Miachael-san the judo man

Steve and I decided that Michael needed some kind of physical sport/activity this year. I wish we had baseball or basketball here, but we don't so I had to think of something else. You are probably thinking, "duh, what about soccer!" Well, I thought long and hard about that, but I have heard some things that left me thinking that it would be close to impossible to find a team that would be a positive experience for him. I happened to remember seeing children in the video rental store wearing the karate style clothes and I knew they were the owner's children, so I stopped by and asked the owner where they take their kids for training. Turns out that it is judo class, not karate. The owner even told me to tell the people at the judo academy that he sent me and that I would give me a discount! Well, do I need more confirmation that this is from God???? I don't think so! I talked to Michael about it and he was really excited. I took him for a test-run and he LOVED it. So, Michael used some of the birthday money he got from his Papaw and Mamaw to buy judo clothes and we have made the judo academy our new hang-out from 6pm-7:20pm on most evenings! Maira doesn't want to take lessons, but she does some of the exercises on the bench as we wait. She wants to take ballet, but we'll have to find some place with a discount! Anyway, there are days that there are about 4-5 kids Michael's size, but the day I took the camera there were only big guys training. Michael's not intimidated though, and goes at it with all he's got! What is really great is the way the owner/trainer stresses respect and self-discipline, enforcing what we are teaching at home. There is a great spirit of encouragement during the training as well...when one of the guys is struggling with a certain exercise, the others tell him to "keep breathing", "you can do it", etc. Now, when it comes to the actual competition stage of judo, I'm not sure how this mommy will be able to watch!