7/24/05--Kellie "The Crippler" Poe-Bowdren

So yesterday, the wife & I hike it up to West Palm Beach for another tae-kwon do tournament.  This one was the prestigious "Tropic Games", which included competition in karate, fencing, weight lifting, wrestling, boxing & tae-kwon do.
I had the chance to walk over and watch some of the other events and it was pretty cool stuff.  Like other tournaments, we had to sit through the whole 4 & 5 year old thing, and all the parents that go with it--all fully believing that there is no WAY that there is a child as remotely cute as their child.  UGH.
So the sparring part of the tournament got going early to mid afternoon with Kellie going first in her weight//and or belt class.  She was in a classification with 2 other girls, and after a drawing, it was determined that Kellie would go up against a blonde haired girl named Corey.  Let's remember that in the last tournament, Kellie was
defeated by a score of 11-2, and I was happy just to see her score a couple of points.  She had been working very hard on her technique and sparring during her classes, and it really showed.  The bout was tied after the first round at 3-3.  The 2nd round was also very close, and Kellie ended up losing by a score of 8-7.  After
the match the other girl was on her chair really sucking in the air, or as they say in the wrestling business...."blown up".  Kellie on the hand, was tired but not exhausted.
She was upset at first, in part because she had hurt one of her toes during a kick attempt, but I told her that she had done absolutely awesome in her match, and that I was so totally proud of her and her effort.  I pointed to the other girl and asked Kellie if it looked to her like she was the winner.  I told Kellie that the first match she was in, I only wanted her to get a point, and that this match I wanted her to be competitive.  She had accomplished both--I was really proud of her.
A little while later, Andy had his match.  A troubling pattern is forming in Andy's tournament matches.  The first round, he ends up falling behind, sometimes by a large margin--and then in the 2nd round he ends up coming back and absolutely wailing on his opponent.  Its like Bruce Lee shows up in the 2nd round, and his brother "Bob" (who?) shows up for the first.  So once again, he made a tremendous comeback in the 2nd round, and with about 10 seconds left in the match, he has tied things up at 17-17.  His opponent makes a kick at him and Andy tried to block it---with his hand.  The kick hits the hand right on the wrist, and And sort of instinctively pulls his hand up and looks at it.  While he's doing that, the other kid throws another kick and scores a point with 2 seconds left.  Andy loses 18-17.  It was a tough loss, but we were really proud of the way he came back and dominated the 2nd round.
I told Andy that if he ever figured out how to fight in round 1, he could make himself out ot be one heck of a tae-kwon do guy.
Meanwhile, the tournament has its very own Jerry Springer moment during the middle of Kellie's match, as apparently one of the contestants, after a tough loss, decided to show certain members of the audience just who # 1 was with the old middle finger display.  Needless to say, said audience did not appreciate the gesture, and a minor calamity ensued.  One of the mothers in the crowd and one of the coaches were throwing challenges around, offering to settle the matter on the mat.
As a lady next to me said, "aren't the coaches supposed to be setting some sort of an example to the kids?"  Uh...well, yeah...as a matter of fact--they were.
Finally, as we're getting ready to leave, one of the girls in Kellie's division named Allie comes over to Kellie and tells her that there is something wrong with Corey, the girl that Kellie had fought.  We walk over and see Corey laying on a stretcher, the victim of an asthma attack.  We checked with a member of her family and were assured that Corey would be fine.  After we found that out, we began really laying it on thick to Kellie.
"Hmm...'Kellie the Crippler'."
"Or maybe...'Killer Kellie'."
"Leave me alone!"

Parenting.  Its big fun.

Later,
Jeff