This past weekend, Jaren participated in the first Pan American Martial Arts Games in Regina, SK. This event was put on by the World Martial Arts Games Association and it was by far the biggest tournament that we have ever been in! Jaren was super excited to be there and the day started with Opening Ceremonies where each province marched in with their flag (accompanied by tons of cheering, of course). We were then addressed by some of the people who organized the tournament, including the WMAG President. Following that, we were able to watch a super cool chinese (I think) dragon dance ( I will post more pics later - Lindsey has our other camera on his golf trip).
Pictured above is Jaren getting ready for the competition on Saturday. First he did his kata. He did pretty well at it - I am pretty sure he got fourth (they show their scores, but anything below 1st, 2nd, 3rd, they don't announce). Next came his favourite event - point sparring. He fought really well and won his first match. His next match was going pretty well, then when they threw in the towel (that is what they do when the 2 min is up), the fighters were tied for points. UGH! That means first point wins. Unfortunately, Jaren did not get the first point! So, on to match #3. Guess, what? Same thing happened again! This time, Jaren was ahead for a bit, but when the time was up, they were tied - and again, he did not get that first point in. This led to one very sad boy. He loves point sparring and so wanted to get a medal in it. This really seemed to affect his confidence in weapons sparring, but he was able to pull off a BRONZE in that category! Hooray Jaren!
Here is the tough fighter sporting his medal. We had a good chat after the events and he realized that it isn't all about winning. He went in and fought some really awesome competition - you had to get 1st or 2nd in a qualifying tournament in order to get into the Pan Am Games - and he improved his fighting skills tons! All in all, it was a great experience! We are SO proud of you JAREN!
3 comments:
He did great! It was fun to see how much he has developed as a fighter since I don't see him in class anymore. Congratulations Jaren!
How exciting to be able to participate in such a great event. Sounds like it was fun and lots of things learned
I am a little slow to blog surf these days. awesome concert Carter, and congrats Jaren. We wish we could be there to see you guys do all thins cool stuff, Good thing we will see you soon!
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