Junior Pan American Games

My daughter went to Puerto Rico this past weekend to participate in the Junior Pan American Games. The Pan American Games are a mini Olympics whose competitors are from the Americas. Katelyn received her Black Belt exactly one week before she competed at the Games, her first competition as a Black Belt. My greatest regret is that I could not attend with her. We barely raised enough funds to send her.

Team Canada Taekwondo, Source: The Author

The team flew out of Toronto early Wednesday morning, November 18th, changed planes in Atlanta at 9am, and flew on to Puerto Rico arriving at 2:30pm. Unfortunately the hotel was quite a distance from the airport so they did not arrive at their hotel in Ponce until 7pm. That was a long day for them. Fortunately they had one day to regenerate themselves. They took a little trip to the beach and showed off their kicks in front of the beautiful scenery.

Katelyn kickin’ it in Puerto Rico. Source: The Author

On Friday Katelyn did not have to compete so she cheered on her team mates from the sidelines. There was no air conditioning in the arena; the heat was unbearable. I can only imagine how hot it was for the competitors.

On Saturday Katelyn first competed for Patterns. Unfortunately they found the judging to be very biased. As long as there was a Puerto Rican competing, the Puerto Rican would win. My daughter competed against a Puerto Rican and placed 3rd in Patterns bringing home a Bronze Medal.

Later in the day she competed in Sparring. She brought her game to the ring. As spectators cheered for Canada, Katelyn punched and kicked her way to a Gold Medal.

Canada is much loved by countries around the world. After the competition, the athletes traded track suits with other countries. Canada was the most sought after. Competitors were scrambling to get a Canadian uniform from our small team. Katelyn came home with a track suit from Peru.

The Puerto Ricans are a very friendly bunch of people. Our coach speaks Spanish and used his language skills to converse with the natives. This resulted in Katelyn making a new friend, a policeman who wanted to take her for a ride on his motorcycle, and did.

Katelyn and the Puerto Rican police officer. Source: The Author

Needless to say I am very proud of my daughter. This was her first major competition as a Black Belt so I did not have high expectations for her. To bring home a Gold Medal is a tremendous feat. Thank you to all who contributed to our fundraising efforts.

Ashley & Katelyn show off their medals. Source: The Author