Owen's tournament

Today was Owen's first karate tournament. Here he is waiting for the tournament to start. He could NOT sit still. He did such a good job in the tournament, though, and was so proud of himself. I think it really enforced to him what karate is. Two weeks ago, he was ready to be done. Now he's ready to go again. I'm really glad that he had the opportunity to participate. I think he's going for the intimidation factor. What do you think? Is it working? Aren't you SO scared of him?Practicing his bear crawls (used to be the hardest thing for him to do, now he's doing it voluntarily) before the tournament.All the students listening to their senseis talk about rules of the tournament. You can see how well Owen listens at times.The "Little Dragons" (Shon's kids ages 4-6) getting ready to do their katas.Owen doing his kata.

I didn't know they were going to do this. Owen hadn't really practiced except for in class. He was the last Little Dragon to do his and two of the others had to have one of the senseis come and help them. The other Little Dragon wouldn't say what she needed to very loud. I was a little nervous when Owen got up, but he did excellent. He spoke loud and knew everything he was supposed to do. I was proud of him. He didn't like to do his kata when he first started and now he does so well.More kata.Shaking hands after receiving his medal for his kata.Showing off his kata medal.

After their kata, they got to watch all of the older kids and adults do their katas. Then they started the sparring.

Getting ready for sparring.

They didn't have the Little Dragons do normal sparring. It was kind of like the flag football of karate. They had "tags" on their sides that their opponent had to steal. He was able to hold his own. Nathan and I realized that, in karate, his size is actually a hindrance. The smaller kids were able to sneak in under his arm easily and steal his tags. By the end, though he had it figured out.Waiting for sparring and hitting on the chicks.Getting his tags on to spar.

Here's a video of Owen sparring. This is his first attempt before he had figured everything out.

Here is his second sparring session. He held his own in this one.

Owen actually sparred one more time, but I figure two videos is enough for one post. He did well on the last one, too. Sorry about the choppiness of the videos. Zoey was on Nathan's lap and wouldn't get down. I'm sure she thought she was "helping."

Owen showing off his two medals. One for his kata and one for his sparring. Congratulations Owen!!