More Pics from Sparring Portion of BBW Fall Hanmadang and In House Tournament 2019

Sparring Portion of BBW Fall Hanmadang and In House Tournament 2019

T was asked to do Tag Team Sparring to represent the Zebulon Dojang were he takes traditional TaeKwonDo training. His team won against the Headquarters/Knightdale team. In some of the pictures you will see him yelling/coaching his team from the sidelines...LOL!  He was a beast today. Enjoy the pictures. 

Grand Master Vincent and T at BBW Fall Hanmadang and In House Tournament 2019

Grand Master Vincent and T got to have a conversation today. T thinks the world of Grand Master Vincent and Grand Master Nelson and both were at the the tournament today. He really enjoyed getting to spend some time talking with Grand Master Vincent. 

Breaking Portion of BBW Fall Hanmadang and In House Tournament 2019

T loves doing the flying side kick. Today he had to go against a student that was a head, if not a head and a half, taller than him. He had reach T just did not have so he came home with 2nd place in this event. Here’s a picture I was able to get just before he broke the board. 

Poomsae Portion of BBW Fall Hanmadang and In House Tournament 2019

T’s Poomsae was spot on today. He was so sharp. He seems to do so strong at doing his Poomsae but prefers sparring most of all. Here are some pictures that I was able to get. 

BBW Fall Hanmadang and In House Tournament 2019

Two trophies (Poomsae and Breaking) and the Zebulon School won the Tag Team Event😁.  One trophy was first place for Poomsae and the other was second place for breaking. The Zebulon School received a trophy for the tag team win as well. 

Just Had To Share

What God did at Pearl Harbor that day is interesting and I never knew this little bit of history.

Tour boats ferry people out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii every thirty minutes. We just missed a ferry and had to wait thirty minutes. I went into a small gift shop to kill time.

In the gift shop, I purchased a small book entitled, "Reflections on Pearl Harbor" by Admiral Chester Nimitz. 

Sunday, December 7th, 1941— Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington, DC. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone.

He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941. There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat--you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.

On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere you looked. As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?"

Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice. Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?" 

Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?

Nimitz explained:
Mistake number one: 

The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk--we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.

Mistake number two: 

When the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America. And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.

Mistake number three: Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply.

That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make or, God was taking care of America.

I've never forgotten what I read in that little book. It is still an inspiration as I reflect upon it. In jest, I might suggest that because Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas -- he was a born optimist.

But any way you look at it -- Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism.

President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job. We desperately needed a leader that could see silver lining in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat.

There is a reason that our national motto is, IN GOD WE TRUST.

Why have we forgotten? PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY! IN GOD WE TRUST.

USAT Cadet National Team Pathway Link

Here is the USAT Cadet National Team Pathway link informing of all the changes they are making for the athletes and what they are going to have to do to be selected as a Dominate Athlete and what it will take to make USAT Cadet National Team.  It's a tough pathway and it will be hard but we believe that when T puts his absolute best foot forward that he can accomplish his goals and be named a Dominate Athlete but it's all in his hands.  He has to put all the effort and work in to accomplish becoming a Dominate Athlete/USAT Team Member.  Serious talks are going on between us and T and the coach and T.  He is getting a full understanding of what lies ahead for him and what he must do in order to keep moving forward.  This sport is ever evolving.  Changes in rules and requirements all the time and we just have to roll with them and keep moving forward.  Here's to accomplishing goals!

https://adobeindd.com/view/publications/989b7833-ace1-41c9-aa50-b1f01a2988c0/5kmu/publication-web-resources/pdf/Cadet_Pathway_DRAFT_v2.pdf

Drawing Class

T expressed an interest in learning how to draw recently so we signed him up for a drawing class for the fall semester. He got in the van and did nothing but draw the entire way home. 

This Week In Training

This week in training Master Wasiu said, “Champions make choices. Mediocrity is a choice. Excellence is a choice. Seeking excellence in every part of your life is a conscious decision. So I urge you all to do your best at whatever you do!”  I did this picture for T to have to look back at. The art work is borrowed but I added the text😁. 

T is learning much about conscious and unconscious choices/decisions he makes and how it affects his TaeKwonDo journey, especially his TaeKwonDo Sparring journey. He’s learning so much so young. I am so thankful for the Masters that are positively influencing his life. 

T’s Hair

T got a fresh haircut today. His hair is actually starting to darken. Of course when he’s able to spend any real time in the sun it lightens up quite a bit.  He likes it darker because the lines his Barbour puts in it show up better...LOL! 

T and Tucker TaeKwonDo Fun!

Earlier T put sparring head gear on Tucker for fun. Tucker looked at him as if to say now what am I supposed to do...LOL!  

T’s New Chest Gear

T is growing and his old chest gear was getting too small so we had to order him the next size up. It fits with room to grow. When it comes to chest gear we are going to be sticking with Mooto. He tried and hated the Daedo Chest Gear. It seems that different companies do certain portions of the gear better than others. So he has all kinds of mismatched gear...LOL! He loves his Tusah fighting uniform, his adidas sparring shoes (for training only), Daedo arm and leg protectors (for competitions), Mooto arm and leg protectors (for training), Mooto and Daedo hand protector, Mooto and Daedo footgear, and Daedo head protector.  #tkdlife #sparringislife #ICannIWill 

Happy Grandparents Day!

Happy Grandparents day to all the Grandparents but a special shout out to Nan and Popsie. Nan and Popsie are awesome grandparents. T so loves you so very much. (9/8/2019)

Sundaze Training!

T trained today with his coach. With him being in a testing cycle we’ve had to get creative with scheduling his training times for sparring. Hoping to get back to some normalcy soon. I could tell Master Wasiu wants more consecutive days of training with him while they were training today so I will be having to make some adjustments to the current schedule I had drawn up to get us through this testing cycle. T is finally asking questions and getting more understanding. He’s so nervous about asking but I’m hoping he will get past that now. Here’s a collage I did of his training time today. 

122nd Black Belt Testing Cycle Pretest #2

Tonight T had his second pretest. Grand Master Lee was present and T desires to impress him so much with everything he does that he got extremely nervous when he was doing his regular self defenses. He pulled it together though and did well. He loved doing his creative five knife self defense. On one of them his partner falls the wrong way and he just stands there looking because it threw him off. We had a talk about improvising when something unexpected happens for when/if he performs this again. Over all it was a job well done. Very proud of him.  His confidence in what he’s doing is much better than it’s ever been.  Enjoy the video. 

Dorian Update

We got nothing but rain. No wind event. Not even any downed limbs. Glad it never got as bad as they were saying. Now to get some rest because we were up late waiting to see if we were going to get anything. We’ve had thunderstorms that were worse than Dorian was for us here.

Happy International TaeKwonDo Day!

Sickness/Allergies

T and I aren't sure if what we are dealing with is allergies or a cold.  It's been a day of resting for T and I.  Neither of us has had much energy.  T got up ate breakfast this morning and went right back to sleep.  He never does that so I know that his sinuses are bothering him something awful.  Mine are too.  Hoping that as we get back into our school routine tomorrow that we can continue to plunge forward and get even more ahead in his school work.  We've got it to do no matter whether this is a cold/allergies that we are dealing with.  T has learned a lot about pushing forward even if you don't feel like it this past year when he's had to overcome things here and there.  We were quick to tell him this is life.  As you get older and have even more responsibilities you have to keep moving forward regardless of the situation/circumstances.  T's TaeKwonDo journey has taught him so much at such a young age.  And dealing with things and moving forward no matter what is a big one.  Tons of life lessons to be learned in TaeKwonDo and T has learned many of them over the years.  I will be so thankful when we are past whatever is going on with our sinuses.  We both are tired of being stuffy one moment and blowing our noses a ton the next.  It's been a back and forth battle for almost a week now.  We get to feeling better then wham we are feeling yuk again.  I'm glad he and I had today to rest though.  Tomorrow we continue to move forward.  Here's to better days ahead!!!

Keyboard Fun!