Sunday Martial Arts Stroll...

As some of you may know, Taekwondo is the official martial art of Korea. Our middle school has a team, and the students on the team are very dedicated. Since I used to practice taekwondo, I definitely appreciate watching them compete. I see the whole team train whenever I go over to use their exercise room. The team gets quite intense, as they practice about 2 hours a day.  In preparation for the junior national tournament, the training was about 3 hours on some days. I attended the quarterfinals yesterday and it was fun to watch. Even at the middle school level, the students are very skilled. On several occasions, I saw students pull off jump turning side kicks to their opponents heads with no hesitation. For the ones unfortunate to get hit by this, they go rolling about 5 or 6 feet. Some of them will just get back up as if nothing happened - talk about tough competitors! Two of our students advanced to the semi-finals. As much as I'd like to go, the semis start on Friday morning, so my attendance is unlikely. The top three in each weight class will receive a medal and a plaque for their respective school. Last year our school brought home a gold medal in the middleweight division. Best of luck to my students and hopefully they will bring home a medal or two!