On October 20, 2012, Team Legacy competed at the 32nd Annual Ft. Worth International Taekwondo Tournament at the Ft. Worth Convention Center. This is the fourth year we have attended this tournament and it was our best performance as a team to date! The team members competing included Rashid, Will, Britt, Kelsey, Andrew, Payton, and Jacob. For the first time ever, nearly everyone won at least one fight.
Jacob was the first to compete in the 8-9 year old intermediate division. He had four boys in his division. Jacob is a fearless, and aggressive fighter. Jacob won his first fight by two points and was pleased. At the break after the first round of his second fight, Jacob was up by three points. Unfortunately, Jacob engaged when he should have been waiting for his opponent to attack and then counter as Jacob was up on points. The other kid got in two back kicks (now worth two points each) and he was up by a point on Jacob with just seconds left in the match. Jacob could not tie it up in the end and lost by a point, taking silver. Jacob needs to work on ring management so that does not happen again.
Payton fought second. Despite having several girls in the black belt 8-9 year old division, the tournament organizers broke them into many small division. Payton had only one girl to fight as a result. It was a close match but Payton pulled out in front and won gold.
Kelsey had a total of four girls in her division. She defeated the first girl she fought by a point. According to Master De Los Reyes, the girl Kelsey fought second had watch Kelsey's fight and therefore was more timid with Kelsey than she had been with her first competitor. Go Kelsey! Instill some fear into your opponents! Kelsey beat the second girl for gold.
Andrew also had two competitors but he got the bye on the first round. During the fight, Andrew looked sharp and used many of the drills we had been working on. He defeated his competitor 8-5 for the gold. Clearly, Andrew is much better than the average yellow belt!
Britt did not seem herself at this tournament. She didn't kick much and didn't seem to recognize what her opponent was doing. Britt lost her match 3-4. Better luck next time Britt.
Will fought a young man who was not nearly as good as Will. Therefore, the fight was not pretty. Both competitors were rather wild. Despite the uglyness of the fight, Will won gold rather easily with a score of 16 - 5.
Rashid was our final competitor. He won his first fight by the other competitor quitting the match in protest over the officiating. Rashid was up 10 - 5 when the coach pulled his player off the mat. During his next match, Rashid seemed to have the upper hand and was winning at the break between rounds. However, during the second half, his opponent kept hitting Rashid in the left shin until Rashid could no long put weight on his left leg. It became increasingly difficult to maintain his lead. Rashid lost 6-7 for the bronze. A heartbreaking loss.
This tournament was one of the best if not THE best results we have seen since the team began in 2008. Nearly EVERY team member won at least one fight! Great job everyone! Master De Los Reyes has done a terrific job teaching the drills and developing the team curriculum. We are now seeing the results of two years of hard work since we began the new curriculum. Let's keep it up!
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