Montavilla Taekwondo Tournament Clinic 2010

Andrew and Marin participated in the Montavilla Taekwondo Tournament clinic this year. This is Marin's first time with the tournament format. Andrew has participated in this particular one twice before. It is a more relaxed environment, because of the fact that it's a clinic, where others are learning what it means to compete in a tournament, as well as judge a tournament. Andrew and Marin both did well. They had some stiff competition. Andrew took third place in both sparring and his form. In sparring, Andrew got kicked really hard in the face. He was up against higher ranked kids, but he held his own. He shouldn't have been kicked, since they compete in non-contact Taekwondo, but sometimes it happens. He got really angry after getting kicked and really attacked his opponent. This was the first time that Andrew has competed in board breaking. It was really difficult. The boards did not want to break. In fact, Mr. Brown, one of the instructors had to test to make sure that they would break after a whole round of adults were having limited success with breaking. Andrew got 2 tries to break his board. He was unable to do it so he did not medal. I don't know that any of the kids in his group broke their board though. We are so proud of how he did in the tournament despite the board breaking setback. Marin also did well. She took first place in her form. She just missed medaling in sparring. She was fourth. In the sparring, they went to sudden death after a tie. The other girl got the first point and won. Marin is pretty timid when it comes to sparring. She lacks the killer instinct, which I am okay with. It is pretty cute to watch her. She is so dainty while sparring. It is a lot of sitting around and watching others and they were both really patient. It was a very good experience for both of them.