Karate Tournament

On Saturday February 28th the boys had their second karate tournament.  This year they knew a little more of what they were getting into and how it would go.  They had been working extremely hard on their tournament kata and practiced a ton!  I think they were more excited about this one and prepared.  They had also been doing sparring class once a week, we were really getting ready for this tournament.

This year I volunteered for the tournament.  We had to be there at 8 am and the tournament didn't start until 10:30, so I let the boys bring their tablets to entertain themselves while I volunteered.  They had already practiced their kata a few times on the floor, so now they were relaxing.

They lined up all the Karate Tech students to stretch out and warm up.  It was pretty impressive because there were over a 100 students just from our dojo,

Michael was up first with his forms.  He went against other red and blue belts ages 7 & 8.  He had pretty tough competition.

Michael did such a great job on his kata!!!  We were very proud of him!!!

Michael didn't place in forms, but he received a medal for participating.

AJ was up next with forms.  He also had some extremely tough competition.

He was one of the few that actually bowed going onto the floor and followed proper etiquette.

AJ doing his form and looking good!!!  We were extremely proud of him as well!

AJ did not place in forms either, but received a participation medal.  They then had a little break while the other belts and ages were finishing up their forms and they took the opportunity to eat a little something and recharge.

Unfortunately the boys ended up being in the same group for sparring.  I was really worried about it and was hoping that they wouldn't have to spar each other in the first round.  Luckily they didn't.  Michael is in the blue getting ready to spar next.

Michael is a fierce fighter!!!  He did awesome even if the judges were awful.  He won the first match!!  I was sooooo excited!!  I think he was too, but he was very good about not showing it and celebrating in front of the other kid.

AJ suiting up getting ready to spar!!

Even though the age group was 7-10, AJ still had the height advantage which was great!!  He beat the first one 3-0!!!  I was extremely excited as well!!! They both moved to the 2nd round.  Luckily again they didn't have to fight each other.  It was the luck of the draw and thankfully they had one more round not fighting each other!!  They both won their second round!!!!!  Now it was down to AJ and Michael fighting for first and second!!!  I couldn't believe it!!!  I was so excited and everybody asked me who I was going to root for.  I told them I would root for Vandeway of course!!!  LOL

They both look so determined here.  They both wanted to take home that first place trophy, but alas only one can win.

AJ ended up taking first place and Michael second!  I was so happy that they did so well!!!!  Michael said next year he was going to get the first place trophy!!!  :-)  I said that is a great goal!!!

My boys - so proud of the two of them!!!  I know how hard it is to get up in front of people and perform and they both did so AWESOME!!!!!  After that we headed over to the BX for a celebratory lunch (I was starving because it was after 2 pm).  Another family came as well so the boys had somebody to play with.  We ended up staying there until we were ready to leave and head to a play in Baumholder.

If you can't guess, we went to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  They had "Willy Wonka" bars for sale before the show.  In some of them there were golden tickets so of course the boys wanted to see if they could find one!!

I couldn't believe it, when Michael opened up his chocolate bar he had a golden ticket!!!

And then AJ opened up his and there was another golden ticket!!!  My boys were on a roll today!!!  They were sooo excited!!!!

So for the golden ticket they both won a big sucker!!  Just what they need, more sugar.  If their name gets picked after all the shows are over, they will get a 5lb gummy bear.  Yes I did say 5 lb!!!

They did such a great job with the play!!!  It was so well done and the grandparents were a riot!!!!

Some of the oompa loompas were children, but some were adult and this is how they made them small.  The boys had a great time and so did David and I!!  We knew almost half of the people in the play so that made it even better!!!  It was a looooong day (left the house at 7:30 am and didn't get back until 10:30pm) but a great day from the tournament to the play!!!