On April 14, 2012 Team Legacy competed at the AAU South Texas District Qualifier in San Antonio, TX. Payton, Kyla, Kelsey, Ben, and Brittaney competed. Payton competed first. She was aggressive against her opponent and did not back peddle! That is one of the things that Payton has been working on. It looked from her fight that she has made significant progress toward her goal! Way to go Payton! She won her first fight 13 - 14. Unfortunately she had more trouble with her second opponent. Payton was a little tired and she lost some of her aggressiveness. Her opponent succeeded in landing a few good head shots and quickly drew ahead in points. Payton lost 8 - 1 in the second round. She took home the silver. Congratulations Payton!
Kyla competed second. Kyla fought well but she had some trouble with her opponent and lost 8 - 1, earning a bronze medal. According to Master De Los Reyes, Kyla fought well but could not land kicks that could be seen and recorded by the judges. Keep up the good work Kyla. You are improving rapidly as we are so happy to see you working as hard as you are in practice!
Kelsey came to this tournament determined to win. She sized up her opponent and thought about how she would defeat her opponent as she waited ringside for her fight to be called. Like Payton, Kelsey has a habit of back peddling. Her goal was to follow up and to not go backwards. Kelsey successfully reached her goal willing 7 - 9, taking first place. Instead of a gold medal, she took home a 4-foot which was the award for first place winners in sparring. Good thing her mom drives an SUV not a Smart Car! Although Kelsey sometimes only kicked once, she was much more aggressive than she has been in the past and frequently followed up. As a result, she often scored on her kicking flurries! Kelsey avoided back peddling and attempted several head shots. She needs to work a bit more on those to make them more comfortable and more second nature. When she does that, she will be difficult to beat!
Our last division at this tournament was the 14 - 17 Black Belts: Ben and Brittaney. Ben competed first. Ben moved well making it hard for his opponent to hit him but he was not aggressive enough and therefore he did not land many kicks and did not take advantage of his opponent's misses. Although Ben was better in the second round, his opponent had too much of a point lead at that time for Ben to prevent the gap, loosing 8 - 1. Ben needs to work on being more aggressive and following up. As we have seen with Payton and Kelsey, following up often leads to a point or two and can prevent the opponent from scoring. The best defense is a good offense. Like Kelsey, Ben also needs to work on his head shots.Too many of his opponents score at least one head shot in a match. Ben needs to follow suit in addition to making following up a habit.
Brittaney was the last to fight. It was a rematch between Jade and her. Brittaney lost to Jade at their last meeting in Houston in March and Brittaney clearly had thought about and planned for the fight in San Antonio before it began. Brittaney was aggressive from the beginning. When she chased down her opponent and kept the pressure on, she often scored. She landed several spectacular head shots and tied the score several times. For a short time she was ahead in points. Unfortunately she came up two points short in the end, taking home the bronze. Brittaney gave us a spectacular fight to watch. It was very close the entire match and the team cheered her on very loudly. We were all very proud of her! Perhaps, next time, Brittaney will be the winner. We all have confidence that she can be!
Our next tournament will be in Houston on May 5th. Be sure to check back then to see how Team Legacy and other Young Brothers Copperfield competitors fair. Photos from this tournament will follow soon.
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