So proud...

My kids are AWESOME! Oh, man...for a local tournament that was rather short-staffed and disorganized (sheesh people - no electronic scoring??) I think we made the best of what we had. Sue is the super-tkd-mom for sure - I cannot BELIEVE all the grunt work she willingly took care of for this tournament so that all I had to do was coach.

Sr called me in the afternoon - he and Jr had to teach classes during the day and said at least one of them would come to coach me later.

me: "Where aaaaarrrre yoooooou?"

Sr: "I'm stiiiiiiiill heeeeeeere"

me: "Well...men's adults have just been called...can you GET here??"

Sr: "I'll be there in 45 min. But if I don't make it...just do your thing."

me: "What thing? I have no "thing" without you...please come nooooooow."

OK so maybe James is right. Even though they always tell me they're not going to coddle me...maybe they do sometimes. I can't believe he whined when I whined. Haha...

So they show up a good hour and a half after this conversation, and Adolfo's already going into his first match when someone says something into my ear and I practically jump. Turns out that Sr finally made it, and I'm wondering why he's not coaching Adolfo and then I look over and do a double take b/c Jr's already in his chair. Sue says they have this magical ability to show up just in the nick of time. (And not a minute before, apparently).

I'm so proud of my boy, he fought so well today. Well all my boys...and girls. But it was such a breakthrough day for Adolfo - probably the first black belt match he's won and the guy was no scrub. I was so proud of him, he was so pumped up and when James and I started the WS cheer he got even more pumped up. I love that kid, such a great dongseng. Really is starting to come into the supporting junior role too...it's great.

And Scottie - what focus. He messed up on his forms - something that is VERY unlike him - but he shook it off and finished his forms strong. That's what I like to see! I knew he was upset about messing up, but when I gave him his pep talk to shake it off, he took a deep breath, let it out, and nodded. And he totally shook it off. Scottie is so coach-able, I haven't felt like that with anyone since Nancy and Erica and Margaret. He'd always look for me, and generally if I said something, 2 seconds later it would happen. Totally awesome. AND he landed the FATTEST back kick - it made the crowd go "ooh..."

Frankie and Melanie were great - definitely making progress though there's so much more to go. And Sean - what a cutie. (If I were ever going to use that word it would be for Sean). He's 10 and tiny - great technique but extremely shy and introverted.

"Sean, you won! Smile for me!"
"But...I AM smiling"

Could've fooled me.

So I only had one match, and I was dead tired by the time it rolled around. It was literally the last match of the day. Well maybe there was one more after it, don't remember, but all the other rings were shut down and pretty much dismantled by that point. All the West Side kids sat themselves along the edge of the ring - um, yeah, no pressure to put on a good show for my kids.

Sr hit me on the head and it felt good. Was pretty relaxed in the ring, and got to try a lot of new things that we've been working on. Well, for about a minute before I decided to try a spin hook kick (left leg, no less!) and it landed straight in her mouth and she forfeited. Luckily, she wasn't bleeding too much and she had a mouthpiece, of course. I felt so bad about it that I couldn't even write my contact info for the Mexico trip because my hands were shaking. Sr. had to write it for me.

Adolfo, James, Scottie and I had one massive sweaty group hug - it was quite warm and fuzzy. And smelly. Haha...

And to top it all off - MIT BEAT CORNELL at the Cornell tournament!!! Ah...as much as I wish I was there with them and as sad as I am to not be a part of it anymore - it does give me a sense of satisfaction that my team lives strong even without me.

So proud of everyone, all around. AND I got high praise from Sab. Made my day...