The Johnstown tournament was run very differently. You had a scheduled time to compete, which was nice. What was weird was that all Red Belts, age 18 and up, men and women, competed together. There was just two of us girls. I do not always feel like being overly friendly, but I found it in myself to be friendly to Jackie. We chatted about things, including that it was her first tournament and that we are equally obsessive about our passion for class.
Shawn's and my forms went fine but neither of us placed.
My break (all hands) went well and I got third.
Sparring was fun, the girl was better than I expected for her first tournament, she was hard to get close to.
I lost - she scored to move ahead just as the bean bag was thrown meaning time up. I was disappointed at first.
Jackie and I had some more good discussions later in the day as we were watching kids from our respective schools compete. Shawn and I also talked with her instructor at length who was also very nice.
After Jackie left, her instructor shared with us some very unexpected and sad news about Jackie. It made me glad the friendly me had come out, and really glad the result of the sparring came out the way it did! And glad Shawn and I went period, because we'd been so up in the air about it.
Paul was well behaved during the long day even though he did not compete. He had fun playing with Ben.
