Day 4

This morning we woke up at 5:30 in order to get back to the Phoenix Convention Center by 8. Maybe one of the hardest things to do after a loss is get up early to show up and cheer for friends and classmates but that’s what G3 did. It makes for a good lesson in sportsmanship, but G3 wanted to be here.

Since the TOC is a huge event, the tournament is broken up to span two days. Yesterday, were the Forms and Weapons events. Today, was Combat Sparring and Sparring. Since G3 didn’t qualify in any of the sparring events, we came just to watch. But at 8:00, there were many people we wanted to support. Unable to be in multiple places at once we split up. G3 watched a coupe of Mr. Reyes’ matches. He was the reigning World Champion. This year he placed third in both Sparring and Combat. Congratulations Mr. Reyes.

Mr. Balon, one of G3’s instructors, was competing way on the other end of the venue. We watched him win districts and were hoping he’d bring home another medal. He did not. The matches were close and we could see he was as disappointed as G3 was yesterday. We do look forward to watching him compete next season. And G3 can’t wait to work with him more in the upcoming months to improve his own combat skills.

Yesterday, when we saw Felicity, she said this would be her last tournament. After this, she planned to retire. Her matches were intense, but she was on fire from the start. After four trips to Worlds she won. It was an exciting moment. We were all really happy for her, especially G3. It’s not every day you get to see someone whom you greatly admire achieve their dream. Of course, now she is reconsidering her retirement plans. Congratulations Felicity!

At 10:00 Noah competed. Last year, G3 came in second to Noah in Forms at the District Championship. When we moved him to the Parlin school we joked with the instructors, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Today, Noah won the World Championship in Combat. It was awesome to see how excited and proud all the Parlin instructors were. Congratulations Noah!

You know those movies where the world ends and everyone dies except one or two people? You then see a solitary figure walking through a deserted city. Well, that’s what it felt walking through Phoenix in the early afternoon in 108 degree heat. The streets were empty. The sun, hot and glaring, as it glinted off the buildings was blinding. But I went out anyway.

There was a break in the tournament for lunch between the morning and afternoon events. The three of us grabbed some pizza, then since Kati had a bad headache, she wanted to take a short nap. While she and G3 rested, I took a walk. You all know it’s against every fiber of my being not to explore places I visit, especially if I’ve never been there before. I logged into my geocaching app and saw that there was an adventure cache in the surrounding area. It gave me a destination and I set out. The cache took me to several spots in downtown Phoenix, including the stadium where the Diamondbacks play. I thought of Dad—again—and how if he were here he might have taken G3 to see a game. I even checked their schedule to see if they were home this weekend, but they aren’t.

I walked for about an hour and by the time I got back to the Convention Center I was drenched. Lucky me getting to go back into the icebox all sweaty. I returned to find G3 timekeeping for the team sparring competition.

Felicity invited us to join her and her family for dinner to celebrate her victory. We had had a wonderful time with them. If she does retire, we will miss meeting up with them at tournaments.