Fight Night

About once a quarter we have a sparring night. The last half hour will be dedicated to moderate contact matches mixed up between members regardless of their skill or size. I love it. When I first started MA I was horrifically overcome with fear and adrenaline about conflict. Now I wish we had fight night every couple of sessions. Teacher promises to make it a normal part of the classwork in preparation for the fall tournament over in the big city. I guess it's in November and I can't say that I'm anxious because of the cost of the airfare and lack of sleep I'd be experiencing. Before I got to the dojo no one even went, now it's considered part of the learning experience. Me and my big mouth.

It was a small class last night which is fun, but I was partnered with some of the young men and they have very hard arms. My bruises haven't healed very much at this point so it was a teeth gritting experience during punch and block exercises. Thankfully in the second hour we went on to kicking. I don't know about the rest of you, but I notice if kicks aren't practiced regularly mine become shoddy and take a bit go get back up to speed. I can hear myself screaming, "bend the knee!" That might be a TSD thing though.

The only thing of note from sparring is that the 12th grader with arms of steel left my legs looking like my arms. The bruises haven't emerged at this point so I don't have any good photo content. I had a nice golf ball growth on my shin by the end of the night.