East Coast Tournament

Charlie competed today at the Eastern Regional Karate Championships. This is where martial artists from New York down to Florida converge on Rockville, Maryland to compete for bragging rights on being the best on the East Coast.

Last year was Charlie's first time there, and he left empty-handed after underestimating how hard it was to go up against the best. This year, he went in with a little more determination. I think he still underestimated it some, since he won all three first-place trophies at the state tournament a couple of weeks ago. He figured he'd just walk in and clean up again. Well, it didn't happen quite that way.

But he did win the third place trophy in kata! He's definitely making a name for himself. To win anything at all in this tournament is really a big deal. (I never won anything there.)

Here's a picture of the trophy and the trophy winner. If this is just the third-place trophy, can you imagine how big the first-place trophy is??? These are serious trophies! Charlie is thrilled to have one to adorn his mantel.

His next belt test is the second week of June. Hopefully he will get his blue belt then. Feel free to leave a blog comment to encourage him to study and practice hard--I'll be happy to interpret what he doesn't understand!

Here's a video of the third-best green belt kata performance on the East Coast: