Dana, First how old is your daughter? I've coached young kids in competitive Taekwondo. Up until their about 16 or 17, things like "National Champion" and "World Champion" don't mean a whole lot. Secondly, how well does she get along with her sensei and teammates? If she gets along better with her friend than her teammates, then I can understand wanting to go with her friend. With the conflicts you've described she may not be getting the training or attention that she needs, she may not feel ready, and sees her friend's trip as an "out".
Speaking as a competitor myself, the USKA is not a large organization, their "World Championships" is just another national tournament. She might be thinking "I'm gonna fight the same people I fought at the last tournament" And with 175 divisions she may not have any competition. That can put a real damper on your competitive drive. I'd go to USTU (now USA-Taekwondo) Nationals, just to fight someone I hadnât fought before. At my age that was the end of the path, there were no world championships for those of us who were over 35. If she's serious about competition you might want to look into the USA National Karate-Do Federation. (http://www.usankf.org/)They're recognized by the US Olympic Committee and the IOC. This is the path to real world championships and the Olympics. One of the problems with the Martial Arts industry is there's no regulation. I can create my own federation and declare myself a grandmaster and world champion, and if people buy into it I can make money at it. With the financial problems in the school, this may be the time to switch schools, and find a sensei who can take her to the next level. If she chooses to go that route. -- Scott Stewart ColdFusion Developer SSTWebworks 7241 Jillspring Ct. Springfield, Va. 22152 (703) 220-2835 http://www.sstwebworks.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/sstwebworks -----Original Message----- From: Dana [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 4:31 PM To: CF-Community Subject: New Orleans/girl/karate questions so now I have a family question of my own. My daughter won Grand Champion at the USKA Nationals. She is eligible for the World Championships, to be held in New Orleans in early August. So far this has been primarily bragging material. Her dojo has made the travel arrangements for the tournaments she has been to. I have contributed towards gas. However, it seems that the dojo has been the subject of some sort of very bad management dispute coupled with allegations of financial mismanagement and a move to another location. The dojo is saying that they will *not* be sending a van. So. I am looking for ways to make this work, so here are the questions about that: The Hilton -- is this right downtown? OK neighborhood? My daughter is turning 15 and we have very little street crime in Albuquerque. I do not think she is ready for New Orleans by herself (in answer to can she be put on a plane). I am sure the French Quarter is ok, but it is close to some bad areas, yes? Easy to make a wrong turn? I need to research airfares. Driving is out as I figure, well San Antonio is a tough two-day drive from Albuquerque, so we are looking at three days minimum four to be safe. Double that and it's too much time off work. Other questions: She has been invited to go to Mexico with a friend and the friend's family. They have a condo in San Carlos. The dates conflict. She says she would rather go to Mexico. I say that if you are eligible for the Worlds in anything, you really should go. She says she will always have her belt (blue) but that her friend might not always be there. I don't understand..... She has been to San Carlos before. The friend lives right over the mountain pass. The friend's family cannot move the Mexico trip back because she is starting school ::eyeroll, see previous comments:: My take on this is that if Lara is willing to give up a World competition and the friend is not willing to give up a few days of school at the beginning of the grade 10, Lara is putting a lot more weight on this than the friend is. So perhaps the situation is a bit unhealthy anyway and I should not allow the Mexico trip in any event. Supposing I should change my mind about this, is there such a thing as an airplane from New Orleans to the San Carlos area? All thoughts and suggestiosn appreciated, cause I am kinda floored... thanks Dana ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Deploy Web Applications Quickly across the enterprise with ColdFusion MX7 & Flex 2 Free Trial http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:238383 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
