Kimberly Moritz BlogPosts

I’m writing this blog post, quite frankly, to distract myself right now. My husband, son, and daughter just left for Buffalo and I’ve got about an hour and a half before I leave to join them. My sixteen year old son, Tallon, is fighting in his first amateur full contact kickboxing fight tonight. It’s televised, we have about 80-100 people going to watch, I’m having trouble keeping my lunch down.

Why? I know how much my son has into this fight. It’s not just another athletic event for him. Heck, we’ve watched him win and lose at everything from wrestling to hockey to track to football. He even ran cross country and played lacrosse for a while. He’s good at some, better at others and well, some are clearly for fun. But this. This is different.

My husband teaches karate, has since 1979. Not a big commercial, “pay your money, get your belt” kind of school. Only the dedicated with heart and perseverance need apply because it will take many years to achieve a black belt. In all of those years and 1000+ students, only 11 have achieved the rank of black belt. Serious stuff here. My son has taken karate from him practically since he was born. My daughter is the first and one of only two female black belts.

So the kid has something to prove tonight. To himself first. To his dad, sister and sparring partner who will be in his corner. To his relatives, friends, and teachers who will come to see a sport they may or may not understand for the first time. There’s no school recognition for the sport so he never gets to prove what he can do. Until now. I think he’s got a lot of dreams wrapped up in this fight. Let’s face it, all that’s ever on TV in my house is the UFC. He’s got to wonder what he’s made of. His dream career would be (at least at this age) climbing into–the octagon– that cage to fight. Not a mother’s dream by any stretch, but my dream definitely doesn’t have to be his dream.

So I sit here worrying about everything from ‘will the opponent show up?’, ‘will he be a chump that can’t stay with it?’ to ‘is he going to hurt my kid?’ and ‘will Tal rise to the challenge?’ AND, everyone we know will either be there or will be watching on television. No pressure.

One thing I know from experience is that the kid’s got heart, he won’t quit no matter what the other guy brings. No doubt about that. In this family, heart means more than anything, he’s heard that every day of his young life. But will he win? Will he realize his dream? Will he get to show everyone what he’s got after 12+ years of dedication, hard work and practice? Will he be proud of himself when he steps out of the ring? Will my fight to say college is his only option be even harder because he loves it that much?

He can’t wait for it to start and I can’t wait for the night to be over.