After a chat in the school playground one afternoon with Williams mom Vicky (Seth's best friend) we decided to start taking Seth to a Taekwondo class. We had talked about sending him to Karate or something similar mainly to boost his confidence and give him a good social life outside of school, it was an added bonus finding out that William went to this class as we knew that it would keep him motivated.
I'll be honest its not my cup of tea at all but Seth really enjoys himself while he is there and the lessons are just long enough for him not to be exhausted. Seth has a rare muscle condition and we assumed that there would only be so far that he would be able to go but
Excalibur Martial Arts have been amazing at making sure that Seth is able to join in and he is not expected to do things that the other children seem to find easier.
I say all this but Seth doesn't let anything bother him. He is a very confident, happy and extremely affectionate little boy and were so proud of the way he is turning out.
Saturday is no longer called Saturday in our house it's Taekwondo day, although for a short time the weekdays didn't have names either, he just called them 'William days'. Seth loves seeing William and his brother Matthew at the classes every week and even though they get very excited and have a run about before class as soon as Mr McGinley starts talking, the look on their faces is all business.
Most weeks im quite shocked by some of the things that seth does, he kicks higher than i ever thought he could and when i show him the pictures i have taken he gets a very satisfied look upon his face. He is definitely getting more confident which is what we hoped for.
Mr McGinley's children also attend different classes of his and Mrs McGinley is always there too and their a lovely bunch and easy to talk to which is great for when your sitting watching. Seth's favorite parts so far include punching through 2 blocks that are slotted together (i think he felt pretty tough after that) and a padded man shaped suit with foot and hand straps that Mr McGinley wore while the children attacked him, after that class Seth asked me if when we got home could i masking tape pillows to my arms, legs and torso so we could scrap (I'm quite sure Mrs M wouldn't be very happy if i started strapping the bedding to myself).
A few weeks back Seth had his first grading and was really excited that he moved from his white starter belt up to a single purple stripe. The first 3 belts arn't official Taekwondo belts but i think its great that these have been introduced for the younger children as its great for easing them in to the grading system as im sure they get a lot more intense as the the grades get higher.
It turns out that Mr McGinley is also a bit of a Star Wars geek (just what i needed, more influence from the dreaded force). On a recent Summer event for the class he was dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi and guess what Seth was dressed as...
I really hope that Seth sticks with his classes as its really doing him the world of good physically and mentally. Its a great weekly add on for Seth's physio which we do with him at home every day.
I'm quite sure that Opeie will want to do what his big brother is doing when he is older and if he does then that's great although i think i would like to sway him more towards music and learning an instrument, I always thought it would be cute if we learnt one together but we'll see.
Who knows, if Seth keeps it up maybe we'll see him at a future olympics???
