Combat Fighting

Last night Matthew had his Taekwondo exam to get his new blue and brown belt. The belts left after this one are brown, brown and red, red, red and black and then black. Supposedly you have the red one for about 3 years before you continue on so it´s not like he´s going to be a black belt in the next year or two. I think the coach said around 12 years old if he keeps going without stopping and passes all the tests he has to do for the black belt. I don´t know if we´ll get to that point or not, but it would be kind of cool if he did! I also wouldn´t be totally disappointed if he didn´t. He´s done great thus far and if he wants to go for the black then so be it!

At the beginning of the year, he took a 4 month break from it and decided he wanted to go back in April. This go around he had decided that he didn´t want to do combat fighting on Fridays or tournaments or anything. So I haven´t thought about that much at all this year. Well, I forgot that in the exams, there is a combat fighting part even though half the class doesn´t particpate in that part of the program. I had not taken his chest pad, helmet or forearm and shin protectors to the exam because I totally forgot about that. Since half the class doesn´t have those protectors, the coach has chest pads and helmets for them to use during these times. So I thought, oh well, no biggie, he´ll use the ones from the academy. HOWEVER, they don´t have forearm and shin protectors to loan and most of that is ok because the ones who don´t have them are lower level belts and younger, 4-6 years old. Well, Matthew is the most advanced belt in his class so obviously he was going to be put to fight with someone of his same age, size and level. Matthew hasn´t done combat fighting in almost 10 months. When I realized that, I was like, OH! I didn´t bring the protection pads and he´s going to be fighting with someone who A) has the pads, B) has been doing the combat fighting classes every Friday along with bigtime tournaments and C) is an EXCELLENT fighter! YIKES!!! I was so nervous! They do all their defending with their forearms and many a time, a kick goes wrong and hits a shin, etc. So, he was paired up with this boy named Orlando who is GOOD. I mean, he frequently wins gold medals in tournaments. His dad is super nice and we always talk so I went over to stand with him and telling him about my concern with Matthew´s lack of practice and lack of protection. I said how good Orlando was and his father said, "Yeah, and he kicks really hard! " (he said in a concerned voice) I said, " I know he does and that´s why I´m so nervous!" So, a minute later, the fight started and I was just praying the he didn´t get too many bruises with too much pain. I mean, I figured  he´d lose but that wasn´t my concern at all. Afterall, they´d still give him the belt for completing the exam.

After a few seconds the boy´s dad and I realized Matthew was really holding his own! In fact he was winning! Orlando´s dad was like tapping me saying, "Look, look! Look how well Matthew´s doing! He´s winning! He´s doing great!" I was practically at the point of tears because I just couldn´t believe what I was seeing! I was so proud....just so proud! At the end it was 6-6 and the coach said whoever gets the next point wins. The other boy finally got the point but it wasn´t easy! Matthew handled it like a total champ....I was just so impressed!!

Later at the end of the exam, he got the "best exam" award from his group (there are 4 different group levels in the exam) and got his first stripe on his new belt. So now, we have to think seriously if maybe he MIGHT want to go back to combat fighting Fridays but he has another obligation on Friday right now so it would have to be next year. If he´s that good without even practicing for 10 months, I can´t imagine how well he could do if he practiced the techniques and strategies they teach on Fridays.