Fall Nationals 2022

Dear Dad,

G3 had a fantastic weekend. The only thing that would have made it better is if you had been here to be with him. And if you were here, there is no doubt in my mind that you and Mom would taken a mini-vacation to watch G3 compete in his first National Tournament.

Knowing how much you always loved sports, you would have really enjoyed seeing how much G3 has grown and developed as an athlete.

Unlike the District Championship and the World Championship which one needs to qualify for, Fall Nationals is open for anyone who wishes to participate—and pay the exorbitant entrance fee. For the first time since G3 had been part of ATA, Nationals was close enough for us to drive to, which meant it was affordable for us. As soon as we learned that Fall Nationals was being held in Pittsburgh, we started making plans to attend. I’m not sure who was more excited about it—Kati or G3. Kati had been talking about it for weeks, but G3 seemed less focused on it, perhaps because he had other things going on in his life that absorbed more of his attention. Such as math. His math grade is not what I would like it to be and so he spent the week focused on studying for a test he had to take Friday morning. All week, Kati brought home extra worksheets and then, after dinner, the two of them would sit down and review his answers. So maybe the math test was good. It kept his nerves in check for the tournament. 

On Friday, Kati went to work for a half day. She got home shortly before noon. We made sandwiches, packed the car, and stopped by school to pick G3 up. I know, you would not have approved. You never approved of me missing school for any reason at all—ever. But G3 was in school long enough for three of the important subjects—including Math for his test. As for English, he isn’t doing anything worth his time anyway, so it didn’t matter that he missed it. Seriously, he’s been in school a month and a half and he hasn’t done anything in English. They haven’t started to read a book. They haven’t had to do any writing. The teacher is reading to them. That’s all. Every day she reads to them as if they were in elementary school. No wonder the school has such a bad ranking. However, even if he was going to the most amazing school in the world, we would have pulled him out early because leaving for Pittsburgh at 3 in the afternoon—right at the start of rush hour—would have been insane. And keep in mind, G3’s mom’s are certified teachers. Even if he were in the best school possible, we’d be able to catch him up on anything he missed.

We were on the road by 1:00 and it took us about six and a half hours to get to our hotel. We could have taken a shorter route that would have saved us nearly an hour, but why pay extremely high tolls if you don’t have to. (And the Pennsylvania Turnpike is the most expensive toll road in the country. Therefore, we avoid it like the plague.) It was already dark by the time we reached our destination. G3 grumbled about having to eat cold cuts again for dinner. Obviously, we are the cruelest parents on the planet because we made our son eat cheap sandwiches for lunch and dinner in order to made a trip to Nationals possible. After a great deal of complaining, he did manage to get the sandwich down and then we all settled into our beds to watch The Hulk. Kati had never seen it before, but she found it interesting because it shed light on the Emil Blonsky subplot in She-Hulk. (By the way, we found the season finale, extremely disappointing. I wonder if you would have liked She-Hulk and what you would have thought of the last episode.)

As always, the morning of a tournament started with a trip to a diner so G3 could have a big breakfast with lots and lots of sugar to sustain him for the long day. Usually, he opts for chocolate chip pancakes, but this time he went with the French toast. The diner ran out of hot chocolate, so G3 was, unfortunately, stuck with the healthy alternative of a large glass of orange juice. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem to mind too much.

We got to the tournament early. We always do, so that G3 has ample time to warm-up and stretch and support any of his friends and classmates who might be competing before him. He was remarkably calm. Even though the math test was long over, he didn’t seem nervous about competing at all. He was one of the last in his ring called to do his form, and he did an amazing job. To my untrained eye the form looked great. The judges agreed. When all the boys finished, G3 and another kid were tied for first, which meant they each had to do their forms again. I thought G3 did even better the second time around, but the judges thought the other kid was better, and so G3 come in second place. Not too bad for his first time at Nationals. I think G3 was happy to know he wouldn’t be going home without a medal.

It was only G3’s second time doing the Gumdo (two-handed sword) form in competition, and his first time competing with it at such high level tournament. Still, we thought he had a decent chance of placing. However, the adrenaline rush of watching everyone do their weapons forms was intense. There were some kids who looked really good, really sharp. G3 performed well. His yells were loud, his movements powerful and crisp. At the end of everyone’s performance, there was a three way tie for second. G3 was in the tie, prompting the center judge to dub him “the tie guy.” The three boys had to do their weapon forms again so the judges could compare them. Again, G3 looked sharp until the very end when he flubbed one small move. He realized it, but didn’t allow it to trip him up further. He finished strong enough for a third place finished. 

Two medals in all—one second place, one third. We we proud of him. And honestly—and this might make us the worse parents in the world—Kati and I thought he was done. Combat and sparring have never been his strong events. Lately, he has been doing surprisingly well, but that was at local tournaments where the competition isn’t at the same level as it is at Nationals. We thought maybe he might win a match, but beyond that, we didn’t think he had a chance at a medal. A year ago, he didn’t even compete in combat. He wasn’t training in it, and he had never won a match outside of his small in-school tournaments. It was only last April—six months ago—that the instructors at his new school strongly encouraged us to let him compete in combat. We thought they were crazy. But apparently they knew better than we did. 

Luckily, on Saturday, G3 got a bye for the first round. In the second round, he fought really well. I could see him calculating his moves on the mat, and implementing many of the things his instructors have taught him. He wasn’t overly aggressive, and he often waited for his opponent to come to him. To our surprise, he won the match, advancing onto the semi-finals. The boy he next had to fight is good. We’ve seen him win at past tournaments—and a year ago, he definably would have destroyed G3 on the mat. No so much on Saturday. For the first thirty seconds—and the matches are only two minutes long—the boys circled each other, neither one of them making the first move. I was far nervous to accurately remember what happened in what order, but somehow G3 scored. Like his instructors taught him, he mixed up his strikes, doing something different each time, and waiting to see what his opponent did before reacting accordingly. He took the lead, but before the buzzer sounded, his opponent tied it up at 9-9. They went into sudden death. And this time, G3 won the tie breaker by scoring the first point. He advanced to the finals where pulled off a stunning victory. That was probably the sweetest moment of the entire tournament, and not at all what we had expected when we drove out to Pittsburgh. We thought he might have had a chance at a first place finish, but National Champ in combat was not on our radar. It’s pretty remarkable considering that this time last year combat was his worst event. It speaks volumes about his new instructors and G3’s ability to train and absorb what he’s taught.

Sparring, as always, was the last event. When the tournament began, we had no expectations of G3 placing in sparring. None at all. But once again, he proved us wrong. Even without a bye, he won his first two matches and advanced to the semi-finals. He fought hard, and he fought well, but he lost to the boy who is currently ranked first in the world. The boy’s fighting techniques seemed questionable—but maybe, I’m biased. More than once the kid fell down before G3 even hit him. It appeared—to me—that it was a ploy to avoid being hit, and to run down the clock. G3 lost, but only by a point. Not bad. A year ago, he wouldn’t have made it that far. (In the first place match, the boy who beat G3 continued the same antics. He fell without being struck and at the buzzer, I thought his opponent landed a solid punch to his chest but the judges didn’t see it. And so the boy who beat G3 won.) Anyway, even though G3 lost, he wasn’t out of it yet. He got to fight for third, and the kid he fought had an amazing spin kick. If G3 had fought him early on, he might not have won. But G3 has always watched his competitors intently—usually in forms and weapons, but now that he is doing better in the other events, he knows what to look for—and therefore, he knew to expect the spin kick and was able to block it. The match was close, but G3 won and was able to take home the third place medal. Again, kudos to his instructors. I’m amazed at how much G3 has improved in sparring in just ten months. 

When the tournament ended, G3 was on a high. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him so happy or so excited. I truly wish you had been there to see it, to have experienced it, to have been a part of it. We went up to the roof of the convention center and G3 was so happy that he didn’t even object to us taking his picture sporting his medals.

The drive home was long. It’s always longer coming home than it is going away. But we stopped to go pumpkin picking. Between Boy Scouts and Taekwondo, we’ve had no time for our usual fall actives, so I wanted to make sure we squeezed this one in. We went somewhere new, somewhere we’d never been before because it was en route and just off I-78. The entire time we were there I thought of you, missing all the times we used to drive out to Mattituck in October when G3 was younger. You always made the fall—and everything else—fun for him. It just isn’t the same anymore. We still had fun wandering around the pumpkin patch, searching for the perfect pumpkins. Kati and G3 found one they liked for the house, one G3 will be able to carve. G3 also picked out a smaller one for himself. He chose and “ugly” pumpkin because he wasn’t sure it was one anyone else would want.

I miss you!

PS — G3 did well on his math test.