Day 3

This morning we work up early so that we could watch two of our instructors test. One was testing for his fourth degree belt. Another was midterming—a step on her way to earning her fifth degree belt. They both did very well.

While I was in the Convention Center bathroom this morning washing my hands—it was early so I was the only one in there—a woman walked in, looked at my back, and said, “Oh, I must be in the wrong room.” I looked up at the mirror and rolled my eyes, but I didn’t say anything. It’s happened so many times, I am honestly more surprised when someone doesn’t made a stupid, naive, or judgmental comment. I let her walk out of the room, stare at the sign for a long moment, and reassure herself that she can read. When she walked back in, I smiled sweetly and stretched my shirt tight across my chest so that she could clearly see her blunder.

Today was G3’s first day of competing. It was his second time here at the World Championship and he made it to the podium. He took third place in forms. He was incredibly nervous but he worked through his nerves and did well. We are incredibly proud of him.

As for weapons, he drew the short stick. He went first—the absolute worst possible position. Competitors who go in the first three spots rarely win. Judges tend to score them lower since they need to leave room for those who follow. Unfortunately, he just missed the podium, finishing fourth. Still, it was a strong finish for the season.

We had plans to go out with another ATA family—the family we sat with last night at the Masters Ceremony—for dinner. Since the competition was over way before then we bumped it up to a late lunch. We had planned to get together to celebrate G3 and A who both recently earned their red/black Level I instructor collars. The both of them crushed the test—especially the forms component. We enjoyed each other’s company so much that we lingered chatting long after our food was finished. Not quite ready to part ways, we went out for ice cream and again continued to talk well after we had eaten our dessert. When we finally left the ice cream place, we lingered outside. We only broke up the party to return to the hotel when we realized how late it was and that G3 has to wake up even earlier tomorrow to complete again.