Karate Competition

Yesterday Ava and Lola competed in their second ever karate competition. 

Back in December the girls competed in their first competition, a sparring competition, and they've been eager to compete more. This weekend's competition was a kata competition. Kata is the choreographed moves that karate, and other martial arts are based on. So rather than sparring against other competitors like their previous competition, the girls performed their moves in front of the judges and were awarded points.

Both Ava and Lola competed individually, and Lola also took part in a group event with two of their class mates. The girls competed against other kids of a similar age and rank for the individual event, however the team kata event was a pretty mixed bag with white belts through to purple belts competing against each other.

It was a pretty long day at the dojo, with the black and brown belts performing first to inspire the younger kids. We arrived at 9:30am to practice, and it was close to 1pm by the time the girls were called up to compete. I won't lie - it was a much longer wait than any of us had anticipated and I'm glad we had phones to keep the kids distracted! Sitting in one spot for that long can get a little much. 

Out of the girls' events the team kata was first. Lola had been pretty nervous earlier on but was excited to get out there and perform. As you can see, she was the smallest kid performing in this particular event.

Lola and her team mates received runner up medals for their hard work in this particular event. 

Next up the girls competed in their individual event. Lola was called up first and performed "Heian Sandan"

Did you notice Lola's teeth, or rather, lack of teeth in the picture above? She lost her second front tooth while eating breakfast before the competition. She had been a little worried that it would fly out of her mouth during the competition and that she would lose it, so she was pretty happy when it fell out safely at home.

Then it was Ava's turn. She performed the kata "Heian Nidan".

At the end of each performance the judges held up their score cards for the kids.

The judges compiled all the scores once the kids were all done and then it was time for medals and trophies to be awarded. Ava and Lola both won runner up medals, while the first, second and third trophies went to the two blue belts in their event and one of their team mates.

We were all pretty hungry by the time the competition finished and it was raining outside so the girls were eager to get in the car and head straight out for lunch. No fun photo outside the dojo with their medals like I had hoped for. Next time!

With some teriyaki chicken in her belly, Lola was happy to pose for fun photos with her medals later. Look at those missing teeth! Ava was too cool for fun photos. Tweens!

Do your kids take part in any competitive sports? We're usually not into competing all that much (the girls' swim team is non-competitive for example) but every now and then it's fun to compete and receive an award for all that hard work.