Gr.10 Reflection: Service

This year, I tried especially hard in service. I did a lot of service this year but among them all, the one with most fulfilling experience was volunteering as a referee in a Tae Kwon Do tournament. In 2011, there was a B.C Tae Kwon Do tournament held in Capilano University. Martial artists with high level in Tae Kwon Do were allowed to volunteer as referees in this tournament; I took the opportunity. We were taught how to ref prior to the tournament. Unfortunately, since I lacked experience, I could only act as a judge for the pattern competition. In pattern competition, contestants performed specific patterns in order to display their skills and knowledge. Judges were to grade them out of 10 points; 4 points were for accuracy and 6 points were for performance. I chose to write about my experience as a referee for my reflection because I believe that it was the experience where I held a lot of responsibility. I feel that it is important to assess people of lower level in order to encourage them to continue practicing Tae Kwon Do. I believe that I will continue to act as referee in near future if given the opportunity. Volunteering as a referee for a Tae Kwon Do tournament gave me a wider view of the world. I came to realize how big the world is and how large the Tae Kwon Do confederation is. It made me scared because I realized that competition is harder than I originally thought. During the tournament, I made a lot of friends. I found a lot of people who had the same interest as me. Therefore, I was able to approach them with ease. In a way, volunteering as a referee in the tournament made me even more competitive. During the tournament, I saw a lot of people who were far better than me in Tae Kwon Do. I was especially blown away by the demonstration performance where the performers with high level in Tae Kwon Do executed various intermediate moves. Before the tournament, I used to be confident in my skills. But after, I found out that I shouldn't be satisfied with my current skills and practice more in order to achieve higher level of skills. Overall, volunteering as a referee for a Tae Kwon Do tournament was a satisfying experience. I had a lot of fun from beginning to end. It was pretty awkward in the beginning since I did not know anyone but eventually, I was able to assimilate quickly with the crowd and the atmosphere.