then divided into ages 30-39 and 40-49. But there were only 2 of us in the younger set so they just put us with the older women (much to their chagrin, not that they needed to worry!). So there were 8 of us in the ring. First went Forms. I did mine well, although I forgot the 3rd kiyap. But I did well and I tried to be as exact as possible. I didn't place in forms. A purple belt came in first and she was gooooood. She also took 1st in Sparring and was my opponent!! Yikes!!! I'd sparred a total of 2 times and was a bit worried about it! But I employed the 'act aggressive' method that Ted uses and got 2 points in right away in the first round! I never got any more and she beat me 5-2 but it took a LONG time, so I was blocking well. Phew! That is some adrenaline! None of the other women did Weapons, so I have a plan. Since Ted will move up by half ranks, I will learn my Form this round but not test, instead learn a Weapons form and test the following time for my Green Belt, when Ted is also testing for his Green Belt. And I'll have my form and a Weapons form to show for it. Perhaps at the next Tournament I can squeeze in a 1st in Weapons, if I'm the only one doing it! hee hee. The women were REALLY nice in my ring though. Mr. D says it's usually the same people at each Tournament so you really get to know them. They were very nice.

Paul took some video of Ted because I was with Sam, and it looks pretty good. He was nowhere near as confident as at Testing, perhaps because this floor judge was a different one, but he was fine. He did a great job sparring; the video showed that he got a lot of points in all 3 rounds, although he did get knocked over once (his opponent was about a foot taller than he was.) He got his trophy for "Black Belt Form" because he was very exact about each movement. He got very shy at the trophy presentation part, but did hug it (the trophy!) once he sat down. Hee.