Last night Tate had his first Karate Tournament! This is all new territory for us Taylor's. We had no clue what was going to happen or what was going on. And neither did Tate..... I mean he has practiced all this stuff at his little Karate class, which is awesome and really low key, but he didn't realize that there were going to be all those people and you had to get up in front of everyone!!!
He was SOOOOO NERVOUS.....he was about in tears the whole time before it even started. With his little personality he likes to know what is going down, and have a dry run at things. And with Taylor and I having no clue about how things worked, we could only tell him that it is going to be great, don't worry!!
So he did his sword thing very well.....VERY NERVOUS, but they all were. Next was the sparing.....where they suit up and fight til the end!!!LOL!! I am not sure that I have ever felt more helpless, and wanted to give him a hug more than this. He got his gear on..still really not knowing what was up, and faced his opponent, and then the tears came.....oh it was terrible.....he was just so nervous.... then I started to tear up,because I was sad he was!!!! One of the awesome instructors, got down on his level and told him that he could totally do this, and to just pretend like it was class. The next thing you know they said fight, and Tate came uncorked!!!! He let that kid HAVE IT!!! All those butterflies went to good use, and he actually won the match!!
Seriously I don't know that I have ever been prouder of him for sticking it out...After that he had a pretty good idea of the game plan and fought 3 more times, ending up 2nd in the overall tournament!!!!! He got a trophy and a medal, and thought he had won the world. I am SOSOSOSOSO PROUD..... so proud that he stuck it out and got past the nerves!!! It was just the confidence boost that he needed...not only for Karate, but life!!!
WAY TO GO TATE!!!!!!



