The boys are both taking Kung Fu lessons from a wonderful instructor- Sifu Max. At the beginning of January Sifu Max started a sparring class for the kids. Now for those of you who know me it is very surprising that I (she of the "give peace a chance" mentality) have decided to have the boys join in the class. My rationale was that it would be nice for them to be able to defend themselves should they ever need to and sparring, unlike boxing, involves not hitting/kicking hard. The point of it is that the fighter must have discipline and control. In a real fight they could deliver a killer blow but in a match, hitting/kicking too hard costs you points or can disqualify you.
So a month ago, the boys participated in their first tournament.
We weren't sure how it would go since during practice he spends most of his fights laughing but X placed 4th- not too shabby for his first time out against bigger kids with more experience.
A had much harder competition- he was at the younger end of the bracket and his opponents had clearly been sparring for several years. In addition, (according to one dad watching) the matches were not being scored correctly. However- he stuck it out and completed all 3 fights which considering he didn't even want to go, was pretty impressive too (afterwards he said he was glad he went so hopefully that means he won't be telling a therapist about this someday)
I have to say, while I did cheer for my kids to "get him" in X's last fight his opponent fell down and I could not bring myself to say "hit him- he's on the ground" so I guess I haven't totally changed
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