Itās been awhile. Trying to keep up in Taekwondo while pregnant has had its ups and downs. Iām four months pregnant at this point. The relaxin hormone really did a number on me last month. My foot kept turning under and my balance wasnāt as good as I usually pride myself in it being. I think Iāve finally gotten used to all this.
Last weekend we had a tournament (my sonās first!). I wasnāt allowed to spar. Everyone was against me, my midwife, my instructor, the other high ranking BB. No one would take up my case. We have light contact (or hard if someone isnāt completely in control) but we have chest protectors and baby is still small. I would assume the amniotic fluid would protect baby. Still, no one would agree to let me spar. I was disappointed but in the end it was for the best. My husband had to work so I was alone trying to manage my three kids while also being in the tournament. My 7 & 4 year olds needed help knowing where to go and when and my 2 year old wasnāt in it at all. So juggling her was rough. By the time everything else finished and adult sparing was starting, I was more than ready to get my kids out of there.
They also rented a different space for the tournament this year. It was smaller and no food was allowed inside. I ate before leaving for the tournament, but not being able to have a snack really did me in. By the adult breaking part (the last event before adult sparing) I was shaking from hunger + pregnancy. I was never able to sneak out for a snack because if it wasnāt one of my events, it was one of my kidsā. Overall it was a very exhausting and stressful experience. I will not do a tournament again when my husband has to work.
It was fun to see my son get to compete for the first time. It was nice to be able to see him alongside of other four year olds. Forms competition was first. He actually did ok considering he refused to practice with me at home. He remembered the first half of his form for the most part, but was thrown off by the lack of counting. Still, he did better than others in his age/rank group and managed to earn silver. Breaking isnāt done at our gym for 4 year old white belts, so my son had never done it before. It was a help stomp, run to the other side and another heel stomp. He missed both of them and didnāt medal. he was very disappointed but did a good job holding it together. Finally he had sparing. He has also never done this before. This is largely because of the weather weāve been having. I havenāt been able to take him to any of the sparing seminars. I also forgot to brief him so he pretty much just punched and in Taekwondo, you need to kick to score. So no medal in sparing either. (Though I think he did manage to score one point in each match which isnāt bag considering he had no idea what he was doing or what the rules were).
My daughter ended up with the older kids since she turned seven just before the tournament. Considering she was competing against kids a bit older than herself, I thought she did well. She mixed up her pattern a bit and did the last couple techniques facing the wrong direction and earned a bronze medal. For breaking, she got nervous and didnāt stomp as hard as she has in class (sheās successful done this break a handful of times) and didnāt end up breaking the boards. However, the only ones that *did* break the boards were two boys a touch older. Of the kids that didnāt break the boards, she must have had the best on form and speed because she ended up getting bronze anyway. For sparring, this is where Iām most proud of her. Last year she had no idea what she was doing. We had only made it to one sparring seminar before and she very hesitant. This time she rocked. She was very aggressive and kept kicking without stopping. She did a great job, winning her first match and only barely loosing her second. With all the kids who sparred, there where three tied for first with the same win record. Since she had the overall most points scored, she one gold. Iām very proud of the progress she made and how much sheās learned in this area.
For myself, it was very different competing while four months pregnant. For my pattern I did Taeguk Yuk Jang. They ended up having me compete with only one other person the same rank as I but she was a young teenager. I was nervous since she was younger and more energetic but they had her go first. She was so soft with her techniques, there was no power, and honestly, even though she was doing the same pattern as I, I couldnāt tell what she was doing most of the time. When it was my turn I nailed everything except one trouble spot I stumble over at home fairly often, I skipped a punch, then made a face before continuing. Luckily for me (I guess) the other girl didnāt have much oomph in her form so I still won. Still, I wish I had competed against the other adults but they were lower ranks so I didnāt get to.
This tournament was the first time I got to compete in weapons. We didnāt get to watch each other but I felt good about mine and ended up earning gold so I was pleased with that.
Breaking I didnāt do so well on. First, by this time I hadnāt had anything to eat or drink for several hours. Normally this doesnāt bother me but being pregnant it does affect me. I was already a bit shaky. I had to go last and we had 8 boards to break in four stations. We got to pick which breaks and where. The more difficult ones obviously being worth more points. I didnāt feel well enough to pick anything particularly daring so I just did a punch-elbow break combo for my first station. Iāve broken with this before but somehow didnāt break with the punch this time. My second was a turn side kick through two boards. I did fine in this but it isnāt a difficult break by any stretch of the imagination. Then I went for a front kick-back kick combo, again something Iāve done fine before but this time didnāt break the front kick. Finally I didnāt a double roundhouse but decided to switch things up by going high-low instead of low-high. I only broke the high board.
I missed three boards in all and ended up in third place. I was the only female that placed though so maybe thatās ok. The guy who placed second also missed three of his boards but he attempted some trickier breaks (those were the three he missed).
So, that is our tournament experience this time around. Definitely not as enjoyable as past tournaments but that has everything to do with not having another adult to help with my kids and trying to video record everything my kids did so my husband could still see them compete. Even if I had done the same with everything, if my husband had been there so I didnāt have to stress and track the kids so much Iād have had a much better experience.
In three weeks we will have testing. Iāll be testing for brown but the break for that is a twin foot break (jump & simultaneously break two boards with two low front kicks) and they are concerned about me doing it pregnant. They are taking about possible modifications. I donāt want modifications. I want to do the same break everyone else does. I want to *know* that Iām as good as everyone else wearing that belt. They are just concerned about the fall risk for this break, especially with me being off-center from the baby. :/
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