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The Brothers Smith ROCK!

Warning: Proud Mama posting!

Saturday, March 24, was a busy one for us. Paul took Eli to the Battle Of Maine martial arts tournament in Winslow–about 20 minutes north of the capital, Augusta. I followed the bus (which left at 5:30 am…ugh–dropped Joshua off at 5:15 am–uncivilized!) at a later hour to Ellsworth for the Pine Tree Wrestling League Eastern Regionals for 2006 to watch Joshua. Both boys ROCKED THE HOUSE!

Here is Eli, who this year (for the first time) competed in Isshinriyu, a Japanese style Karate; he has placed equally well in the past for his Tae Kwon Do, a Korean style Karate.

His sensei, Pete Bishop (who for his day job owns Rock City Cycle in Rockland, Maine, and customizes Harleys and other motorcycles), taught Eli a BLACK BELT level kata (routine / set of steps for martial arts) even though Eli is a second degree yellow belt (then to green, then brown, then black!). Eli did so well that he placed second in a very competitive field of 21! Pete sets very high standards for adults and kids, and wouldn’t have taught Eli such an advanced kata if he didn’t think Eli could do it well…waaaaayyyy cool!

And in sparring / fighting (all with safety gear on and no blood, no serious hits) Eli took a fourth.

Alas, Paul didn’t figure out how to work the old digital camera (I had the new one at the wrestling meet) until after Eli’s kata was over, but we’re happy he got these photos. And here is Eli (in the white ghi) lined up to receive his trophy!

WAY TO GO, Eli!

Joshua’s meet got off to a late start due to a faulty computer. He wrestled four times, won three matches, lost one.

The match Joshua lost, he lost to the kid who (a) finished first and (b) was the state champ in their weight class last year and (c) has been wrestling 5 years (to Joshua’s two) and is a year older (and wiser?) than Joshua. Even better: Joshua is eager for a re-match! So what all this means is that Joshua finished THIRD in the Eastern Region of Maine! Here’s one of the matches where he pinned his opponent:

Papa and I are VERY proud! And last night, Papa showed Joshua a few more tricks. So this is what the Smith living room (??) looks like on a Saturday evening:

Back to the meet…here are the kids hoisting the second place at the meet trophy, for the team.

They were beat only by Belfast, which combines FOUR or five middle schools on their team! If we combined with the HAL schools (Hope Appleton and Lincolnville, which also feed into the Camden Hills Regional High School) the way Belfast does, we’d have slaughtered the competition. ALL but two of the team qualified to go to States next weekend…WOW! AWESOME (and yep, I’m shouting!) Here’s the team in their “pose for the newspaper photo”

and one of my favorites, the kids just being kids after the wrestling was done:

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