Moving Forward

T went with his Dad and ran a 3k today while I stayed home and continued to rest and recoup. It’s been over a week now and I’m getting cabin fever. I need to make sure I get well though because our February is absolutely nuts. 

We measured T’s height today and since December he has grown an inch. If he can grow another three inches between now and Nationals in July I’d be okay with him going up a weight division but only with AAU. We still want him to remain right where he is with USAT’s weight bracket. It’s the best fit for his body size and weight. 

He is feeling tons better. He kicked longer today. He hasn’t had any issues with his head hurting anymore. So starting Friday it will be full swing back into things. He is so ready to get back at it too. He’s such an eager beaver. He’s learning so much right now and we love seeing how much he’s learning. 

He’s such a good kid too. Besides school he lives, eats, and breathes TKD. He loves TKD sparring. Life is never boring with this kiddo. He has a good time doing what he loves. We knew the day would come when he’d be pushing his dad and I to get in shape too and he harps on it a lot now. So I’m sure his dad and I will be making changes to get ourselves in shape too in the near future. Finding the time is our problem though. We are always on the run getting T where he needs to be for his training and tourneys. Doesn’t leave much time for much else but we’ll see if we can fit something in there. 

Our living room has been fitted with mats and basically made into a mini-Dojang. I know I mentioned that in an earlier post but we actually took my nice beautiful wool rug out of the living room and put the mats down so he can kick on Bob the Bully. Poor Bob’s face is looking pretty beat down and dirty these day from all the shots to the head he’s taking...LOL! The dogs have to be gated out of the living room for T to train because they’ll get under foot. They aren’t to fond of T beating up in Bob. 

Once again I have to remind myself this is just a season and seasons change and the day will come when T has his own space on the property for a Dojang of his own to work out in. And maybe when it’s built it can be built to all the specs he needs/wants for it to be. We also are looking at putting a living space in the upper portion of it so when T turns 18 he can have his own space away from us. This boy will love it once we are able to build it. We are making plans for it all but aren’t quite sure when they’ll be put into motion. Time will tell. 

To say this boy is blessed is an understatement. Everything we do is to support him and his dreams. God blessed us with him and we are doing our best to be a blessing to him because he is such a precious gift. We are so thankful for our gift from God. 

We are living in such exciting times with our kiddo. Having a blast watching all he is accomplishing. But we also love the times when he can have fun and be a kid too. We do our best to bring balance into every area of his life. 

Our business is moving forward. T is moving forward in all he’s doing with TKD. Life really is good!  God has truly blessed our lives. Looking forward to what the future holds as we continue to move forward. 

#movingforwardnotlookingback #keepingitreal 

The World.....

We have made sure T understands this to be true. He can be a light in the darkness as he continues on his TKD journey. He can walk out his faith in an arena that is need of God. He can walk out integrity for those who need a good example of what that looks like. He has a huge opportunity to be someone those younger than him can look up to. He can be a positive role model to them like his coaches are for him. The bottom line is, “The World really does need who he was made to be!!!”

Training + Hotel Stays + Fuel + US Open...

So I was reading an article where one family spent $25,000.00 alone in 2018 for everything their son did in competition that year. I thought to be for sure that was exaggerated so Scot and I started doing a spreadsheet of expenses we know for this year currently. Guess what. That persons expenses were less than ours. That about made our eyes pop out of our head. 

So here’s what we added up from what we currently know and this doesn’t add in AAU Tournaments or other USAT Tournamets T will need to do other than US Open and Nationals. 

Carolina Kicks Sparring Team Fees + Hotel Fees (For Training only) + Fuel cost (for training only) + US Open and both National events (tournament, travel, food fees) is right at $25,000.00 for the year. We still have AAU Qualifier in GA, possible AAU Qualifier NC, USAT GA, USAT NC, USAT SC, USAT ? to attend that we haven’t added in yet. Plus we haven’t added in any possible equipment costs we may run into having to get for T’s training. 

We keep getting asked do we need any help financially. The answer to that is if you want to help we certainly won’t refuse it. Just do what you feel led of the Lord to do and it will go directly into our Global Account that we have set up for everything relating to T’s training, tournaments, and travel. At least we know that we aren’t the only parents dealing with a ton of finances when it comes to their Elite Athletes expenses. It’s enough to make your head spin for sure. 

T and one of his teammates doing drills together. 

T Is Signed Up and Hotel Booked

T is signed up for US Open Las Vegas. We did the registration tonight and booked the hotel. We are still working on airfare. Fun and exciting times. 

My Awesome Coaches!

These are my Awesome Coaches. I’m so thankful for God bringing them into my life. I really trust these guys. They have made a huge difference in my fighting. #carolinakicks4life

Nationals Update

T wants to go to both National Events in July this year again. At USAT Nationals he will weigh in on July 1 and fight on July 2. At AAU Nationals he will weigh in July 4 and fight July 5th. He is really looking forward to fighting at these events this year. With all the training he’s doing we are looking forward to how he does with all his improvements from all the training he’s doing. We’ve got a taste this past weekend with how much he’s improving. It made our hearts proud. Had he not got a mild concussion there’s no telling what he would have brought home from the tournament. Looking forward though not back and enjoying having some down time while he recovers and I ease him back into school and training next weekend. 

Update on T

We went to our Chiropractor yesterday. He had to make a lot of adjustments from T’s injury from Saturday. We have been advised to keep him resting and ease him back into everything. He has to have time for his brain to bounce back from the mild concussion he received. He’s driving us crazy because he’s bored and has to rest. He’s like I feel fine but just because he’s feeling fine doesn’t mean his brain is back to normal. Try getting a very active 10 year old kid to understand that though...LOL! 

Forms Pictures from Yesterday

Such a Proud Kid

This is one time where he’s proud of how he did at a tournament even though he got Bronze because he knows he did his absolute best and left it all out on the floor. He finished his second match even though he was concussed. He showed great courage. And we had so many onlookers so impressed with how much he’s improved. That’s a win any day of the week. Now to figure out how we are going to get this thing off his neck without waking him up...LOL! 

Some Pictures from T’s 2nd Match Yesterday

Wish this hadn’t blurred but someone walked in front of me. He got a gooood side kick here.