Performance Day Focus (24"x36") Not For Sale

It wasn't my son, Tomson, who was on edge 20 years ago for the United States versus Canada taekwondo yellow belt tournament; it was I, his father who was terribly tense. It was the first time any of these children had competed in such an event, and tensions were high. The sense of excitement and pressure was palatable in the air, and the children chattered like excited birds, pulling faces, fidgeting, talking excitedly. However, despite the pressures placed upon him from teachers and parents, and the added stress of competing in public, my son stayed calm and collected. Ignoring the excitement around him, he sat still, hands outstretched, face calm. Glancing at him, the focus and intensity was obvious on his young face. In a sudden moment of clarity, I realized that I was the tense one, my hands moving almost of their own accord, my feet shuffling back and forth involuntarily. How funny that at events such as these it is often the parents who are the most excited, aching to see their children succeed and dreading the thought of public embarrassment or failure on behalf of someone else.

My son won his match and brought home a trophy, but in hindsight this hardly seems the important part. His outstanding self-control and his ability to shut out the outside world were the important things, and I have tried to capture his inner calm and focus in my painting. The background is dark - it is the children who are important, not the parents, teachers, or expectations placed upon the competitors. Their gis are crisp and white in preparation for the competition, and their yellow belts speak to their youth and inexperience. Although they are just starting on their martial arts journey, they still take the competition very seriously, and their inexperience is no reason to take their sparring less seriously. Each step in their growth is as important as the preceding step, and the calm focus of my son hints at the inner strength that will eventually blossom in the man.