A week ago, T-Bone took part in two categories of competition at the Ottawa Tae E. Lee Tae Kwon Do Cup held at Algonquin College.
In his patterns he was both crisp and fluid, and barely missed out on a medal. His shyness, (the reason we got him into Tae Kwon Do), still showed through his body language, but was leaps and bounds better than it was last year where he finished dead last in his belt/age group.
It was a similar result but a completely different story in the sparring. He came out incredibly strong out attacking his opponent who put up some feeble blocks. But in a non contact sparring competition, they did count as countermoves which left T-Bone on the short end of the scoring stick.
The better half was right in assessing his skill when she said “He would have kicked the other guy’s ass in a street fight!” Knowing T-Bone, he wouldn’t get into a street fight, but if he ever had to defend himself, I have to whole-heartedly agree.
The shyness in him is fading as he enters his teen years and if he keeps up the hard work, I know I am going to have a tough time saying no when he asks me for the car keys in a few years!!
For those out there who have a shy, quiet child, with self-confidence issues, I highly urge you to take advantage of the Conservative tax break on sports registrations and get your kid into Tae Kwon Do. Not only will it give them self defence they may one day need, but it will bring out the best qualities in your child. It has done wonders with T-Bone and he has a couple of very proud parents.