Whomp /

That's the noise that #1 made when he hit the floor today.

It's also the noise my heart made as it shot into my mouth.

He was competing in the All Ireland Judo Championships in Galway and he was up against the best kids going and, thanks to a whopping .9kg, up against kids who were up to 2kg heavier than him.

Poor bugger.  He was so upset when we got there as there was so much going on and everyone seemed to know everyone else and he was one of three from Portmarnock there.  One of the three best kids if you don't mind me bragging.

Anyway, he explained the rules of scoring and I had a complete 'who's on first, watt's on second' moment as . . . the idea is to get Ippon, 10 points.  This is when you throw someone so perfectly they land on their back.  You can get a get a Yuko by throwing someone so that they land on their side, this is worth 5 points.  Now, a throw where you get someone on their back but . . well, not with all that much force . . that merits a Waza-ari (if it was a better throw it would be Ippon).  Oh, and that Waza-ari is worth 7 points.  But, here's the thing.  No amount of Yukos can EVER beat a Waza-ari.  And two Wazi-aris can make Ippon ( even though 2 x 7, to me, equals 14???).  

Oh, and you can also score Ippon by pinning your opponant to the mat for 25 seconds.  A pin lasting for less than 25 seconds, but more than 20 seconds scores waza-ari and one lasting less than 20 seconds but more than 15 seconds scores yuko.

You following me?  See?  Who's on first?

Anyway, #1 had two fights and the first one was over as I blinked with him being thrown and the second fight lasted a few seconds longer but .. . he still lost.  He was gutted.  

All the kids who lost were gutted. It hurt to see so many upset youngsters.  Apparently, allegedly, it's character building so I shall wait and see how that plays out.

Once he got over the upset, and the sore shoulder from being hurled to the ground, he was happy enough to commit to competing in Kilkenny in a month or so.

To cheer him up we took him into Galway to prove it is always raining there and took him to the pub to watch the match and enjoy a big plate of Irish Stew.

p.s. When #1 was in my belly many, many moons ago we went to Galway to visit friends who lived there and I went into this lovely shop called 'Wooden Heart' and bought a little zippy bag with gorgeous little things representing the letters of the alphabet in it.  You know, 'a is for apple', 'y is for yacht' etc.  The shop is still there and it still sells beautiful toys so go visit it should you be in beautiful, but rainy, Galway.