Today was the third annual Hanmadang Tournament in Katy, TX hosted by Masters Leb Kemp of AKA Taekwondo and David Leider of All-Star Martial Arts. We had seventeen competitors today: 11 team members and 6 non-team members. Five of our competitors had never been in a tournament before. We were so proud of them for competing!
Many of the students competed in traditional forms, board breaking, and creative forms which included weapons patterns. Many of the students did very well. Payton won gold in both traditional and creative forms. Andrew, a yellow belt, won silver in traditional forms beating out a blue belt in the first round! He lost to another blue belt in the second round but, for his first tournament, beating an intermediate belt is fantastic! Way to go Andrew! I am not sure how everyone else did in forms and I don't know how they did in board breaking but I did see some of the breaks. They were rather good in most cases.
The first competitors up for olympic sparring were our 6-7 year olds Caleb, Ben V, Carter, and Ben C. Caleb won his first fight and lost his second to a much larger opponent. Caleb did great this tournament! Ben V., Carter, and Ben C. were first time participants. They were in a ring with other first time competitors. Ben V. won his first fight but lost his second to a much taller competitor who's diagonal kicks were nearly level with Ben V's head! Carter fought and lost to that same competitor that Ben V. lost to but Carter did very well only loosing by three points! Carter was nearly the same height as his competitor so the boy could not easily hit Carter in his head. Ben C. had one competitor whom he beat by about 5 points. Ben listened to his coach and it showed. Way to go Ben C!!
The 8-9 year olds were next: Max, Jon, Jacob, Payton, and Kennedy. Jon fought against a boy he has lost to several times but this time, he handled him much better showing that Jon has improved. Although Jon lost, he now feels that he can beat the other boy in the future if he keeps practicing and training hard. We are proud of you for that attitude, Jon! Max lost to the same boy. Unfortunately the boy outweighed Max by quite a bit which complicated Max's chances for success. Sometimes there simply isn't anyone else to fight at a given tournament so mismatches are not uncommon at small tournaments.
Jacob did amazingly well and won both his fights. Jacob is a smart fighter who is unafraid of any opponent. Today he fought a kid who was nearly a foot taller and when Master De Los Reyes asked him what game he would fight today, Jacob confidently told him "Inside game!" meaning that Jacob would have to get in close to his opponent to score points since there was a real mismatch in their leg length. Jacob was not phased by the mismatch. In fact, he may have relished the challenge!
Kennedy also won both her fights. Kennedy has such a cool head. Nothing seems to worry her. She did what her coach asked her to do and as a result, she won! That is something we ask all of our students: Listen to your coach. He or she will not steer you wrong!
Payton did not have a black belt to fight. She fought a much less experienced brown belt so Payton took it easy on her so as not to scare her too much nor hurt her. Payton won but they fought the full time allotted. Payton could have won much more quickly if she had given it her all I am sure.
We had two 10-11 year old this time. Kyle was in a rather large division of red belts as there were 6 in total. Kyle has a style he likes to use and he has gotten rather good at using that style. Unfortunately for Kyle, the boy he fought was able to counter act Kyle's style and could therefore prevent Kyle from scoring in addition to getting in point of his own. Kyle needs to increase his repertoire of kicks and combinations so that he can win. Essien was a first time competitor. He is an orange belt and has only been one for a short time. He did FANTASTIC!! He gapped out his competitor and seemed to instinctively know what to do. We want Essien to join the team and feel that he will be a great asset to the team if he does.
The 12-13 year olds were up next: Andrew and Kyla. Andrew did very, very well winning his first ever fight. As stated above, this tournament was Andrew's first. Using the few drills that we have been able to teach him in just the few short weeks he has been on the team, he was able to beat his opponent by several points! We think that Andrew will improve rapidly over the next several months and we will be happy to watch that and cheer him on!
Kyla has improved so much in the past year. She opened this fight with a triple off the line. What a way to start, Ky! Although Kyla lost she fought hard throughout the match, never gave up, and did not fear the other girl. Unfortunately, the girl was at least a head taller and out weighted Kyla by at least 23 pounds. That is a hard difference to make up at this age. Kyla was not discouraged by the loss. We are so proud of Kyla. Her attitude and work ethic are second to none these days!
Kelsey and Nicole both fought in the same division: 14-17 black belts. Although Kelsey is still a half and half belt, because she expects to test for her black belt in the Spring, she is jumping in at the deep end to prepare for Nationals. Kelsey fought a seasoned fighter from another school's competition team. Kelsy was not afraid to fight the other girl and stepped up to the challenge. Unfortunately, fighting black belts is a different ball game. Kelsey has a rather steep learning curve in front of her to catch up. We have complete confidence that Kelsey can do it if she decides that is what she wants.
Nicole won her first fight against a much less prepared opponent. Nicole was able to beat that girl easily and gapped her out in the first round. Her second fight was much more difficult. Nicole fought hard and fought even harder when the score got close hear the end but she was not able to make up the gap in points. Both Kelsey and Nicole need to work on kicking faster.
Will was our last competitor. He fought and beat both his opponents rather easily. Will is looking for the perfect fight. It was not at this tournament. Perhaps in Ft. Worth he will find it...
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