Wow Factor

My family walked into Strickland’s Taekwondo at my husband’s insistence. He and the boys would take karate and he assured me it would help them in life, and be good for them all around. I honestly was not overly impressed when they started. I had only ever played organized sports with teams growing up, and didn’t know what to expect, but they enjoyed it, and thought it was fun.

It’s been 4 long years since. Week after week, month after month, sometimes the boys wanted to go, sometimes they didn’t. I never pushed, just compromised with how often they had to go, but never did I let them quit. I watched a transformation of my boys over the years. My youngest who would fall over standing still, slowly learned to jump, and balance, and have much more confidence when he playing other sports.

I’m writing this because of my older son Kyle Emerson and his friend Paul Ezzo. Recently the boys went from Cub Scouts to Boys Scouts, and at the first meeting they did an agility test of all the new boys. There were 10 boys, all 11 years old. They did pull ups, ran the track, the long jump, pushups, and sit-ups. They competed against each other for the most athletic and to work on improvement over the next month. Only 2 of the boys did more than 10 pushups. Kyle and Paul, who went to 60 before they were told they had to stop. Only 2 of the boys did more than 20 sit ups, Kyle and Paul who were told to stop after reaching 60. Kyle and Paul were the ones to finish first and second to the finish line running, even passing the adult. Kyle did 7 pull ups, whereas only one other boy even did one. Kyle jumped 6.5 ft, and Paul 5.5, most kids barely made 3 ft. Of course these 2 boys won most athletic and runner up. The joy and pride on these boy’s faces spoke volumes.

Well this skeptical mom who 4 years ago walked her kids into the Karate studio can honestly say the only difference between Kyle and Paul and these other boys, was they are the 2 boys that do Karate, and both at Strickland’s Taekwondo United. Thank you Mr. Strickland and all the instructors who work with the kids daily.

Kym Emerson