Last night, Molly had a belt test at karate (and earned her green stripe on her blue belt). During it, she got the chance to break a board for the first time. She did it on the first try.
She also earned her green stripe on her blue belt. Sorry that you can’t see her green strip on her belt; it’s behind her elbow.
Great job, Molly!
I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but Leah continues to enjoy tennis lessons. She’s moved up from Level 7 to Level 6 now. And best of all, she has gotten to be in the same class with her best friend Everett.
Here’s our little tennis player after her lesson. She’s happy to be in short sleeves now that it’s warmed up.
Leah says she wants to be a tennis player on TV when she grows up. I’ve told her it’s very hard to do that, and she’d have to practice a lot to do so. She says that sounds good to her. In fact, we went and played Sunday afternoon, and she stayed on the court practicing for more than 2 hours. Molly joined us as well, but she alternated between tennis and riding her scooter rather than playing tennis the whole time.
It’s test time at karate again, and Molly is going for her blue belt. This is a big step, as it will mean she moves out of the beginner class and into the advanced one. It also means she gets a bō to train with.
Here she is having her core strength tested.
There was no surprise who Molly would choose to spar when she had a choice.
Nice punch!
Sensei sat on Molly in push up position to test her strength.
Molly got her blue belt!
Congratulations Molly on your blue belt!
Molly competed in her first karate tournament on Saturday. Her dojo was holding a tournament, so it was an easy way to try it out. There ended up being girls from lots of other karate schools there (which meant the place was packed). Molly elected to compete in both Forms (katas) and Sparring.
Here she is doing her kata. It was good enough to tie for first place in her division with a score of 7.47.
She lost the tie breaker, but was still very excited about winning the silver medal. Congratulations, Molly!
In sparring, she had a tough opponent to start.
You get 1 point for a punch, 2 points for a kick, first to 5 points wins. There are 3 judges, which are all sensei’s from different schools. Scoring a point requires confirmation from 2 of the 3 judges.
It was a very tight fight. Towards the end, Molly was losing 4 to 3, and her opponent came close to scoring several times. But then Molly landed an excellent kick, giving her the 5-4 win.
In the gold medal fight, Molly faced another tough opponent with an excellent kick.
She fought well, but ultimately lost.
Molly won the silver medal!
Molly’s a happy champion, even if her smile looks odd with her mouthguard in.
I couldn’t get a picture of her with both her medals there since it was so crowed, but here she is right after we got home.
Congratulations, Molly!
Despite my knee problems, I was determined to ski for the first time in 12 years. I managed to remember how to do it pretty well, though my muscles were not a fan. In the end, my knee may have preferred if I’d stuck to two skis, but a single slalom ski is so much more fun.
Jen also remembered how to ski.
It’s much faster out wide around the turns.
Jen finished her run, then nonchalantly discarded the rope as she glided toward the dock.
Skiing was a lot of fun. I had hoped to ski and then head over to the courts for some tennis. Unfortunately, the wait for skiing was too long, and I didn’t have time to hit the courts. That said, I was so sore after a few minutes of skiing that it was probably good to get a little rest.
We also played tennis at Callaway. Leah, Molly, and I were excited to get to play while we were there, though squeezing it in amongst all the activities was tough. The kids didn’t play tennis as part of their camp activities, but it was offered as an after camp activity. After a very active day of camp Monday, Molly said she was too tired to play tennis. Leah, however, wasn’t going to let a little fatigue get in the way of hitting the court. Amazingly, she was the only kid to show up, so she got a private lesson.
We missed tennis Tuesday due to a scavenger hunt (details to come), but headed back on Wednesday.
Yet again, Leah was all alone for her tennis lesson.
Molly wasn’t too tired to play tennis this time. She had a different time for her age group, and was the only one to show up as well. Private lessons all around.
I played tennis too, though I didn’t take pictures of myself playing. I had hoped to play every day, but ended up missing 2 days due to other activities. Since none of the other adults in my family played, I befriended a bunch of other tennis playing folks. Throughout the week, I’d hear “Hi, Chad” most places we went, as I ran into tennis playing friends.
As winter soccer drew to a close, we asked Leah if she wanted to keep doing it. She decided she wanted to try something different instead and chose tennis lessons. She had her first lesson last week, which she and I are both very excited about.
At her age, they spend a lot of time working on skills without their racquets. This drill is designed to help them with hand-eye coordination.
She loved her first lesson, and she can’t wait for the next one (which should be taking place this afternoon :).
Last week was a milestone week for the girls in karate. Leah had a stripe ceremony, and Molly tested to get her yellow belt. This followed the same template as last time, so it wasn’t quite as scary this time around.
First up, Leah’s stripe ceremony. Here she is leading the class in their initial chant.
Leah and Serena demonstrated 10 point, where they take turns striking (without making contact).
Here’s Leah receiving her teamwork stripe.
Leah also got a medal for perfect attendance, and a certificate of completion.
After Leah’s stripe ceremony, it was time for Molly’s belt test. I managed to get a lot more shots this time, though they still have reflections as I had to shoot through 2 sets of plexiglass.
Here she is as the test is about to begin. Molly is ready to go.
Her strength was tested.
Sensei tested their abdominal strength by walking on them. Yes, it’s very odd to watch an adult step on your child.
Molly continues to love sparring. She’s starting to get better at it, too.
As the girls lined up to receive their new belts, Molly was so excited she couldn’t contain herself. It was so noticeable that we had other parents commenting to us about it.
Here it comes.
Bow to show respect.
After bowing to show respect, jump up and down to show excitement.
And hug
Leah wants to make sure you don’t miss the fact that she got a medal.
OK, now a straight one.
Leah has taken up soccer this winter. Since outdoor soccer in the cold/snow/ice is a poor plan, this is of course indoors. Here she is knocking over cones as she pretends to be the Joker (the other team was Batman, who had to pick up the cones to fix the city broken by Joker).
When Leah picked soccer, she said she wanted to do it with “the people who talk funny”. This meant she wanted soccer with UK Elite, where all the teachers are from the UK. She loved soccer with them this past summer, and it’s just as much fun indoors in the winter. Here she is trying to hit Syndrome (played by Coach Ian) with a fireball to stop his evil antics.
Leah’s moving as fast as Dash. Too fast for any camera.
Leah scores a goal!
The girls are very much enjoying karate. Last week was Molly's first belt test, where she would test to earn a yellow stripe on her yellow belt (note that belt rank may differ from one form of karate to another). She's been practicing and studying for several weeks, and she was finally ready to test.
But, first, Leah got to show off her karate skills. Leah’s karate class is too young for belt tests, but they do have ceremonies to culminate a specific topic they've been working on. These include demonstrations for families. Molly and I got to watch, but sadly Jen did not. She arrived with us, but then had to turn around and head home when we realized the girls had forgotten their bag with gear and belts (which is why Leah is not wearing her belt).
Leah led their initial chant.
Left fighting stance
Nice punch.
Her kick was so quick, I couldn’t get it all in the picture.
A front kick requires an open mouth.
Strutting is important when you block an attacker.
When the target is up high, you need to be on your toes to punch.
Side kick
This session focused on balance, and all of them got a stripe for the belt and a certificate, as well as a high five from sensei. Since Leah was missing her belt, she had to wait to get her stripe until a few minutes later when Jen arrived with belt in hand.
Then it was on to Molly's test. It was intense, including terminology, techniques, katas, kumite (sparring) and something I can only describe as toughness (getting hit in the stomach, sat on while doing a plank, stepped on while on the ground). It lasted over 2 hours. Here’s Molly sparring a bit.
Sorry that I don't have more pictures of her, but the place was packed with parents and there's only a little window to look through.
Molly did great and passed the test and earned her yellow stripe. Congratulations, Molly!
