Progress

2 months later.

"Very good." teacher Haru said, as he walked around me and my sparring partner.

Currently, I am in a grappling match with an older kid of around 6 years old.

He was a few inches taller than me and had a longer reach than me, allowing him to grab my gi easier and before I could grab his.

The kid's name was David Kistner and had a bit of a mean streak in him.

That's probably why his parents put him in judo, to help "manage" his anger issues.

I saw it as a bad idea.

Giving a natural bully the moves to take on any kid that stood up for themselves.

That's why I loved to knock him down a peg any chance I got.

To show him that I might be smaller and not as strong as him, but I was just as capable of taking him down.

David grabbed onto the left side of my GI and pushed me back.

Trying to get my unbalanced, for a leg sweep.

Knowing what he was doing I went with his push and fell backward, grabbing the sleeve of his GI in the process.

My move surprised David.

He thought I would try and correct my stance and not fall into it like I did.

Now with his arm sleeve in my grip, and following backward, I lift my leg to his torso.

And when I hit the ground I pushed with all my might in my leg and threw David over me, and onto his back, all the while still holding his sleeve.

When David hit the ground I moved fast.

Getting up, I put his arm into a lock, behind his back.

It only took a second of force for David to tap out on the mat.

"very good both of you." teacher Haru said standing in front of us.

"Now shake hands," he said, gesturing to the both of us with his arms.

I turned to David and put out my hand for a shake, but David was already storming off the mats.

Teacher Haru watched as David walked off the mats, and shook his head.

he looked back down at me.

"That should be enough for today so go and get changed, I will see you tomorrow Andrew."

Doing a bow to the teacher I turn and skudadal to the dressing area to change.

—

While Andrew was changing, mister Harue walked over to Missis Cole and spoke.

"Your son has a talent that I have never seen in a child so young, I would even say he is a prodigy in the arts of judo," he said, taking a seat at the small table for the waiting parents.

"That's all he talks about now, is judo this and judo that," she said with a chuckle.

"The reason I say this is if he continues to excel, I think he should compete in some competitions in the junior deviation for judo," he said, hoping she would say yes.

Not just because Andrew had great talents in judo but to also get the name of his dojo out and into the judo community, and hopefully get more students.

"Isn't he a bit small for that?" Miss Cole asks.

"Yes he is still too small and he still needs to work on his strength, but within a year he will be ready for competitions."

"I will need to talk to my husband about it, but if he says yes I don't see a problem with it, next year I will start homeschooling him which shouldn't cause any problems with his daily judo lessons."

"That's great news, please let me know as soon as possible," Haru said then stood up to clean up the dojo.

—--

After finishing getting dressed, Andrew walked out into the dojo, while carrying his small backpack that held his GI.

"Are you ready to go love?" Andrews's mother asked him.

"yes," he said with a wide smile.

Holding each other's hands they left the dojo.

Once home, Andrew took a shower and got dressed in his pajamas.

Entering the kitchen he could see both of his parents talking in quiet voices.

Walking up to them he looked up at them and said.

"is dinner ready momma"

Ever since he had started training, Andrew's hunger had grown again making him hungry a lot more than before.

Stopping their conversation, Andrew's mother and father looked down at him.

"I would think so, the smell coming from the oven is making my mouth water," Andrew's dad said, with a grin.

Taking a seat at the table in his usual spot Andrew waited for his mother to bring the food to the table.

Once they were all seated, with food in front of them, his father started the conversation.

"So how are you liking the training, momma tells me you have been doing very well."

I look up at them both, the sauce from the Lasania covering my mouth and the sides of my face.

Both of my parents couldn't hold in their laughter at the sight of my face.

"Let me help you there." my dad says, as he takes my napkin from the table and cleans my face.

Once the sauce was off my face, I answered his question.

"I love it, it's fun and teacher Haru says that I'm a natural at it," I say, jumping in my seat.

"That's good to hear buddy, I have one more question for you," he says, leaning forward.

"what" I ask, picking up my spork to dig back into my food.

"What do you think about competing in judo with some of the other kids?"

I look up at him.

"com-pete," I ask, struggling with the word.

"Yes, it's where you will go to a big dojo and fight other kids your size, and if you get to a certain point you can get awards or trophies, or if you put in a lot of hard work you can win, and who knows what will happen then."

I look at him with my big blue eyes and then at my mother, who smirks and nods her head.

I smile wide and in a loud voice shout.

"Yesss!"

Standing up in my seat still holding my spork, I raise both of my hands and say.

"I will become the greatest fighter to ever live."

Both of my parents started to laugh out loud at my proclamation.

After sitting back down in my seat my father looks at me now with a stern voice.

"If you are serious about this, and you want to be the greatest fighter, you will need to put in all of your effort to achieve it, work hard, and try even harder to reach that point, and through all of that hard work you will achieve your goals."

"There will be times that you will want to give up, but at that moment you need to ask yourself "do I really want that goal I am going for" and if it's not, you need to move on, and find something new that you like. But if you want to reach that goal that's what you need to focus on, and push yourself forward."

He says, then gives me a pat on the shoulder.

"But knowing you I do not doubt you becoming the greatest."

Later that night in bed I fell asleep dreaming about all the awards and trophies I will achieve through "kicking butt and taking names" whatever that means.

-----

Sorry if there's any problems with this one I wrote it on my lunch break so please leave a comment if you find anything.