3/26/13
Last week was recovery week.
My jaw needed time to feel normal again and my chest needed to get back
to its normal color. It’s so strange
that I couldn’t really feel any of those blows when they happened, but
afterward, they told the story that I couldn’t recall. Adrenaline is weird and cool like that.
I have been taking it a bit easy and have had to prepare for
an upcoming exam for 9th kyu.
Not too much preparation, just learning a kata, Pinan Sono Ichi, or
Kyokushin’s interpretation of Pinan 1.
Many styles of karate use this kata, but each style presents a slight
difference within its version of it.
Sometimes the difference is not so slight. That being said, I thought it would be a
great idea to get a light workout with the kids to avoid any injury and just
take it easy.
Well, I got a lot more than what I expected on Saturday
morning with those little warriors.
First of all, kids have limitless energy. I have no idea where they get it, but I
really do wish I had it. So, even when
they turn red and get tired…they’re never really tired. I think Shihan knows this, so he pushes the
cardio hard. Next thing I knew, I was in
the middle of a 10 set sparring drill.
What? 10 sets? Really?
Aaagh, come on… I have to be
honest. I struggled pretty hard and
started gasping for breath a little bit towards the end.
My primary sparring partner was a 5th grade boy,
who was really quick and flexible and perfect for reinforcing my learning
experience from the last tournament. The
opponent I lost to was similar in structure and speed. Nice kid, but fierce. He forced me to move around and focus on my
footwork. Shihan kept telling me, “It’s
OK to hit him hard,” but I had trouble bringing myself to do it. In the final rounds, I was able to put
compassion aside and get some force into my strikes.
Then there was this little girl wearing an orange belt like
me. She seemed really excited to be
sparring. She reminded me of me. I felt a great responsibility to motivate her
and share in her enthusiasm. In fact,
she sort of inspired me, little energy bunny that she was. It’s good to look at things as if I were seeing
them for the first time. I think training
with the little ones is really good for that.
The third kid was this really shy boy wearing a blue belt.
He seemed like he really didn’t want to be there. So I tried to motivate him by smiling at him
a lot and giving nods of encouragement.
It kind of worked. But I found
the thing that motivated him the most was when I landed a solid punch or kick
on him. Despite his shyness, he dislikes
that feeling just as much as the rest of us do.
He started to fight back after that.
Cool. After a few rounds, he was
pounding me out of bounds with his assertive punches. Nice.
I’d like to think that maybe I helped him feel a little more comfortable
and capable. He seemed like such a nice
little guy with a fighting spirit on the verge of being born.
All in all, I walked away from the dojo that afternoon with
a great big smile on my face. Those kids
were just awesome to work with and they taught me a lot. I think I will come back often. After all, one can never have enough speed,
stamina, or control. Osu!
Yours,
Kalia
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