Hudson has been looking forward to his 2nd Karate tournament for weeks and unfortunately, it was touch and go on whether not he was even going to be able to participate this morning. He woke up feeling pretty crummy yesterday and today was even worse. He has a very low grade fever and just seemed exhausted but then was completely devastated when I told him we should probably skip it. We decided to make the trip to the tournament knowing we could just pull him out if it seemed like we needed to.
The tournament was much bigger than last year as the studio continues to grow. Hudson had to compete against 8 kids and it was much tougher competition. He started with the forms portion of the test. He had practiced and practiced this part of the test and knew it so well. Unfortunately, though he did not mess up, he was very shy and did not do the movements as strong as he has done in the past. I could even tell by his face at the end that he was not happy with his performance. He ended up placing 5th. I could see the tears in his eyes as he stood up there and I knew he would probably be ready to go home. He walked over to us afterwards, was disappointed in his trophy, and said he better get a bigger trophy in sparring! So proud of him and his determination to improve.
We were able to rest a bit before competing in sparring. I wanted him to do so well that my heart was racing. I just knew how bad he wanted it. He fought some kids much bigger than him and held his own. He did so well and I couldn't have been more proud! He ended up losing his very last match (the championship match) to an older, bigger kid but he was so close to winning it. So he took 2nd! And he had a huge smile on his face. He proudly walked over to show us the trophy and then ran to show Mama and Papa as well. We were all so proud of him. He has improved so much over the last year and that is seen mainly in his flexibility, focus, and discipline.
His "Spar Wars" tshirt from the tournament. Look at those swollen eyes. I cannot believe how well he did while not feeling his best.
Pictures from the Academy photographer...
And then he came home and crashed. This is when I knew he was done for the weekend because he does NOT nap...ever. In fact, the only time I have seen him fall asleep during the day is when he has been sick. I kept checking his temperature which continued to rise but still stayed below 102.
And then he woke up with this red face, swollen eyes, and enormous lymph node. I put him in the car, took him to LaNeale's house, and even though she thought his thoat looked fine we decided on a round of antibiotics. Just one day later and we are getting some smiles again but it was a rough afternoon. I love seeing that this kid can want something SO bad that he will do anything to not let us know how bad he is feeling. Can't wait to see him compete next year when he is hopefully functioning at 100%.
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