Tournament in Zanesville

Luke had his first real martial arts tournament yesterday. About 6 students from the dojo and Master Circle headed to the Four Seasons Tournament in Zanesville. We caravaned with the other families and found our way to the local middle school. We got Luke registered and then waited and waited and waited while everything got organzied. Luke was very, very grumpy. Michael was very, very hyper. Justin was very, very snotty and tired. And Master Circle's wife had worked a night shift on Friday, so he had brought his 2-year-old daughter with him, so we all kind of took turns watching Keira, too. It was bedlam, but thankfully nobody seemed to care. I'm very glad that I packed a ton of snacks because there wasn't really any opening to go to lunch even though there was a lot of downtime. Next time I will bring more books and other diversions.

They split the kids into divisions. Luke was in the 3-5 year old Little Dragons division. There were only about 10 of them. At his dojo Little Dragons is ages 3-6, so his friend Cameron who is 6 got moved up with the older kids. This worked out well for Luke, but not so well for poor Cameron. Believe it or not, there actually were a couple of 3-yr-olds competing, but it was very casual. The sensais (is that right?) were much more laid back than I imagined. I guess I've seen Karate Kid too many times. Turns out only Luke and one other boy had formal routines to perform, so they just competed against each other. The other boy got a gold medal and Luke got the silver.

Then they asked if any of the kids had a weapons routine. This is funny because on Friday night at practice, Master Circle asked Luke if he wanted to use a weapon (well, duh, YEAH!!). So he gave Luke a stick and told him to do one of his combinations with the stick and add some extra "keeyahs!" and bam, Luke had a weapons routine. He'd only done it like 3 times. He went up against the same boy (who had a staff) and somehow Luke won and got a gold medal.

Then they sparred. Luke sparred at an in house tournament recently and it was a disaster. But he's learned a lot in a few weeks. It was amazing to see him and the other Koguryo kids doing exactly what Master Circle said which was to be patient and let the other kid make the first move. Luke was patient and he won and got a gold in sparring.

We thought that was it, but then Master Circle said that by looking at the medals it seemed like Luke should be Grand Champion in his division. So then we waited and waited some more. We watched the next group. His friend Cameron had a rough time, but his friend James, who is 7, did really well and medaled in all of his events. Finally, Master Circle asked around and it turned out there was another boy who had the same point total as Luke. He had competed with the group without the formal routines who had just done some of their skills informally. So he and that boy sparred for the title. Luke won again! The funniest thing at this part was that Luke couldn't unfasten his gloves, but nobody could help him because I was holding Justin, Matt was holding Michael and Master Circle was holding Keira. So next thing I know, they are handing us a plaque that says Little Dragons Grand Champion! Woo hoo!

We were all exhausted and needed to get home, but the teenagers hadn't even started yet. There was no way we could stay. Even Master Circle had to leave before the end. I hope the next tournament is better organized. It's the same people running it, so I hope they worked out the kinks. It was fun, but totally exhausting. Justin did amazing. None of our other kids would have done half as well. Michael was challenging, but had a good time running around with Keira. I wish I'd gotten more pictures, but it was just impossible. I did see one of the teenager's parents with a camera, so hopefully he will send them to Master Circle to post on Facebook.