and the winner is.....

drum roll please....BILLY !!!

Today was Billy's 1st Tae Kwon Do tournament and was he excited! It took place in Kitchener (about an hour from Toronto) and we had to be there at 8:30am. NOT what the rest of the loudamericans wanted to do on a Saturday morning, but we did. Billy has supported every one of Jimmys games and Kay has her 1st gymnastics tournament and since its the right thing to do... all 5 of us were up at 7:00am today and out the door before 7:30. Yikes!

The tourney was at a university campus with a gym on one side of the field house and hockey rink on the other. Its was big and thats when Billy got nervous. I think he expected something similar to our dojo, small and intimate.

We checked in, scouted our seats and settled in. Luckily, I sat by some veterans and they gave me the whole run down. 1st up? their patterns - with scores given by 3 judges with a top score of 10 (which I was promptly informed, no one ever gets).  Then, sparring, which is a tournament style, you keep sparring until you are out or the winner.

They call the kids by age and belt color and then the chaos begins, it took 30 min's to get the kids lined up and paired up properly.  Billy was a trooped but I cant say as much for the other 2.

We got the hang of watching the competition by watching the 5-6 yr old black belts. Yikes, one girl was serciously intense and she won both the pattern and sparring. I wouldnt want to mess with her in a few years. Jimmy was mightily impressed.

Then, Billy was up (yellow belt since he just got his yellow belt with green stripe). He bowed, stood up straight, started his pattern and promptly forgot what he was doing. It was super cute. He stopped, scratched his head, figured out what he was suppose to be doing and started again. judges call? 6-6-6. Not too bad for 1st time nerves.

Then, the long wait to sparring, after a bit of side line practicing, getting geared up in his pads and a pep talk from Master Jeon, he was ready.

Round 1 - Billy was on fire!!! bouncing on his toes, moving fast, fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee... you know the drill. Before we knew it, he was dominating at 11 to 2 (you get points for kicking the other person in the chest pad). Jimmy, Kay, our new friends next to us and I were going nuts!  He did a little fist pumped and looked up at us with a big grin.

Round 2 - The opponent was agressive! coming in tough, taking kicks, knocked Billy over, but Billy didnt back down. He got some good strategic kicks in and played smart, not fast.  final score 4 to 2 - Billy wins again and the crowd goes nuts!!   

Then, a bit of confusion, does he spar again or not?  As he starts to talk with his coach and take off his pads we realize...he won! He won 1st place in sparring in his 1st tournament! Amazing!!

Parents arent allowed on the floor unless your kid has won and is on the podium (photos only please) so Jimmy Kay and I ran down. Billy was over the moon when they announced his name. He jumped up on the podium, started pumping his arms, huge smile and when all 4 winners were on the podium, he started doing the gangum style dance. Everyone cracked up. Hes a star!

Guess who cant wait for his next tournament?

Winning is addictive.

 We are so proud of you Billy! next up, the Canada Open in May - we'll keep you posted on our future Olympic athelete:)