Monday, January 23, 2012

Finally Caught Up




It took me over a week to get caught up on the laundry, ironing, cleaning, and school prep that fell behind during my week of extra practices and competitions. The kids did great. Paige and Allie's competition was fun. The crowd was not too large and the various events took place at the same time, so we didn't wait to long between seeing our children compete.

Allie's division was up first.
She ended up with third place for the Walk of Confidence. It seems like a silly event, but Allie is shy around strangers. She practiced this event frequently over the last few weeks. I was so proud of her during the competition. She spoke clearly, loudly and looked the judges in the eye. It was a huge accomplishment for her.


Paige's first event was also the Walk of Confidence.

It was fun to watch her. She approached the judges confidently, spoke VERY loudly (we heard her clearly on the other side of the high school gym) and maintained great eye contact. She won first place!
The next event was the Kata. Allie did her Kata well, but did not win a trophy. She was disappointed and had tears in her eyes when she returned to await the next event. We talked about doing our best and realizing that everyone wants to win, but sometimes the trophy goes to someone else. I also talked about being a good loser. We had this discussion while Paige was being judged on her Kata. Paige won a trophy. After taking her picture, I told her how proud we were of her, but asked her not to make a huge deal out of her trophy when Allie was around.



Neither girl got a trophy for their board breaking. Allie managed to break her 1/2 inch board on the first try. Paige couldn't break her 1 inch board and ended up breaking it on cinder blocks with her foot. She was a little frustrated, but laughed at her inability to break it with her hand. The girls were given their broken boards as souvenirs.

The last event was the obstacle course. Allie won second place which didn't surprise me, because she's so quick.

Paige didn't win a trophy, but had a great time.

I really struggle when my children compete at the same time. I dislike comparisons and competition between siblings. Mike and I were happy that both girls had a great time and showed improvement and confidence. As an added bonus, both girls won the same number of trophies!

At the awards ceremony last Thursday, we learned that both girls passed their exam and are now yellow belts.

1 comment:

Barb the Evil Genius said...

Congratulations to your girls! Sibling rivalry makes life interesting, doesn't it? My two girls have almost completely different interests, and are extremely jealous when one sister seems to be entering the other one's "sphere of personal achievement."