Tag Archives: Karate

Determined

Determined
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00254

Andrew certainly has a look of determination in his eyes. He knows that he can do some physical things and he wants to show us. I was very impressed with him at the end of Karate today. He is in Black Belt Training and that means that he’s made a commitment to train to become a black belt in his school. This means some extra workouts at the end of class. He’s been training with Kamas, weapons that look like small scythes. He looked like he was off in la la land for much of class but when he had to show what he had learned with the Kamas he did an excellent job. I was wondering where that kid was all through class but glad that he finally showed up.

I think that part of what was throwing him off at class was that he was thinking about the tickets that he earned for the past few months. You see, kids earn tickets at each class and for doing good deeds and more. The tickets can be used at the back to school party. The think is, the back to school party is this coming weekend and we are already going to the Granite State Comicon. so he is going to miss it. He can take all his tickets and put them into raffles for toys. He can also use the tickets to go to events at the school like a Parent’s Night Out. Well, I talked to him about using his tickets for a Parent’s Night Out. It isn’t something that we can afford to send him to and the only way he’s going is with those tickets. He was reluctant but agreed. He knows that I get tons of toys and so there is no reason to be upset. But he got upset during class because he was using almost all his tickets for the Parent’s Night Out Nerf Party. We talked about it and agreed that having the experience of the party was much better in the long run then having the possibility of winning a toy that he’d get sick of in two days. He showed a lot of maturity once we talked it out.

A Journey of Three Years

Three Years in Karate
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00192

Three years ago Andrew began his Karate Journey. We’re not the sports minded family. Even if we were I am never home on the weekends so I’d miss out on tons of soccer and baseball games. We had to do something with Andrew. Eva already had dance and theater. He says that he is not interested in theater but he’s always putting on a show so I don’t believe that for a second. So we enrolled him in karate after he had gone to a buddy week with one of his friends.

Andrew started in Mansfield and we went there for the first two years. He took a month off last Summer because we went tot he Cape and then when he came back we went back to Mansfield for a bit but had to move him to the North Attleboro location because the drive twice a week was becoming a huge hassle, especially when North Attleboro was down the street.

So he began training in North Attleboro and he received his black belt in Little Dragons karate. This moved him over to the Karate Kids classes. He is now an Orange belt. He’s sparring, learning self defense in addition to karate and becoming more confident and strong with each class. He’s still a ham and acts silly, but we see the improvement he’s been making.

The image on the left is what prompted me to talk about this today.

a difference of 3 years

I wonder what changes are in store for Andrew in the next 3 years.