2008 Songahm Taekwondo Fall Nationals - Orlando, Florida

JT has been taking Karate classes for a little over a year now and is doing very well. It's very obvious his instructors are impressed with his progress and he gets called out quite a bit in classes to demonstrate moves and help out. Of course, he loves it! He goes to karate class at least 4 days a week. He would go every day if we let him. He is very passionate about the sport and works very hard to be the best he can be. We are very proud of him!

His instructors told us he was ready for competition and asked if we wanted to let him compete in the Nationals competition in Orlando. We decided that since he worked so hard, and he really wanted to do it that we would let him. So for a couple of months before the competition he worked really hard getting ready.

We went down on Friday and watched the black belts compete. Then on Saturday morning it was JT's turn to compete. He was very confident and didn't seem nervous at all. It was a good thing because I think Tim was nervous enough for all of us. He ended up competing in a ring with about 12 other boys his age/size. I had a few knots in my stomach as well! JT put on his game face and competed like a little champion! We honestly didn't really expect him to win anything, just walk away with experience and life lessons. He surprised us though!

He ended up with a Gold medal in Weapons... a Silver medal in Forms and a Bronze medal in Sparring! I think he even surprised himself! He had some really good competition and the wins weren't easy... he truly earned them.

Here are a few photos and a video:

After a spending a couple of days at the karate competitions, we decided to head to Universal Studios on Sunday and enjoy some fun family time before we headed home. We had figured it would be a great consolation if he didn't do well, or a great way to celebrate if he did.