A smile a day - 6

Sunday was Karate tournament day. Its a competitive event for all the clubs under the umbrella association under which our club belongs. K, the kids and I were all participating. K and I were in fact participating in the same event, which made us competitors. The category was also for all levels of belts, higher than mine. I was certain, that my participation would be a no winner. I was sure that no matter how much lady luck smiled, there was no way I could beat the 2 black and one brown belt in my category. Being the lowest belt holder, I was called on first too. I gave a good performance, well as good as I could. But not enough to win a prize. But there were 3 people who came up and commended me! So audience votes there :) K had a tie with 2 other people and won the tie breaker to come second in the overall event!! 

Chiyaa has been training for quite some time and we were sure that she would bag some prize or other in the three events she was participating in. We were sure she would do well in the kata events which are more choreography based. And she did! In both the events, even coming first in one! But we had our eyes on the fight event. Shes a bit docile and does not want to hurt people. But she did put up some fight. So much so, she made a competitor cry! That was an immensely gratifying moment for me! She had 3 back to back fights and came on second in the overall event. I could not have been prouder of her.

But the most crucial event was Pumpki's. This was her first public event. Being a tiny 5 year old I was all nerves for her. She too like her sister has a natural knack for some aspects of Karate. She did her kata event and boy did she do well! She was on point, with the correct stances and went on to bag the second prize! Again all eyes were peeled on her fight. In her first round itself she fought a much bigger boy. But she did not go down. She fought! It was a no win from a points perspective. But the three judges had to give points based on technique. Two voted for the opponent and the third voted for Pumpki. So though she lost by a single vote, she was a champion. It was an immensely amazing day and I was a super proud mom :)