Taekwondo

My daughter has been in taekwondo for just over two years. She has earned her yellow stripe. I love watching her learn new patterns and kicks. Its great watching her. She is so excited and even when she told me once that she wanted to quit, I didn't believe her since the entire practise, she didn't stop smiling once! So needless to say, taekwondo has been a great decision for us. As soon as my younger daughter is old enough, she'll go in too. 

One big part of taekwondo is learning patterns. It's basically a set of moves. The first two patterns she learned were pretty straight forward. Just do the same thing while turning in a circle. But her new pattern, Chon-Ji is more complicated than that. I just could not see the pattern in it! So I looked it up on YouTube to try and help her. But still, I was having trouble. (I've even dreamed about it!!) So this morning, instead of doing a workout video, I played the YouTube video of Chon-Ji. I went through it with the instructor over and over until I finally saw the pattern. And after about 15 minutes (the pattern takes about 45 seconds to do!) I think I have it. And in the process, I worked up quite the sweat!! Taekwondo is more than just punching and kicking. It's hand placement, foot placement, body placement. All of these things you have to remember as well as what move comes next. It's actually quite challenging. 

I've been thinking about joining for awhile too. I was going to sign up this last session but the class switched their practise days and I couldn't make it. But if the schedule stays the same, I'll be able to join in the fall. I don't know why I'm so nervous. I guess I'm afraid I'll make a fool of myself. I always push my daughter to try new things and get involved but I am such a hypocrite. I watched her last class when she approached a couple girls who were working on their Chon-Ji. She was shy but I forced her to go over there. After a couple of times going through the pattern, the girls moved on to something else and it left my daughter out. I could see her crumbling inside and I saw the tears she tried to hold back when she came back to sit with me. She tried so hard to be brave - and she was. I am so proud of her for trying new things. Hopefully I can do the same!