"I'm too tired for karate, Grandpa."

Mr H and his younger brother (Young L)were taken to Mt Ruapehu last weekend, by their other grandparents. Mr H was on the skis almost the whole of the daylight hours, and he progressed to skiing down from a long way up the mountain; escorted by Grandad. While they did that Young L and Granine stayed down lower at the level the younger boy was happy with. He had almost as much time on the skis, and made as much progress.

This evening was karate. They had missed last week's training as they had already headed to the mountains by then. Both get tense after they have missed a session. And they really were pretty tired. I told them that I was taking them, and that if they really couldn't keep going after 20 minutes I'd drive them home. I then gave them one each of the small chocolate bars I had bought to support the fundraising for a colleague's son's school.

The three senior Sensei (Kancho was away) organised the training as a bit of a competitive exercise. That made little difference to Young L who as usual wore a smile more often than not, and while trying hard to remember which leg is left or right, carried on correcting any mistakes and doing his best. 

Mr H put in a massive amount of effort; and from a different motive, also didn't let any less than optimal efforts throw him off. He helped his line move from fourth of four to second and finished on third. For a tired boy, the knee lift and balance shown here are really great. He was happy that I stayed even after his mother had arrived, and that I saw how well he had done. To these untutored eyes he is better than those two grades above him.