TIMA Nationals 2010 Vol.5

TIMA Nationals 2010 Vol.5

Saturday, July 3, 2010. It’s almost 12:00pm Pacific Time and I’m on the final leg of our journey home cruising at 35,000 feet. I apologize for not updating everyone sooner, but yesterday was our busiest day by far. Of the 11 fighters we brought to Orlando, 8 fought yesterday.

It was hectic, chaotic, exhausting, exciting and memorable all at once. By now many of you already know the outcome of each individual’s matches via phone calls or Facebook. I’ll summarize here for the record just the same. We arrived at the Convention Center for our 10:15am check in time. At least that’s what our paperwork led us to believe. As it turned out we were late, very late. Every one of our matches had already gone through the holding area, staging area and was now ringside waiting go time. To say we were panicked at the thought that after years of preparation everyone was going to be disqualified would be a colossal understatement.

Guro and we coaches were running around getting each of our fighters to their respective rings. Fifteen minutes after arriving we had 8 kids situated around the convention center at 7 different rings. Three of our fighters, who needed to find opponents, were also squared away with exhibition matches. I had 3 fighters to coach this day, Coach Kaihewalu had four and Guro had one. I’m going to tell you readers right now, some of my information regarding each fight might be a bit off or not as accurate as I would like. But we were so spread out it was difficult to document each event as they occurred.

Thanks to Ivan, my wife Debra and Ryan, we were able to capture most of the fights on videotape. I understand the Kaihewalu and Mertz families also recorded some of the fights. I have to give props to the rest of the team and family members in the stands who helped us get through the chaos. The little things like buying tape for the pads, informing everyone which fighter was where and when they were fighting, bringing us water bottles and helping with every other little thing really saved the day. I’m not surprised. It’s become SOP for this team (family), but I want them to know we don’t take it for granted and it was very much appreciated by those of us on the floor.

So, to the best of my recollection, here’s how the day’s events unfolded. Our first fighter of the day was Sarina Oropeza. I was coaching her. She had an exhibition match with a girl from Pennsylvania. She was the same age and rank as Sarina, but she was quite a bit taller. Sarina didn’t allow that to get in her way. She put aside her fear, unlike previous fights, and went to work right from the bell. She won her match 9-0 with a textbook display of counter fighting, using speed, angles and power. Given how hard it was to get her to this point from where we started 2 years ago, I'm so proud of what she accomplished.

The next fight, as I remember it was Nathan with Coach K in the chair. I saw most of this one from the floor. Unfortunately, with 2 other fighters sitting ringside my attention was divided to say the least. I saw Nathan land some headshots and a Nautobon. He won this fight, but it was tough. His next fight was for the gold medal. It was a great fight with each fighter landing head shots and extremely powerful kicks. Nathan took some damage, getting kicked in the shin twice, the groin and a solid shot to his chin. He kept coming after his opponent though. At the end of the fight Nathan need a headshot to win. He just missed as time expired, giving him second place and a silver medal. Unfortunately for us and Nathan, the excitement wasn’t over. This fight was a war and it took everything Nathan had. He literally left it all on the floor, where he lay hyperventilating. The medical staff treated him and he’s fine now (as fine as he was before anyway).

Concurrently Brooke was fighting and I was bouncing back and forth between these two rings. Her first fight ended as they usually do, with Brooke winning. However, this one ended strangely and prematurely. Brooke was having her way with her opponent and had built up an 8-1 lead (or somewhere in that neighborhood). It was clear to anyone watching that this fight was in the bag. Apparently her opponents coach had better things to do. He raised his hand, got the referee’s attention and ended the fight in the middle of round two. I’m going to opine a moment here. Nobody likes to see their fighter lose or be outclassed, but quitting doesn’t help these kids grow. The only reason I would even consider this is if my fighters’ safety were in question. In this case it was not. I guess that’s one of the differences that make this team so special. We do not abide quitters. Brooke’s second fight was against a worthy opponent. She was similar to Brooke physically and her skills were solid. At the beginning of the 3rd round Brooke was ahead 6-5. She landed a couple of solid kicks early, building an 8-5 lead. That’s when she was the victim of an excellent head shot by her opponent, knotting the score at 8-8 with less than 30 seconds left in the fight. Brooke kept her cool, while pouring it on. She landed a headshot (3pts each if you’re wondering) followed by another then a roundhouse to build a 15-8 lead. The fight ended with Brooke taking home the gold medal.

I believe our next fighter was Ismael. He had a buy into the gold medal round. When I got to his ring the fight was already raging. I thought I was looking at a repeat of Jakes fight at first. Ish’s opponent towered over him. The heavyweight divisions really make for some interesting match ups. With Ish giving up several inches he was fighting an uphill battle the entire way. He came up short in the end, settling for second place and a silver medal. I want to add something here though. Ismael has been frustrating his coaches, Mr. Garcia and Guro for months now. We’ve been trying to get him to think a little less and kick a lot more. I want to give him huge props for stepping up. This was the busiest fight I’ve seen him have in a long time. If he keeps up this intensity he’ll be successful in this sport. Guro, Coach K and I were all sharing with each other how impressed we were with him. When you watch the kids train for so long you pray they’ll perform when the time comes. Ismael did and we’re very proud of him.

The next fight as I remember it was Chad. Chad is one of our least experience competition fighters with some of the most potential. Again, I only saw bits and pieces of his match due to all that was going on, but what I saw was what I’ve been hoping to see from him for a long time. Chad has very long legs and excellent power. However, he’s yet to use them as well as I thought he could. On Friday he showed me something. On the biggest stage this sport offers for him at this level he performed like an old pro. He came up a bit short on the scoreboard, but the fight was a huge step for him towards future success in Tae Kwon Do. I told him so right after his match and I sensed he was proud of his effort too. I hope he was, because I know everyone else on the team who saw him was. I’m very excited to see what he does at the next Jr. Olympics, when he’ll fight people his own rank instead of 2 ranks above him.

Our next fight was Daphne and I was coaching her. This fight was an exhibition as no one came to Orlando to challenge her, making her the automatic gold medal winner of her division. The girl who stepped up to fight Daphne is the same girl that gave Brooke fits in her gold medal match. Daphne had to step onto the mats with a taller, heavier blue belt, which she had just watch battle one of our best fighters. Daphne was nervous to be sure, but she had a smile on her face the entire time we were on the floor. It’s a thrill as a coach to see kids in a stressful situation, filled with fear and doubt, pushing it aside and moving forward anyway. Daphne did a great job in her fight. She listened to me and followed my directions. She banged her thigh early in the fight leaving her with a dead leg, but she battled through it. She lost, but all things considered she performed admirably. Now that I think about it, Sara actually fought before Daphne. Sorry ‘Pound cake’ (inside joke).

Sara, like Daphne, was already gold medal champion of her division. She fought an exhibition match against a very skilled blue belt (Sara’s only a green belt). Sara was on fire from the outset. She worked this girl’s tail off and at the end Sara took the victory 5-0. It might’ve been 6-0. Regardless, it was a great performance from Sara. She too had been giving us coaches some concern. Her recent headaches had cut into her training, but she showed no ill effect whatsoever. She was mean, fast, powerful and aggressive. It was a great fight.

Our last fight of the day was my son Austin. He had a division of 7 and as usual, he drew the toughest competitor in the first round. If he could get by this guy it was a clear shot to gold. The fight started and all hell broke loose. Austin and his opponent were throwing kicks like crazy. Austin took a back kick to the chin that probably should’ve been a 1 point deduction for his opponent but was scored a 3 point head shot. Austin also landed a headshot in this fight that wasn’t scored but that’s Tae Kwon Do and we don’t make excuses or worry about that stuff. We had a fight to deal with. Austin fell behind 9-0 in the first round. But Austin was dictating the action and totally controlling the ring. Due to constant pressure put on him by Austin, his opponent went out of bounds a second time, awarding Austin 1 point. In fact, Austin caused his opponent to lose 3 points during this contest. It was something we’ve never seen from him before. Instead of sitting back and countering, he was pressing the attack and it was very effective. In between rounds Austin and I had a calm discussion. In spite of being 8 points down, Austin was clearly the stronger fighter and I had every confidence we could climb back into this fight. I’ll tell you one thing for certain, neither one of us was going to quit like the first girl Brooke fought. Austin continued to pressure his opponent causing him to constantly fall to the floor or retreat out of bounds. At the end of round 2 the score was now 9-5. In between rounds we talked about how his opponent was completely out of gas and all we needed was two headshots to win. The bell rang and Austin went back to work. He landed the first headshot we needed, then a solid roundhouse. His opponent then went down with an alleged ankle injury, which we believe was designed to buy time. This kid was completely exhausted and Austin had barely broken a sweat. When the fight restarted Austin picked up where he left off. He pressed the fight, missing an axe kick by less than an inch. He continued forward. Unfortunately, the clock ran out before he could complete the comeback. It was an amazing fight, but sometimes they just don’t go your way. Guro relayed to me a comment she heard from a coach of another competitor in this division. Having just watched Austin’s fight he turned to his kid and said, “You have a lot of work to do.” That’s high praise and kind of funny.

All of our fighters were done at this point, though Chad stepped up for a blue belt that’d missed his call, to fight an exhibition. In case it’s escaped you, blue belt is 4 ranks above Chad, who’s a true yellow belt fighting as a green belt and now taking on blue belts. Like I said, this kid has much potential.

We concluded our Jr. Olympics with 7 of our 11 fighters taking home medals, including 4 gold and 3 silver. All came home with memories that will last a lifetime. Before leaving the venue the kids all went on the ‘bungee trampoline’ ride. Sara and Austin also took on the rock climbing wall. We headed back to the resort for a poolside celebration party with pizza and hot wings. Most of us stayed up most of the evening chatting and packing. You never want Nationals to end. It’s such an amazing experience for the fighters and their families. This one was no exception.

The Kaihewalu’s and Mertz’s are staying on in Orlando for a few more days. The rest of us headed out at 5:30am for the airport. After turning in our rental cars we shared hugs and good byes. You’d think we were never going to see each other again. That’s how close this team is and how powerful these trips are.

I hope you enjoyed following along on our journey. Jr. Olympics is only 2 short years away, perhaps sooner. I thank everyone for supporting the team and encouraging us these long months. Make sure you congratulate everyone of the Elite Fighters. They represented your school in such a way as they deserve your respect. Be sure to check out our website, http://www.teamintense.ning.com/ during the next several days as I post pictures of our adventure. Until next year, thanks to our team for everything.

From High Above California, For the Team,
Coach Woodward