T’s Concussion Update

T is much better today. Vision pretty much back to 100% and he still has a little bit of a headache. He is driving us crazy saying I’m ok because he’s bored and doesn’t want to rest anymore but we aren’t budging because we were told to make him rest for a few days to give his brain healing time. No screen time at all so this should be fun....LOL! 

Video of 2019 SET Championship Forms

Video of 2019 S.E.T. Championship World Class Sparring Match 2

Video of 2019 S.E.T. Championship World Class Sparring Match #1

Headshot Picture

T got a great head shot on the middle weight kid he fought today. Just wanted to share it to show you that the kid may have outweighed him but T still fought hard. 

All the other parents around us who were watching T were very impressed with how much T has improved in his fighting. They’ve been at all the same events with us over these past few years and T was catching their eye and had them paying close attention to him. So even though he lost and the medic wouldn’t let him fight anymore because of his injury it was still a win because T made an impression on many of the onlookers today. 

Sparring 2019 S.E.T. Championships

Before I tell how T did let me give you a backdrop to how he ended up where he did. In T’s division there are weight groups that they can Fin, Fly, Middle, Heavy. T is a Fin weight. In the group they placed T to fight in there was one other fin weight and one Fly weight and one middle weight. Those groups should not have been placed together but they were. T won his fight against the other Fin weight easy 20-3. His second match was with a middle weight kid. T was doing pretty good against that kid until.....The kid did a head shot on T that landed him on the ground (score at that point was 16-19 and T was down by three and the match ended 20-29). Junior safety rules for youth means light head contact. That was no light head contact. The middle weight kid should have been disqualified but instead was allowed to continue on. T chose to finish the match and got kicked several more times to the head making an already bad situation worse. So when he came off the floor he was shaking, dizzy, and his head hurt really bad. The medic came back over again checking T out a second time (because she checked him after the initial fall) saying he has a minor concussion and said he can no longer fight. It’s double elimination so because T wasn’t allowed to continue he brought home Bronze. As a competitor he wanted to continue but once the medic says no more you are done. Bottom line is he should have never been fighting someone two weight divisions up from him. It’s unifortunate, because we like Master Kim, but we won’t be returning to this event seeing as they can’t separate the weight groups any better than they did. We are proud of T though because he did his best, fought hard, and did all that his coach was asking of him. His coach and him realize they have some stuff to really work on in the weeks and months ahead. But T won’t be in this situation again because all his competitions will be strictly divided up into proper weight divisions and he won’t be fighting kids two weight divisions up.  So T brings home Bronze in midst of a bad situation. 

The medic has us keeping a close eye on him and gave us a sheet telling us of other symptoms to watch out for. A few days of. rest and he should be able to go at it again provided he doesn’t have any more symptoms. Right now he seems to just have a bad headache. 

Gold in Forms 2019 S.E.T. Championships

T had to do his Forms twice and unanimously won both times. 

T is Ready for the Day - 2019 S.E.T. Championships

T is so exited to be here with his team. Looking forward to seeing him compete today in Forms and Sparring. We will be posting pictures as he competes of what he wins. So stay tuned today. It’ll be later tonight or tomorrow before we post any videos from him competing. 

Check This Out

USAT just posted this:  

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Taekwondo/Features/2019/January/18/USA-Taekwondo-Continues-to-Build-National-Competitive-Structure

It’s a good read and a really positive move for the kids. 

US Open Update Yet Again

So we are now going to US Open in Las Vegas. We are prepping T for this event as much as we can in the time we have left before we have to travel for this event. I will be spending most of February in Charlotte as T trains with his coach for this event. By the time we go to US Open T will have had a total of 3 weeks of private training with his coach on top of team trainings. He has an event this weekend, next weekend, as well as an AAU Qualifier to attend in February before going to US Open. So to say we have a lot going on is an understatement. We covet your prayers as we finance everything. God is so good and always makes a way where there seems to be no way. So as God provides we continue to move forward and help our son live out his dreams. 

Please pray for our safety as we travel and as T trains and competes at SET in South Carolina (1/19), Tag Team Competition with World Sparring League(1/26), AAU Qualifier in Georgia(2/16), and US Open in Vegas(3/1). Please pray for T to stay healthy throughout all of this. He’s been overcoming what seems to be a cold so pray he recovers from it quickly. He needs every ounce of strength/energy for all he has to do in the weeks and months ahead. Pray for Scot and I to stay healthy as well throughout everything. Pray for strength for us as we help T do all he has to do to be the best that he can be. Pray for T and I as we balance getting his schooling done in the midst of everything. 

Such exciting times but also very busy times too. We wouldn’t have it any other way though. We love our boy and are so proud of everything he is doing in this sport he loves so much. 

Recent picture he took for his Global Licensing Photo.