the tournament

we all survived. these kids were amazing. I was scared of some of them. and they were, like, 6 years old.
Jack got his purple belt! Yah!!!!!!! there were probably 30 kids or so to get belt promotions, and then we all went outside while they got the place set up for the tournament. both Grandpas and 1 Grandma were also there:)
so...the tournament. let me say first and foremost how proud I am of Jack! he was in the ring where the 3 judges were from the other school.(fair??? not, at least in Momma's mind)so anyways, he was entered in the Kata division, to do the Orange and Purple belt sets. I know this because I filled out the forms and paid his entry fee for 2 competitions.(this will become relevant later)
for all of you non-karate Moms, a Kata is basically a series of moves. sort of a routine. there are Katas at every level, so when you learn new stuff, you progress to the next belt color, and to the next Kata.
we watched the first group go through. they were in the weapons division. let me describe it for you. picture 6 and 7 year olds swinging a big stick wildly through the air and every so often stopping to scream, "Kiah".meanwhile, at the other side of the room, teenagers were swinging big dagger like swords and fans and sharp looking hooked blades through the air. they were also screaming now and then.(did I mention I had no Motrin with me?) the kids from the other school were very....intense. they must practice "mean face" and "scary yells" at their school. I kid you not, this little 6 year old girl, she scared me. I would have happily handed over my purse, watch, wedding ring...anything she wanted. (however, once the competition was over, she put on the cutest smile and got all giggly and girly when her Daddy picked her up and congratulated her. so, I was a little relieved she was not as intense as she was all of the time. but damn, she was really good!)
next division, Katas. they called all of the names, Jack gets lined up. he was really nervous, poor guy. all of the kids from his school were, I assume the other school must have talked and practiced the protocol for tournaments, because they seemed very confident and knew exactly what was happening. the students from our school were asking lots of questions, as were the parents.
Jack competed against 3 other kids in his age division. he placed 4th. yes, that means my baby came in last place:( I wasn't surprised, though. compared to the other kids, he was obviously the most nervous.
here's when Momma had a bit of a hissy fit. he got his medal, and then came and sat down with us to watch the rest of the competitors. I asked him if he was supposed to go back up for his 2nd Kata. he told me his teacher had told him to choose between the Orange and Purple belt Katas for his turn, and then go sit with your parents to watch the rest of the kids. OK, so I assumed that meant that there would be another group doing more Katas after this one was finished. well, the group finished, and then they started calling the kids who would be competing in sparring. huh??? what about his second set? this whole time that he was sitting there watching, he was telling me how nervous he was, how he did not want 4th place, how he was going to do so much better with the Orange belt set because now he knew what to expect.
they called a break to give the kids time to get on their sparring gear. I told the Man that I did not know what was happening, but I thought Jack's part was over...could he go over and ask the Sensei what was going on/what happened to the 2nd set, etc. well, the Man could tell I was pissed, but holding it in so as not to have a fit in front of my parents, my husband, my son, and a large group of people from my community. however, the Man does not like confrontation. but, I think he realized that a small talk with the Sensei was the lesser of 2 evils than me talking to the Sensei.
so, he goes over and chats while we all walked outside. at this point, I have all 3 Grandparents questioning why we are leaving, what happens next, does Jack compete again, who is the Man talking to, etc. etc. don't you love when people are questioning you and you feel the best response would be to yell, "shut up!", yet, you can't say that to your Dad. so instead, I kept calm and said something to the effect of, we're finding out, not sure, this is the first tournament we've been to, so I'm not sure what happens next, blah blah blah.
Man returns, tells me this news.....Jack's category is now done. he will not be competing anymore today. are we sure he was entered in 2 Katas? he was only supposed to be entered in 1 Kata. hmm, he'll have to check the entry forms...blah blah blah. (let me say here that the lack of communication at this school has been an issue before, but lately they had been on the ball and this just not only disappointed me, but Jack was pissed that now he had a 4th place medal and did not even get the chance to try for a higher place)as a Momma, I can handle my own disappointment much better than my child's. I think, given the chance, I may have borrowed one of those big sticks and beat the crap out of that Sensei if my parents were not there to witness their baby daughter's rage. so instead, Grandpa took us all to Steak 'n Shake for lunch. a chocolate shake seemed to calm Jack down, and the promise that he would get a new Webkinz afterwards also helped. of course, his sister began campaigning for a new Webkinz also...she was really good at the tournament, she cheered for Jack really loud(which she did). so, after lunch we went to a local store and got a new Webkinz and a new puzzle(her choice...she found a puzzle with 2 unicorns on it and decided that was way cooler than another Webkinz)

thoughts on this whole karate thing....
I really do not see how these kids practice this whole wildly swinging the big stick around without hurting someone or breaking lots of stuff. if he continues and wants to do weapons, thank goodness we live in Florida and he can do this stick stuff outside.
we really need to work on the yelling is a good, acceptable thing to do- at karate.
a mean face is a good, acceptable thing to have- at karate.
your little sister will always scream "woohoo, go Jack!" at any event you are competing at. accept this now and we'll all be a lot happier.
your baby brother will enjoy chewing on your karate belt, whatever color you have. he liked white, he liked, yellow, he like orange, and now he likes purple. if you do not want baby spit on it, put it away.

I'm proud of you, Jack!