Kiddie MMA Anyone?

Now that Hannah and Emily are in the Black Belt club, they get to do "real" karate stuff. Like sparring. We took them to their first sparring class last night and it was so much fun to watch them. They aren't allowed to make contact for 4 more weeks, but once they get their gear and start making contact, I fear for their opponents...especially Hannah's. Check out how vicious she was...

Hannah talked all day about how excited she was to get to hit people. I thought she was just kidding...apparently she wasn't! Emily was soooo shy. She continually backed away from her opponents, which was a bit surprising. That was until they brought out the mats.

I wish I had taken a picture of the smile she had on her face after she beat that girl. After class she said, "Did you see me knock that Black Belt off?" I would share the video of Hannah on the mat (by the way, they were the 2 very first volunteers), but she was knocked off so fast that I didn't even have time to turn on the camera!

The girls are now more excited about karate now that all these moves and applications they are learning are starting to make sense...they now have a purpose. And, I'm excited to finally see some results. When Hannah started playing volleyball this past winter, she was so shy and timid when I would take her to practice even though those were the very same girls she went to school with. You could even see her insecurities when she was playing in the games. But, this past Monday, when I took them to the volleyball camp, she just walked right in there, grabbed a ball, and went straight to the court to start serving without knowing a single soul! I was so proud of her I wanted to cry. I've noticed her standing taller in her karate sessions and her movements are more fluid. And Emily...she's starting to show more passion for something which she hasn't shown...ever. So often I feel inept as a parent. I feel I yell too much and discipline too hard. For once, I feel like I did something right by signing them up for karate!