Blindfolded Boy Spars During Taekwondo Lesson But Has No Idea His Partner Is His 'Deployed' Dad

Mar 28, 2019 by apost team

Luca Cesternino has been having a stressful life for the past few months. Luca hails from Tennessee and has been participating in taekwondo lessons to help deal with stress and build his confidence. Taekwondo is a productive output for Luca's high-level of energy.

As reported by Fox News, Luca's father is Staff Sergeant Rob Cesternino. Although Luca is more familiar with calling him 'dad', Rob Cesternino has been working for the Tennessee National Guard for many years.

While the first few years with the National Guard were fairly uneventful, Rob's position took a turn for the worse in 2018. He was stationed in Syria and Jordan for 10 months to deal with the region's conflict.

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As the youngest child of six siblings, Luca has a very close relationship with his father. The news was very difficult to handle. However, Rob made sure to contact his son every two weeks.

Whether making a phone call or talking via video chat, his father made an effort to stay in contact with Luca. Although Luca preferred to have his father home, he appreciated the contact with his hero.

A clip of Luca's recent taekwondo lesson has become a viral hit. In the footage, Luca can be seen with a blindfold over his eyes. His instructor explains that this exercise will help build Luca's reflexes and instinctive fighting skills.

Luca is excited about the challenge and prepares to fight his first opponent. While Luca was convinced that the blindfold was for the exercise, there was another purpose involved.

Despite being an avid taekwondo practitioner, it was clear that Luca struggled to fight with the blindfold. During his third sparring match, Luca could hear familiar words of encouragement.

His opponent also used a peculiar nickname that only one person uses. Luca immediately realized that it was his father. He ripped off the blindfold, took off his gloves, and embraced his father.

The sparring exercise was a clever ruse used to get Luca to wear a blindfold. Luca's father was then installed as the third sparring partner. He slowly revealed his identity through the use of Luca's nickname that is exclusively used by his father.

"Sometimes, unfortunately, we get wrapped around with the negative, but our lives in America truly are so positive every day. It's exactly what I expected from our country," he told Fox News. 

Rob was granted an early return date from deployment. He wanted to surprise Luca in a way that he would never forget. The plan was executed perfectly, and Luca couldn't have been happier or more surprised.

The video has been shared thousands of times and continues to warm the hearts of viewers.

What do you think of this heartwarming video? Let us know in the comments and pass this along to your friends and family to brighten their day, too!