Pretty Incredible

This past summer, the primary kids started taking karate, then subsequently, taekwondo classes at Roots & Wings.

A couple weeks ago, eight of the kids taking taekwondo were selected to participate in a state tournament.

It would be pretty incredible, wouldn’t it? It would be pretty incredible if these kids would get to go to a tournament.

There are two state tournaments a year. This tournament is happening in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Culiacan. Three hours away. 

To participate in a tournament. With hundreds of other athletes.

OUR. KIDS. 

Our kids traveling outside of Mazatlan to compete in a sport. Most have never been outside of Mazatlan. Ever.

Who could have seen that coming?

It isn’t free. The cost of the tournament + travel is $1500 pesos.

Fifteen hundred pesos is roughly $75 US dollars. And $75 is a lot of money. And then we have to multiply that number by 8. That’s a whopping $600.

So when we got over the preposterousness of the kids being given the opportunity to participate in this tournament, we started to think about how we were going to pay for it. Their families? Their sponsors? Us?

We don’t have a lot of time and we don’t have the budget.

And that is fine. They don’t have to go. They’re still taking taekwondo. They’re still doing well.

But wouldn’t it be incredible?

Wouldn’t it be incredible if the kids could travel to Culiacan and participate in a taekwondo tournament?

We started thinking about what we could do. Their parents can’t afford it. Maybe we could raise the money. But we really want the kids and their families to put in the work too.

So we formulated a plan. Some kids saved their spending money. One spent the weekend working cleaning shrimp. We started cutting back in different areas to pitch in.

That’s how this works. We do what we can. The kids and their parents do what they can.

Because if everyone works hard, some pretty cool things can happen.

And because we all worked together, these kids will get to participate in a taekwondo tournament in Culiacan tomorrow.

And that’s pretty incredible.