Getting Ready for Texas Open

In the weeks ahead leading to us traveling to Texas for the Texas Open competition T will be training like crazy on top of getting his school work finished for the year.  He has a lot on his plate right now and we are working double time to make sure everything is done before our travel date on May 26th or 27th.  T weighs in on the 28th and fights the 29th.  There won't be much free time during that time so please keep him in your prayers as he is going to be busier than he's ever been.  He's fighting up a weight division to get him prepared for fighting as a Junior next year.  He is a last year Cadet this year.  Because of all his injuries last year he has no points with USA TaeKwonDo so for him this year is more training and getting to know competitors in his new weight division.  This is the first year since he's been competing that he's not been ranked.  Injuries happen though and it takes time to bounce back and get ranked again.  Even so with being a last year Cadet fighter points this year really don't matter because they don't go with him when he becomes a Junior fighter next year.  He's happy to be fighting up a weight class because now he doesn't have to cut weight to be in a weight class where he's more competitive.  Experience in the new weight class is the main focus for T right now.  He wants to do his best and see where he lands and then he'll know what he has to fix to be more competitive in the new age and weight bracket moving forward.  I was concerned, with what the endocrinologist said, that T would want to find another sport to do but he took encouragement that Melvy, a USA TaeKwonDo Olympic team member, is only 5'6" and is #6 in the world right now.  In other words, you can't count shorter fighters out.  They can still be very competitive and can be ranked high like Melvy is.  So T is taking a page from Melvy and going to train hard, try to improve more every day,  fix what needs fixing after he competes, and keep moving forward.  So this year may not be a year of medals for T at the big events such as Texas Open, Grand Prix, Presidents Cup, and Nationals but he will be learning a ton to help him move forward in this sport and that's so important.