back in june, the kids and i had the honor of participating in the ata worlds tournament... exciting stuff!! ("ata" is the american taekwondo association, for those who don't know) there was a press conference to kick off the tournament week, so we went to that and that evening, saw the kids on the news- that was exciting too :)
the statehouse convention center has been home of the ata worlds tournament for more than two decades now- if you're in little rock mid-june, expect lots of people, uniforms, awards, languages and cultures. i think there were 17 countries being represented there this year... quite the deal.
ahh, the breakfast of champions: apple juice and cheerios! (given the tiny tigers events started at 8 am, we had to be ready and out the door quite early- no sit-down breakfast that morning).
ring one... that's where the (adorable) action was.
pre-tournament introductions and all that.
tiny tigers events have instructors to lead the little ones that aren't ready to do their events all on their own. instructor-led, it's a great introduction to tournament.
cole was all into his form, totally focused. he did great!
madi, on the other hand, completely froze up. she just smiled, jumped in place, punched and yelled "ai-ya!" at the top of her lungs. still, she tried, and after all, "to compete is to win"!
one-step "sparring"... the little kids are taught basic steps to defend themselves. at tournament, they have a chance to demonstrate that they can respond to "stranger danger". in traditional ata fashion, it begins with partners bowing to each other as a sign of respect, shaking hands and telling each other to do their best. 
couldn't resist sharing this one of cole- he's SO into it!!
one-step ends with bows, hand-shakes and "good job, sir/ma'am".
great job, tigers!!
two medals for two tigers: cole's is for demonstrating black belt attitude and madi's is for sportsmanship. the neat thing is that at this level, the judges pick out something positive that each child demonstrated (i.e., great kicks, awesome kihap (yell), that sort of thing) and they each get a medal (or, for smaller tournaments, a trophy) for competing.
there's a pretty good chance that this might be the only time we ever get to worlds, so i opted to get our medals engraved.
yes, we are ata strong!!one of the really neat things about ata is that they've started an anti-bullying program. senior master lee (she's awesome- big name in the little rock area!) shared briefly at the press conference her experience with being bullied and how enrolling in taekwondo gave her the confidence to overcome it. the ata is also involved in helping kids with autism achieve success in the ring and out...go, ata!
finally, i just HAVE to share this, because cole is so very impressed with this. this young man has been instructing temporarily at the maumelle ata location the past two weeks... he just earned his fourth-degree black belt and is now a certified instructor. mr johnson's skills are just awesome, and cole has his mind made up that he will learn to kick like this. actually, i wouldn't mind learning either- it's even more impressive to see in person.
so... that was our big, fun, exciting experience this summer... thanks for letting us share it with you!
