Tournament

Ok, so here's a post for the family.  Kit and Ella had their first martial arts tournament yesterday.  They do a form of Karate.  They competed in sparring and forms competition.  It was their club (where they know all the kids) and another from a few towns away.  I have to say it was a good day and the first time their club (which is only a few years old) has put on a tournament.  Needless to say, it ran WAY over time, but it was  a really good experience for them both.  Ella, in particular, was really, REALLY nervous and excited.

 Ella before her sparring match.  The girl next to her is her really good friend from ballet and karate, Megan.  Ella said to me before hand that she always gets beaten by Megan, and she was chosen to go against her and was (not surprisingly) beaten.  She lacks her mother's Killer instinct.

 However, Meg went on to win the whole thing in her age division, beating girls who were both much taller (helps to get those non contact head strike points) and much higher belts.

Then Kit and Ella both had the forms competition.  They were in the same division.  They both looked really good actually, although I didn't get to watch the whole thing as I had to go and work on the t-shirt stall.  Neither of them placed.

 Then, much later, Kit had his sparring contest.  He was in the 12-16 year old boys, and was one of the youngest.  He had talked himself out of it before he even began, but won his first fight, and  lost his second for the semis, then lost his 3rd to a much taller boy (with much longer reach) to determine 3rd and 4th place.

 I think this was the first point he scored and he can't really believe it.

 And this is him looking up at the boy he lost to (also a higher belt).  The little kid on the other side came first, and I'm pretty sure Kit could have beaten him- just the luck of the draw.

It was a long, adrenalin filled day, so there were a few tears at the end of the day when Ella jammed her thumb in the ice box while serving drinks.  But a good day.  I still can't get used to not hitting;  I did full contact martial arts, and I suspect if Kit was doing full contact it would be a whole other story as that boy hits HARD.  But this martial arts programme has been so good for them, and I just love the attitude of all the adults involved in teaching these kids.

And, mainly for my dad, here's some videos of Kit's 3 fights that Matt took on his iphone.  Ella didn't want Matt to come and watch her fight.