Competing in taekwondo is relatively new to me. I've competed in two state tournaments, and they've been lots of fun. But I'd never competed any higher. USA Taekwondo Nationals was in Ontario, CA this year, and I decided to give it a try. My sister lives there and it was an opportunity to spend a week with her and my BIL and for me to compete at a national level for the first time.
Neither of my kids is really doing much with taekwondo these days, so it was a little tough for me to justify the expense of competition and a trip when it was just me. Woes of a mom, am I right?
Right before registration closed, I decided to compete in board breaking too. Cuz, why not? It's fun!
Board Breaking:
Figured I'd just have fun with it. I didn't realize until later that my age division has to break boards that are 1 inch thick. That limits some of the kicks and strikes I can do because I'm not willing to risk injuring my hands or feet with a straight punch, knife hand, or a tornado kick. If I'd spent more time practicing, I probably could have done a spin hook kick (my favorite kick), but I didn't want to risk it.
Also, (ducks head in shame) I didn't practice at all before the competition. The last time I broke boards was during my black belt test in 2021. I made up my routine the morning of competition while enjoying dim sum with my family. Both of my boys helped with ideas. I ran through my routine with my coaches, Amely and Jon, and together we made a couple of changes based on strikes where I was least likely to miss.
Scoring and doing well in board breaking is a whole thing. Every break holds a difficulty score, so ones with a jump, a spin, or both can score higher. There's a deduction every time you miss a break. So the goal was to break on the first try every time and to choose kicks and strikes that I was confident in. Energy, power, and overall presentation can increase or decrease points too. Adding things like cartwheels, flips, etc can add to a presentation score, but not a ton if they risk you missing a break.
The day before competition, I learned I had 2 competitors. Sweet!! Makes buying the max of 15 boards worth it (less boards = less potential points). Beverly and Ann were wonderful and kind and they complimented my axe kicks.
I asked Jon to hold all my boards. He's one of only two grown-ups whom I trust, and he's a black belt and an instructor at our school, so he already knows how to hold boards to ensure I can break them. If the board holder messes up and moves or causes me to miss a break, I'm still the one with a point deduction... because I chose the board holder.
I broke all of the boards on the first try. I technically had 1 miss because a board ended up breaking before I could strike it. Oops!
Funny enough, it's hard for me to watch video of my routine because I know I can kick so much higher. But I also understand that the height of kicks don’t matter as much as striking the board efficiently. Whether the board is shoulder level or head level scores the same.
My cheering section was amazing and I am so grateful for my AMYS teammates and families who stayed to support me. My report time wasn't until 5:40pm, when many had been at the tournament all day. Thank you to Jon for holding my boards and eliminating any anxiety that I might miss because of my holder (Todd, I know you would have done amazing too!). My sister was easily the loudest out of the cheering section, love you, Jackie!
Thank you to Melany for insisting on joining Jon and me on the mat to ensure boards got to Jon quickly (there’s a time limit!).
Thank you to Beverly and Ann for being supportive and awesome competitors.
Both of my kids aren't all that impressed that I'm a national champion because "it's only board breaking." So, no thanks goes to them… except to my oldest for taking all of these photos. ;-)
Poomsae:
I was pretty terrified of this competition. Not only did I have 18 competitors (I've never competed with that many), but how we compete changed this year and this was my first time with this format.
I had a range of 8 different forms that I had to know (taeguek 8 - chonkwon). I didn't know what form I would do until moments before, and I competed head to head in a bracket-style competition. In previous years, we had a range to know ahead of time, and then a week or so ahead of competition, the actual form(s) we would do were announced. So we could spend about a week practicing 2-3 forms.
I like this new format, I really do, but damn, it was scary the first time. I ended up with taebaek (3rd degree black belt form) and the one I was probably least confident with my technique. Which is saying something because I had to learn jitae from scratch a few weeks beforehand.
I don't think I forgot any moves, but in my effort to go slow enough to maintain control and not lose my balance, I ended up looking like I didn't know what came next a few times. Nerves got the better of me and I was flustered. In poomsae, you're supposed to finish in the spot where you started and I was more than a foot back from my starting point. Needless to say, my opponent scored higher and I did not move on from the 1st round.
I am proud of my hair though, LOL.
When it comes to poomsae, I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have issues with my balance due to instability in my feet and ankles (hello, hEDS). My side kicks need work and I need to build better core strength (ugh, pregnancies).
Now that I've done this style of competition, I am eager to do it again and see if I can work out the nerves and have better composure. I don't have aspirations to compete at Nationals every year (depends on where and when), but I do want to continue to improve and aim for higher scores.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from TKD Nationals is that both of my boys suffered from some pretty major FOMO being back in the crazy, chaotic, loud, and supportive vibe that makes up a taekwondo tournament. Matthew's FOMO was bad enough that he wants to get back into sparring and compete next year, where he will be competing as a black belt. So, we’ll see.
I will continue with my own training with plans to compete in the Utah State Tournament in April. USA TKD Nationals will be in North Carolina next year, so I don’t know if I will make the trip out there.