Many of you know my oldest son had a heckuva year in his first full year of competing on the regional karate circuit, taking 1st in fighting in 14 tournaments he entered across Iowa, Illinois and Missouri... he lost one fight all year long. He was recently honored at a banquet held for divisional age champions, where he was given a personalized plaque and a nice hoodie for 1st in advanced fighting and 1st in advanced forms. Today, I took him to our church and borrowed some of their theatrical prop drapery to conduct a little photo shoot for him so I can submit a pic to the local paper... thought I'd share a couple of them with you guys. This is all his winnings from last year... he won everything from swords to bicycles and more trophies than he's got room for.
Excellent!!! Well done young man!!! I remember my karate days (taekwondo) while I took lessons for 6 years or however long It was. Never did I go to competitions though. That's a nice looking kick Greg, his leg Is hardly bent and he's got GREAT height to his kick. Tell the boy congratulation's from me!
I hear ya Greg. My oldest boy is having a monster year on the varsity wrestling mat.21-8 to be exact. With 15 pins. BTW Congrats you you and your boy. Fun stuff.
Thanks guys... Steve... the bend in the leg is just a function of where I snapped the photo as it whipped through from the chambered position; he can really generate some speed on it. A nanosecond later and it would have been absolutely straight -- this was a big roundhouse I told him to do after we tired of doing the "normal" photos. He can kick well over a foot over his head, and has rocked some taller opponents that simply didn't think he could get that high. Tim, we just enrolled Matthew in wrestling last night, as a matter of fact. He's excited about it, and I think it'll help his football tremendously. I also wanted him to have that base because he's an excellent striker (obviously) but wanted him to have a good understanding of a ground game if he ever needed it.
So, your son can kick your butt. That's cool !! Haha Great accomplishments for such a young fella !! Congrats to you and him !
He's got great form!! So many times people aren't flexible and strong enough to get the kick your boy has. Figured It was a roundhouse. It's been YEARS since I've done this stuff. Brought back a ton of memories seeing the picture of your son. Thanks for sharing.
Here ya go Steve.. this was me helping stretch him out before one of his fights earlier in the year. There's not too many people he can't plant his foot upside their head if he wants to...
Greg its cool that he is doing well in such a tough sport. You saying that reminds me of a scene from an old movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkDE8mWJWOA
