1st Karate Tournament!

Haiden participated in his first competitive karate tournament... and he did great!  

It was held at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, so stayed at a nearby resort and made a fun weekend out of it! 

We woke Saturday morning, ate breakfast, and left for the tournament! Haiden seemed pretty relaxed and happy.  We arrived a hour early so he could warm up.  It was during this warm up time that he ended up feeling a little overwhelmed and upset. Nerves? Maybe.

We found some other people from Karate and went to watch them compete.  Seeing them having fun helped Haiden get over his moment of nerves. 

After staging, he and his group went to their ring. He competed in forms, weapon, and sparring. 

It's an odd experience to watch your child do something that they are truly pretty good at and feel for them as if you are competing as well. We were so proud and even nervous to see him go out in the ring and do his best. 

We tell him all the time, and I hope he really knows that we are prepared and happy to support him in whatever activity he'd like to try.

A year ago we missed the deadline to sign up for baseball, so we asked if he'd like to try out karate.  We had no idea he'd show us how much potential he has in excelling at karate.  He has such control over his body and can easily remember new forms taught to him. 

Karate has been a great choice.  Not only has Haiden shown us he is pretty good at it, it has helped in other ways.  We have watched our little man do some serious growing this past year.  Karate has given him an extra, constant outlet to exercise confidence.  

And..... He placed 3rd in forms! 

Even if he had not placed, we still had such a great time and it was a good experience for Haiden.  Placing was a fun extra though!! ;))

A few days after the tournament, he tested for his next belt. :)