Tournament

My sister (above) and my nephew competed in a karate tournament this past Sunday.  I went and took pictures.  Here are a few more from that day...

My sister got her black belt this past October after too many physical setbacks for anyone to need to deal with.  But she never gave up or gave in, and I would call her my hero but she'd probably beat me up for it.

This is her bo kata - Shushi no kun. 

And her open hand kata was Chinto.

She also competed in sparring, but I wasn't thrilled with how the pictures came out, and I also want to ask her which one she thinks would be a good one to post...so for now, I'll post a picture of her feet, taken at the end of the day.  Her right foot is explained here.

And then there's my nephew.  He started karate when he was five (I think) and he's currently a second degree black belt.  Here are a few of him from that day...

His open hand kata was Itosu Passai.  He competed with a bo in weapons too, but I couldn't decide on a picture.  So here are two of him during sparring competition:

That's him in the gray tee shirt and red gi pants.

He won sparring for his division.  There were between 15 - 20 other kids in that competition. 

He's 14...he was my first "baby" - I learned all kinds of things with him and his sister...it's amazing how fast the time goes...but anyway...

My proudest moment as an Aunt was when he came over to where I had gone to sit with his sister and my parents after the match.  He was carrying his trophy...

And he said:  "Jayne, can I borrow a dollar?  Maybe a quarter too?  I'm really thirsty."

I wept, of course, and handed over the money.  He handed the trophy to his sister and went in search of a vending machine.

This is Natalie.  She did karate for a few years, but it's not her thing.  She plays clarinet now and is pretty happy with that.

We all watched the last of the team sparring...

 

All in all, a good way to spend a day.

 

Comments

[Tina]

Pics are great!Everyone looks great, thanks Jayne!