More Tournament Fun...

Here is a pretty new event for the American Taekwondo Association, combat weapon sparring. In this photo, a little blurry because of the speed Mary jumps to land a blow with the short stick. She placed second in the event. Looks like two schools of thought in scoring points for this competition. Jump strikes count more, but some go low working it out one point at a time. This event got Cathy's attention. She thinks she could do well, she has long arms with minimal physical conditioning required. Some say the sparring is 80% mental, 20% physical. Mary might have an unfair advantage, depending on the competitions birth order. See, the youngest in the family learns to pick up a stick and use it as a force multiplier against older brothers and sisters at a very young age. Mary has been stick fighting a long time, very experienced.

Mary also took 1st forms, second sparring.

















Morgan's eyes gleam inside his sparring gear. He took a first in the long range staff.