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Message |
| Posted By: |
freespirit |
| Date: |
4-Feb-2001 |
| Subject: |
finding the Warrior within |
I am sitting here with the sweet sound of “Samurai” in my ears, and frankincense and sandalwood incense soothing my senses; and tears rolling down from my eyes.
I have never experienced this level of physical and mental exhaustion, yet simultaneously fulfillment.
This weekend, this little Shukokai karate blue belt joined 120 black belts for the registration camp of the national and state karate squads.
I only registered for the state squad, however since we train together I felt this was an opportunity for immense growth and technical development. Not to mention tournament practice.
You see, although I have sparred plenty at my dojo, and have watched a few tournaments, I have never actually fought. Somehow my skill levels qualified me to register. So I was in for quite an experience.
We trained in 100+ degree heat. There were warnings on the radio – saying that only world class athletes should train – even then, light training under experienced supervision But, yes – of course I *was* training with world class athletes! There was an ambulance, first aid folk, the works. No way out of this! Full commitment, full dedication, full steam ahead!
I managed very well with the exercises and drills – my combination work is pretty fine, so I revelled in this. Three drills of approximately 20 combinations, repeated both sides with 2 partners. Very cool. We studied footage from the world championships, analysing the types of fighters, and the techniques that could be used against them. All extremely cool.
Videos on drug testing, discussions of 6 days per week training schedules to get us to peak world class fitness. I guess when Australia only reached the fourth round in the world championships last year, they decided to get the absolute best out of us this year! We wouldn’t want anything less!
So how did I cope when it came to tournament practice with the national referees? Hmmm, not so well. I guess, if nothing else, I was a good punching bag for those black belts! This was not time for pulling punches, and going half pace. We were instructed to fight at full tournament strength – which effectively means as hard as you can without being pulled up for excessive contact.
So – a good exercise for me in defence!
We played out various scenarios, controlling the centre, escaping the corners, taking time out to relax and assess mid-fight, gaining points when a specified number of points down at various stages of the fight, how to deal with different styles of fighters – line fighters, attackers, anticipation fighters, and many more.
During the fighting scenarios I took two heavy punches to the face – two blood noses. Tears filled my eyes, but I kept fighting till time out. I even scored one point! I was pretty pleased, but down in the bathroom with the tears really pouring, holding ice across my nose, things seemed pretty grim. I persevered – all was cool, I had no blood on my gi. All my friends were supporting me, and giving me a boost.
So eventually we came to the finale of the camp – a one hour championship emulation combining bouts of sparring and the 3 sets of drills at full speed, with increasingly shorter warm down breaks in between. This was incredible! Never have I felt such pressure, and sweated so much!
During my second round of sparring I copped a pretty hard hook kick to the side of my head. We had to stop and check my eyes. All was cool. Last bout though, all the walls fell down! I got another bash to my nose! At least it didn’t bleed this time, but I crumpled. I went to the bathroom, with the waterworks flowing again. All reflex – you just can’t really stop it! I guess the nervous system screams out "What in the hell!!!"
So I stood there, washing my face, crying into my hands. I felt like such an idiot. Why couldn’t I have blocked her? ... I was soooo exhausted! She was years ahead of me in her practice. I am a blue belt, she a black. Why was I even wondering?
So I looked into the mirror at myself. I was shaking from all the adrenalin, eyes bloodshot, my arm was bruised from all the blocking, my elbow purple from a massive roundhouse that I defended. I looked really hard at myself, like as an outsider. I realised I looked pretty good. I thought "I AM A WARRIOR!!!" I wiped my face once more, dried it off, then straightened my gi. I looked again in the mirror, I was OK, and walked back out to the last phase of the emulation exercise. I rejoined my group, finished the final drill. It was all over.
The national coach came up to me and said "You did really well! You know you would have just won the world championship – she used excessive force!" Funny way to look at it I thought, but it made me laugh and feel better. Then he said "This is an incredibly emotional sport. It takes you to the limit. That you’re upset and crying means you gave it your absolute all." He was really pleased with my efforts. I realised I had done just that. I had thought myself weak and foolish, but from his perspective I realised I had achieved exactly what I set out to do. I stood up against the best in my state and country. I took their punches and kicks, and kept my ground at all costs. I completed every task I was set, to the best of my ability. And I did this till I was totally exhausted. I guess when I train at my dojo later this week the reality of what I have learned will be clear to me. I know it was all a great lesson.
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