Where is the love?

Inter-school sparring went so well, we're doing it once more this coming Monday night. We've got 3 other schools sending students over to mix things up in preparation for next weekend's big tournament, and it should be a blast.

Lately I've been challenged to find that certain joy in doing battle during sparring that keeps me focused. Last night it returned by the bucketful, and I came home with such a buzz, it was really surprising!

I stopped concentrating so hard on myself and took time to work with a new student, and celebrate developing skills in other fighters. A few suggestions here and there, couple of good knocks to the head, and I was in Heaven.

Now...to keep that going and find it again a week from Saturday...

Updates

Hi, there, faithful reader! It's been nearly a month since my last post, time for some quick updates.

I attended my first tournament since my injury in December 2007 and had a blast!

In open hand form I took first in my division by .01 point. Just goes to show that victory can be by the slimmest margins sometimes!

I was also very satisfied with my sparring performance, taking second in my division. We had some great competition, and I have some very useful video provided by one of the parents to study what worked and what didn't work. I can't stress enough how useful it is to study video of yourself, be it during class, rank testing, or tournament. No matter the outcome, you're always way ahead of the game with video documentation!

That being said, G-Shaft accompanied me to an inter-school event this evening and ran the camcorder.

4 schools gathered for a mass sparring class at what is likely the smallest school in the system. Fantastic turnout, we had fighters from yellow/green through multiple black belt degrees, 13 to 40-somethings, about 30 fighters in total.

The purpose was to mix things up between schools, so that each person had an opportunity to work with unknown fighters. This helps to mentally prepare oneself for tournaments where you often meet fighters you've never been in the ring with, and it's an invaluable experience. I highly recommend it!

I came home having met some GREAT fighters, really nice people, and walked away with a nice Charlie Horse in my right thigh. Oh, well, any class you can walk away from...right?

G'night folks, and keep those hands up!!!