modeps

I’ve been training for my yellow belt for a few weeks now, making sure I know all of the things that I need to know. My biggest weekness is not with the physical, it’s with the mental. I need to learn some history about the Shorin Ryu system and while I’ve read it about fifty times, I cant remember it.

Yesterday, Sensei approached me after class along with Jonathan who was helping me train. He asked Jon how things looked, then he turned to me and said, “So you think you’re ready?” I asserted the same thing as above, that while I had the physical down, the history was giving me problems to which he replied “You dont have to know much history for yellow. Tell you what, I’ll take a look at you next week and we’ll see where we’re at and set a date for your promotion.”

I’m quite excited to take a jump to the next belt. It’s been about 7 months in white up till now. I feel much better about things than I used to in class as well. I’m comfortable with everyone and have develeoped some good relationships and I’m comfortable performing in front of the class, even though I’m an old guy. Karate has definitely helped me feel better about myself and helped shape my body more so I’m not as much as a flabby mess.

My ribs are a bit tender today. Even with padding, sparring against a black belt sure isnt an easy task. I felt like I held my own for most of the bout, blocking mostly and getting in a few glancing blows, but when I made the mistake of grabbing his leg as he kicked… My torso took a beating because my hands were tied up and not protecting my chest.

I do have a newfound respect though for professional fighters. After just a 2 minute fight, I felt like I was going to collapse and was drenched in sweat. A very eye opening experience for sure, but I look forward to the next time.

Tonight should be interesting. I went back to my dojo on Monday after a month hiatus due to the birth of Erin. Upon arrival, I found that the sparring gear I had ordered arrived in my absence. Sensei said that I should bring it on Wednesday, which is today… meaning I’d be needing to use it.

I’m sleightly nervous as I’ve never sparred before and I’m still the lowest rank in the class. After work, I’ll be stopping by Dick’s and picking up a mouthpiece and a cup just to cover my bases.