kalib vs the giant

On Saturday the kids were in a Tae Kwon Do tournament at the Y. India is a blue belt, Kalib is a purple belt (one belt below India). When it came time for them to be divided up into divisions, India opted to go with the girls who are all higher belts than her, so she was competing against girls who have way more experience than she does. She ended up not placing in the tournament, but she tried hard against unfavorable conditions. She says looking back on it, she should have gone with the boys because she knows she could have won. She brought home a participation medal. Next time she will know better what to expect and I know she will do very well. I've seen her in action and she rocks. Kalib on the other hand, brought home a bronze medal in his form and a gold medal for sparring which then qualified him to fight in the Grand Championship which is the overall competition in fighting. He was super excited about that. There was also a competition where you could challenge anyone there to a fight called Top Gun that he chose to fight in, but because he is so small there weren't a lot of other kids willing to fight him, but he did get in on a few. He won a few and lost a few. When things finally got around to the the Grand Championship, there were 3 black belts, a black belt recommended (almost a black belt) a red belt (3 belts higher than Kalib), Kalib who is a purple belt, and a green belt (a belt below Kalib). The green belt bowed out of the contest because he was too small, but Kalib really wanted to enter the contest, and with the advice of his former instructor Mr Hill, we agreed to it and Master Castro assured us he would not let Kalib get hurt. The way the fights work is if you win you go on to the next round until there is a winner. Because Kalib was odd man out he automatically went on to the 2nd round. When it came time for him to fight, he was fighting a red belt who was twice as tall as he is. He put up a really good fight even though the odds were against him, he scored a point and held him off until time ran out. The other kid won by a point, but you are supposed to score 3 points before time is out and he did manage to keep that from happening and you can see in the video he worked hard and wasn't afraid. (I sort of wish he had been a little more afraid than he was, but he had a good time) When the fight was over he was drenched in sweat and upset because he got hit pretty hard, but he knows that goes along with it and he's ready to do it again. So... here's the video of him fighting the very tall kid (he is really tall even though Kalib is so small he towers over all the other kids too). Be sure to notice Kalib successfully gets a few good punches in.

Kalib in his sparring gear

A proud boy with his medals!

India getting ready to do her form

India's first fight of the day.