Sun 24 Nov 2019 – University of Worcester Arena
We didn't quite get the result we all hope for today, especially for the last competition of the year, but came away very proud of the Super Coopers as always. We were all extremely worried about Ashton's ankle and how bad his injury could potentially be. But fortunately, the boys now have a full months' break from tournaments until the new year.
Ethan & Tyler individual sparring
Tyler did extremely well in his first fight, looking back at the video footage. His axe kicks were accurate and controlled and he landed some great shots. In his second fight, his opponent was awarded with a 3-point head-kick which didn't connect and actually went over Tyler's shoulder, after reviewing the footage in slow motion (IMG_8443.mov at 1:14). So unfortunately, the bad luck, the result went against him today.
Ethan also confidently won his first fight 5-1 with some accurate combos. Then lost the next fight with couple of questionable head kicks from his opponent. Again, very unlucky draw and wasn't able to re-coup the points in time.
Ashton individual sparring
Ashton clearly dominated his first fight with a clear cut win. Plenty of head and body punches and also a distinct turning head kick. Certainly set the tone for the rest of the competitors for his category. Then in his second fight, he clearly went over on his left foot around 25 seconds in and aggravated an injury that he sustained only a week ago during a training run at his boxing class. It evidently affected his performance. We won his second fight, but then lost the third fight against the same Scottish lad, Scott McBride, in his category.
Again, Ashton sustained quite a serious injury to his ankle during the tag team fight at around 50 seconds in. Everyone immediately showed concern and the medics gathered around to check him out. Whilst I was in the spectators seats, all I could see was the crowd around the area so I was in pieces! Obviously, he had to forfeit the fight and relied on his team mates to finish the tag.
Multiple ice packs and w worrying hour later, Ashton filled me in on what had happened. I was preparing for a trip to the local A&E department for an x-ray or other treatment. But fortunately, he was able to limp back to the car and called it a day.
During the panic of it all, Ethan and Tyler's tag team with Lewis was called out to collect their third place tag team medals for their category. It was a pleasant surprise to end the day, otherwise it would've been the first competition we walked away from empty handed.
Overall
The last competition of 2019 didn't go as well as we hoped, but very glad that the boys now have a nice long break until next season's tournaments restart in January. And if Ashton had broken his foot again, it would've been the perfect time to use the break to recover from any serious sprains. Super proud of how well the boys have done over the course of the year
