2009 ISKF Mid America regional tournament

We are now home from the Boys' regional karate tournament. Michael , Robby, and ten others from their school competed with many other contestants from schools in our Regional area in their age /rank groups. The competition went from 11:00 AM to almost 5:00 PM with no breaks.I mention that there were no breaks because even though the competitors had the time before and after their competitions as a "break" those working the scoring tables, announcing, judging, refereeing, and even the action photographer were pretty much busy from start to finish. Normally I wouldn't even notice this dedication from these people even though Mike has been assistant team photographer / team photographer for a few years now, but this tournament I was asked to join in the ranks. I was originally asked to work at one of the rings scoring tables where my job was working the score board and documenting / keeping score cards. I started doing said job, however the person who was announcing for said ring did not posses the voice level necessary for said job. When the contestants , judges ,and referees for this ring kept asking for repeats, the Sensei in charge of the tournament approached our table,looked at me and stated " Diane, you have two boys.... I know you can speak loudly ! How about announcing ? Of course my big mouth was willing to help out whenever necessary so I stepped up. All in all ,even though I missed watching Robby's competitions,(he was in the other ring) it was a positive experience { well except for my lack of ability to pronounce some last names :-( } Thankfully Mike had everything on tape as well as 2600 plus still action shots .
(which I haven't begun to get through yet )
In the end our school did wonderfully. Michael ended up with a Gold metal in Kumite ( fighting) and a silver in kata ( form ) in his categories and Robby ended up with silver in Kumite and silver in kata in his. I will try to get pictures posted soon.
The way home was equally as nice. After a stop at Burger King and Tim Hortons, we enjoyed the ride home.

Pictures coming soon !