8 Year Old Matthew Baker at the CSFU JR. Olympics Tae Kwon Do 2009 - Young Kim's TKD

The best lesson here is you take the bad with the good and be humble about it. Matthew (in Blue) is a big boy who just turned 8 so he always get's matched with older fighters. Today he was overlooked somehow and nobody was left to compete with him in his age group that was a black belt & Matthew agreed to a fight with the Grand Masters son several years older and out of Matts league (in Red) but wouldn't turn down the only competitor. He lost 0-7 but what a great real life lesson. Life isn't always fair (especially for dad who paid $85 for this single fight)! He still played offense despite getting some good hits. No tears, No bad words, actually said he was proud to make a new friend with his highly skilled competitor "Juan" who was the Grand Masters son. I'm proud of you Mateo! DAD

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[Poohcifer]

In situations like this makes me warn my Grandson one day he will have to compete with older kids in his division should no one his age and size is available. CHECK HIM OUT, he is the 7year old Orange Belt. Message me if you have any good inputs. He was suppose to be testing for his Green Belt this last Wednesday, but we'll see if it will be this coming Wednesday.

[MMA1PunchKO]

@Poohcifer Congrats and good luck on your grand-childs promotion. Yes, when he makes it to black belt, this can definitly happen. It rarely happens other then in intentional training to get them use to uneven sizing but that's to just build their confidence.  In a tournament, a black belt can only fight another black belt so especially if your grand child is a big boy despite their age or immaturity, they will be faced against others their size that could be 6 years older just like this.

[MMA1PunchKO]

@Poohcifer p.s. You can always choose to hold your child back. I made Matthew wait a year longer to get his black belt but you can hold him back as long as you want which in tournaments really gives your child a HUGE advantage! Think of a brown belt for instance that has been held back from advancing but has been training as a brown belt now for 2 years. Very few other brown belts will be able to match up because most advance as soon as the oppotunity arrises.

[OceanproAquatics]

Yea, that definitly looked bad. To put it in perspective what is bad is he is a 8 year old 3rd Grader fighting a high school freshman! That sucks!

[MMA1PunchKO]

@OceanproAquatics Yes Mateo was definitly out of his age range here but we let him do it anyway because he already earned the silver in the jr.olympics and they had him sitting (no joke) from 8am-9pm at night waiting for the last fight to see if he would take the gold. They screwed up and didn't include him in his age division so the 14 year old son & 3rd Degree seasoned black belt of a 9th degree black belt master & studio owner. I was just proud he stood up to him & didn't quit!

[CASteel1]

Keep training. You learn the most form you losses.

[MMA1PunchKO]

@CASteel1 I guess one cool thing Mateo got out of it was that the kid he faught was 7 years older and out of matts age division. It's hard to tell because Matt is a big boy but again, when he was told there was nobody in his division being a rare thing to find a black belt at 8 years old and his size, he was given the choice to fight or get an automatic metal, he told me he wanted to earn it & he did take the silver. Martial Arts is a great character builder!

[CASteel1]

Keep training you will get better.

[cbob131980]

It's amazing to see 8 year olds with such good tecnique. That jump back kick was incredible! Kudos to both fighters.

[lagrantula]

keep it up matthew!!!! nice fight

[vnpoker]

how can the kid doesn't loose? .. the coach talking on the cell while the student is fighting.. what a lame coach.. maybe he got nuked by his gf.. lol

[ChiStriker]

Not to offend anyone, but at such a young age, being pre pubescent, a black belt should not be earned yet. Thats the sign of a bad DoJo