Demo Team & Mouthpieces

This past Saturday Erin was invited to join the demo team by the captain of the karate school demo team.  Brittany has known Erin since she was 3 years old because she goes to the same synagogue that Erin went to for preschool.  Brittany is a black belt in karate (I don't remember how many levels though.) & has been one of the student instsuctors at the school.

Back in November Erin participated in a demo for our FCC group.  As the captain of the team, Brittany got to do a good portion of the demo with her.  The girls work together beautifully.  David & I have been told that Erin reminds the Sifus of Brittany at that age.  Brittany really seems taken with Erin which is lovely because Erin truly looks up to her.

So now Erin has to be at the karate school every Saturday at 9:00 am.  This is on top of the 2 classes she takes on Saturday & the 3 she takes during the week. 

So what do mouthpieces have to do with any of this?  Well, now that Erin has become a blue belt in karate, she gets to start sparring.  This will teach her how to put everything together - all of the kicks, punches & such are going to come together.  However, in order to spar, students need to wear protective gear.  This is really funny though. 

We paid for Erin's gear bag when she became a purple belt thinking we may as well lay out the money & be prepared.  That worked well.  Not.  Everything in Erin's gear bag is the absolute smallest size they were able to order.  The shin guards are longer than her legs.  The head protection covers her face so you can see 1 eye.   The boxing gloves & focus mits she'll have to grow into for a better fit.

The mouthpiece?  David cut it down pretty small, put it into boiling water & tried to get it to fit.  No dice.  Well no mouthpiece, no sparring.  I approached one of the instructors since Sifu was leading the class.  Mrs. C is an old childhood friend of David's so I was comfortable asking her what we could do.  She reminded me that a certain family member is a dentist who would probably love to help his niece.  Gee.  I hadn't thought of that.  Duh!

When we got home, I spoke with David about it.  He called his sister who told us that Erin had an appointment for this afternoon so Uncle Steven could help out.  I can't have any impressions made of my mouth due to a horrible gag reflex so I was worried all day long.

David called me when it was over to let me know that Uncle Steven charmed the pants off of his niece.  Again.  They were able to get a great impression & allowed Erin to choose what color her mouthpiece would be.  So some time next week, David & Erin will be picking up her rainbow, personalized mouthpiece!  Too cool!

All in all, it's good.  Erin has found a wonderful mentor in Brittany.  And she's been charmed by her Uncle Steven who noticed that she has 2 more loose teeth!