During his No-Gi competition he lost to a young boy who was very intense, strong, quick, and determined. He was dominated by the well trained young boy. . . . .
When his Gi competition came around D3 (His nickname) ended up, in his final match, having to fight for 2nd place against the same boy. . . D3 was not happy. He was scared of the boy and came to me in tears asking me to pull him out of the competition. He begged me to call it quits so that he didn't have to fight against the boy who dominated him so badly the first time around. . .
I felt horrible for him but I knew it was an amazing opportunity in his young life to find courage. I challenged him to be strong and to be brave. He asked for the intercession of his favorite saint, St. Michael the Archangel. . . And he went out to the mat and fought! 3 minutes later not only had he overcome his fear but he also won by 10 points!
I am proud of him and I am blessed to have been there the moment he found great courage to take on his fear
Mahalo to coach Eric Goo and all the other coaches at Mad Tiger Academy for not only teaching him the techniques to win but helping instill in him the fortitude to get up when he is knocked down, to overcome adversity, and to fight on!
This pic above is of D3 after his competition with his medals with his godfather. The big smile on D3's face for his hard fought effort is well deserved!
Here is a video montage of tournament. It has clips of matches of both my children and myself
My daughter won her match, D3 lost BUT he defeated the same opponent later in his Gi competition. My opponent and I were tied on points but I lost that one by ref's decision. All in all they were great matches!
