Saturday, the boy competed in his first Martial Arts tournament. It was a school sponsored event, so he was amongst friends out there. Even so, it was telling when it finally dawned on him that he’d have to perform in front of people. All by himself. He’d been asking what would happen at the tournament and I tried to explain what he’d be doing, but I guess he just never made the connection. The deer-in-the-headlights look he had when it finally clicked was pretty good though.
In all, he competed well. He only competed in forms, which are a series of blocks and punches with various footwork thrown in. The form he did he performed well- probably the best I’ve seen him do it. But it wasn’t enough and he didn’t medal.
But here’s the thing- it was really obvious who the older kids were. Based on my off-the-cuff survey, it looks like 9 is the magic age where coordination and muscle control becomes noticeably improved. In fact, all of the kids who earned medals were 3rd graders or higher, regardless of belt level.
The boy was clearly disappointed. It will be interesting to see if he ever wants to compete again. The Wife and I won’t push him to do so. He’s at a point where he wants to win so badly that he’d rather not participate than lose. Which is weird. He’s competing at a much younger age than I ever did, so I don’t have a frame of personal frame of reference. Clearly, the other kids aren’t so concerned with winning and losing like he is. That’s about my only data point and all it means, right now, is that he’s a little different from them.
Nothing wrong with that.