Tournament Results

Emma finished this weekend with her first Taekwondo tournament. I think it was more difficult on her parents than it was on her. On Saturday she did not place in musical weapons. We were very upset because of the effort she has put into practicing but tried hard to be positive and upbeat. We really tried to focus on letting Emma know what a great practice this would be for future tournaments and that she should have as much fun as possible! Sunday was her two minute continuous sparring match, in a bracket competition format. She refuses to wear chest protection because she says it slows her down. Emma did amazing! She placed third! The second girl she fought just ran away from her for two minutes. When Emma would catch her and go toe-to-toe the girl just kept backing up. I'll let her grandpa Metzguer explain how proud of her we are (and he was) in a note he sent to her this morning.

Dear Emma,

I was really impressed with several things about your tournament on Sunday. When you came out to start the other girl really jumped out quickly and started hitting you really hard and really fast. You stood your ground and did not retreat like a lot of young ladies might have. She was good, fast, and very aggressive. You ended up chasing her around the ring because you did not get afraid and you are a good fighter. You just kept coming. You made her retreat all around the ring. You hit her and kicked her many more times than she got to you at the end of the two minutes. That is why I thought you won. The thing I was most impressed with was your great courage. Even when you got the breath knocked out of you you kept coming. That is the sign of a real champion.

Then, you came back to the side after the fight and you were upset because you didn't win and because you got the breath knocked out of you. You even cried a little, but then you unexpectedly had to fight again. You were real brave, fought hard and won. you were already tired and upset but you got yourself together like a true champion and you WON. Way to go. You are and will always be my Champion.

I know that you will always be a person that gives your best and one who never gives up. That is the sign of not only a real Champion, but a really special person. I'll be there to cheer for you the next time too. In fact, I'll be cheering for you for the rest of your life.

Love,

Boppa

That sums up our weekend. We would like to thank all of the instructors from Team Martin Taekwondo who have worked with Emma and given her the courage and self discipline she needed to accomplish this. We are very proud of our little scrapper!