The tournament today was great. Unlike my first tournament last month, I had someone to compete against in my poomsae (tae kwon do forms). I took first place (YAY!). It felt good, I was a little bit nervous but I don’t think I’ll ever completely get over that. 
As for my foot I injured yesterday, it help up very well.
The thing I love at Tae Kwon Do (tkd) is that it suits me. It challenges me and gives me happiness. (I know I’ve said this in previous posts, but bare with me) The tournament today was different. It was an hour from my house so no one went with me this time. C was busy and so was my mom’s friend J, that came to watch me last time. I had JS, who’s a student at my dad’s school that also happens to be adult, and that was great. I can’t imagine sitting for hours by myself waiting for them to announce adult poomsae. But more than that tkd is a connection between my dad and I.
I was daddy’s little girl until I hit about high school. We had a falling out, and there were some dark days in there (which I’m sure is not uncommon). But after my mom died, it was just the two of us and neither one of us knew how to handle that. Now before you start thinking things, I never in my life doubted my dad’s love for me. I’m extremely lucky that I never doubted either of my parents love for me.
Today during opening ceremony, after he was announced with the rest of the Masters, he was sitting at the head table making faces at me. It makes my heart squeeze a little because I take my dad for granted most of the time. And I, of all people, should know not to do that. Maybe the reason why I adore tkd so much is because I get to spend time with my dad doing something that we are both passionate about.
I sparred for the first time today. And while I don’t enjoy my dad watching me perform my poomsae, I didn’t want to spar without him there. I hoped while standing there with my gear on, waiting to get started that he’d notice I was up. He was busy judging another sparring match 2 mats down. When it was obvious that we weren’t going to start any time soon, I hurried down to the other end to let him know I was down at the end and when we were just about to start, my dad came running down the gym floor.
So sparring…I F*ING LOVE IT! It worked out great because there was no one my belt color so it was just an exhibition match (for show, we each get first place in our belt rank) between me and this girl blue belt. It was only her second time sparring in a tournament. I’m not going to lie, if they really tallied all the points I know my ass would have been kicked, but I got the experience I needed. I had a couple good runs at her kicking her 4 times in a row But she got me in the head once. But I’ve only been training for 6 weeks, so I think I did pretty well. I held my own ground, with my dad coaching in the background. One of the parent’s stayed to watch my match and she video taped it, I can’t wait to see what it looked like!
In conclusion, I came to really appreciate and clearly see how talented and dedicated my dad is. And also, I got 2 first place medals. Woohoo!
