Competition

This past Saturday was my last tournament in the color belt division. Next time I compete, it will be as a black belt. So I decided that I wanted to end on a high note. I made it my goal to achieve a personal best in this competition: first place in forms. I had won several second and third place medals, but I had never won first place in any event.

I always compete in forms and sparring, because when you sign up for one, the other is automatic. I don't love sparring, but they go together. Competing in other events involves additional fees and paperwork, and I'm not ready to commit to that unless and until I'm earning points for it (more on that later).

Going into this tournament, I was doing a form I've done before. I learned it early and practiced it often because I'm getting ready for black belt promotion. I spent several hours in the last week working on my technique and tweaking the areas I had problems with. I felt really good about this form.

Saturday morning, I practiced it several times just to work through my nerves, and I felt like I did it extremely well. Color belt adults compete toward the end of the tournament, and waiting around all day is rough on the nerves, but I did ok... I kept myself busy with my son, practiced when I could, and tried not to think about it.

We got into the ring, and there were 6 of us total. One of the women wasn't doing forms, so I was competing against 4 other women in that event, and I had the good fortune of being last. I watched all of them go first, and thought "oh, I can do this, no problem." I thought I had first place in the bag. If I had done the form like I had practiced it that morning, I would have. But I didn't. I got up to the center of the ring, and the judge told me to go. My peripheral vision went fuzzy. My hands started to tingle. My head felt lifted away from my body, and my joints felt like mush. Five moves in, I did a punch wrong. My balance was off. When I heard one of the competitors say "she's going to get sixes" (that's not a good score), it was all I could do to keep from dissolving into tears in the middle of the ring. In other words, I choked. And I knew it. I could tell from the way she looked at me the center judge could see it all over my face. I was furious. I went to sit down and gave up on getting any medals at all in this tournament, much less first place. My main goal at that point was just to not cry.

It doesn't matter how well I can do my form in class, if I never learn how to overcome the stage fright.

I watched the weapons event and slowly put on my sparring gear, dreading the added embarrassment. I have never liked sparring. I feel like I think and move too slowly. I feel clumsy and uncomfortable when we spar in class. I always spar in tournaments, but I always get my clock cleaned. In all the previous tournaments I have sparred in, I've scored a total of 1 point. Not 1 point per tournament, 1 point EVER.

By luck of the draw, I didn't spar the first match. One of the women from my school sparred a woman from a Texas school. I watched them and cringed. I don't know what's different about Texas schools, but they all seem to spar the same way - fast and loud, with lots of punches. It's like a swirling noise coming directly at you and if you aren't fast there's no escape. I think my last match against a Texas student lasted about 15 seconds.

I was in the second match, with another woman from my school. She usually beats me soundly in class, because she understands the concepts really well (especially considering she's a lower rank than me) and her reflexes are good. She had a splitting headache, which may have given me a slight advantage, but I fully expected her to win the match.

I don't know who scored the first point, but I remember when something changed. It was like something slid into place in my head, and I could see exactly where her weaknesses were. When she leaned in to punch, I scooted sideways and landed a punch directly in the center of her chest pad. Break. Point to me. We got tangled punching and I skipped backward and swung a kick up to connect with the side of her head. Break. Two points to me. I felt bad about that one, and mouthed "sorry" to her. She looked at me like I was nuts. Next round I noticed she was expecting me to fight at my height (she's shorter), so I dipped my shoulder to belt level and swung a punch around to connect with her pad under her arm. It kept going that way and suddenly the match was over, score 5-3. I had won my first match ever. I couldn't believe it. The center judge gave me one minute to catch my breath, and then I had to spar Texas girl who had beaten the stuffing out of my friend just a couple minutes ago. Oh boy. Well, at least I would get second place.

She called me to the ring and we squared up. My heart was still racing, but my head was clear. I was watching her to see what she would do. I knew she would be fast, but I had to find a weakness. I tested her with a fake front kick and she did exactly what I expected: came in yelling with a flurry of punches that knocked me out of the ring. Break. Point to her. I hadn't quite figured it out yet, and the second round I tried to counter her with her own weapon. No good, she was too fast with the punches. This time she knocked me to the ground. Break. Point to her. Now I was mad, but it wasn't blind fury (for maybe the first time ever). I was focused, and when we squared up again I suddenly realized what she was doing, and what I needed to do. I had a good 5 or 6 inches on her, and she could barely get her kicks up to belt level. She was relying entirely on speed and punches. So I did what I do all the time in class but hadn't figured out how to use well yet: I put my leg up and held it there, and waited. When she came in I planted a front kick directly in her middle. Break. Point to me. Second round, I swung several kicks in a row in her direction without putting my leg down. They didn't land, but I could tell the balance of power had shifted. She looked slightly bewildered, and she was backing away from me. I became acutely aware of the possibility that I could win this match. I scored three more points, which put me ahead. One more point and I would win the match. We squared up and I stared at her, waiting to see where she would go. I wasn't moving in, I wanted her to come to me. She stepped forward and dropped her guard to swing punches and I straightened my leg, planting a side kick in her chest pad near her hip. Break. Point. Match.

I was totally stunned. I had never won a single match, and here I was with a first place medal. I did achieve a personal best. I did meet my goal. It just wasn't at all what I expected.

I learned all over again the value of perseverance, and never giving up on myself. Fitting, since that was the theme of this particular tournament.

Moving forward, looking back

I will earn my black belt in a few weeks, and it has me thinking back over the last three years. What a wild ride it has been.

I moved back across the country from California into my parents' house four years ago. For a year, I just sort of floated along. I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't want to get divorced, but I couldn't leave things the way they were. I didn't get a job because I thought I might move at any time. I just focused on my son, and survived one day at a time.

Then something happened that made me realize I would have to take care of us myself, and the work I was doing from home wasn't cutting it. I got a job, cried over putting my son in day care, did it anyway because I had to. I put him in TKD because my mom and sister loved the school and thought it would be good for him. Goodness knows he needed the extra discipline.

I gained some confidence from working to support myself, and bought my first car in my own name.

I finally got the courage to file for divorce when he proved to me that the marriage was truly over. Then I started dating again.

I lost a dear friend to cancer. Overwhelmed with grief, I considered moving away.

I welcomed my nephew (godson) into the world.

Lost the first job, freaked out, and then got a better job.

Mom was diagnosed with cancer.

I changed my mind about moving away.

I fell in love.

My son and I moved out of my parents' house.

I lost my last living grandparent.

The one constant through it all is that I kept going to TKD. Even when I felt unready and unworthy of belt promotion, Joshua and I both were there, every week. It has given us a sense of community, and when I was really hurting, it gave me something else to focus on (or something to hit and yell at when necessary). And ultimately, it made us part of a bigger family. It gave us new friends, and a support system. It gave me a partner. It gave my son a Dad. And for that I will always be grateful.

What started out as a way to get some more exercise has become a deeply personal journey for me, and getting this belt now is symbolic to me of not just surviving the hard parts of the past few years, but of coming out on the other side stronger, happier, and more confident than I have ever been.

2012

It's a new year! I'm excited about what it will bring. I usually don't make resolutions, because I usually have so many goals set by New Year's Eve I don't really feel the need. That goes for this year too... my goal-setting started before Saturday night, and I don't think it will take me a whole year to accomplish these and start setting new ones. But in the spirit of the season, here they are:

1. Black belt. I've been looking forward to this achievement for quite a while now.

2. Starting a new adventure. Yes there are more details to this one, but I'm not ready to share them yet. ;)

3. Bikini body. I may or may not actually wear one, but my goal is to be able to without shame by the summer. I'm pretty close to my goal weight, but I have alot of toning up to do.

4. Pay off at least one of my credit cards. This is a constant goal, but I think it's actually doable this year.

Going back to Christmas, I forgot to mention that I actually did get a new blender, and I love it!! It makes an amazing smoothie.

Christmas 2011

It's been rather eventful! I took a wonderful 6 days off of work to spend with my family... and had a bad cold all 6 days. But I didn't let that get me down!

Not enough time to write a long, detailed post, so I'll cut to the highlights:

My brother came in town for a few days with his new girlfriend (who is awesome). It was great to see him!

Lovely Christmas Eve dinner with The Man's family.

Beautiful Christmas Eve Mass, quiet Christmas morning at home opening tons of presents.

Fun, awesome Christmas Day with my family opening tons more presents. (I think I had too much fun, I had to spend most of Monday in bed recovering, and was treated to delicious homemade turkey soup.)

First two days of Rank Camp Monday and Tuesday (I am SO SORE!)

And today we welcomed The Man's first grandchild to the world! She's precious! I can't wait to go meet her... I have to wait till all my cold symptoms are gone. And no, she will not be allowed to call me Grandma. Not if I can help it.

Red Decided

That's it. My last color belt. The next belt I earn will be Sho Dan Bo (black recommended).

This time I learned that there is always room for improvement. My last two promotions felt great. I felt strong and confident and like I performed well. For this one, I feel like I want a do-over. I was out for two weeks of the cycle with a knee injury, and I didn't practice nearly as much as I needed to. I knew the material in my head, but that just isn't enough. I have to practice, and then practice some more.

But I passed, and that's the important part. I will always have more to learn and I will always have techniques I need to improve, and each step of the journey isn't necessarily going to be forward.

I'm really proud of Little Man. He did an outstanding job in his promotion. Much better than his mommy. His focus and technique have improved so much from hours of practice at home, and I'm so proud of him for sticking to it. That's an incredible feat at 5 years old.

The week after Christmas I'll be doing Rank Camp again (yes, I am crazy, thanks for asking). What I think is really neat about this one is that The Man earned his Sho Dan Bo with a Rank Camp, and now I'll be doing the same thing, years later. Then it's just two more months to black belt. I can't believe I'm this close. It has felt so far away for so long.

Remembering Gratitude

I've been working on it lately. Because it's too easy to get caught up in the stress that life can create, I'm trying every day to remind myself how lucky I am.

To even have a car that can get broken in the first place, because so many people have to make do without one.

To have so many family members whom I love dearly.

To have a warm bed, and enough food, and a place to call home... because the poor lady who lives under the bridge near where I work doesn't have that.

So when tires go flat and radiators get broken and bills come in and turn our budget upside down and kids drive us crazy... we're still incredibly blessed.

What I Want for Christmas

Even though my sisters like to tease me about being the girliest member of the family (they're right), when it comes to gifts, I don't think I'm all that girly. Of course I'm dazzled by pretty sparkly things, and sometimes they make perfectly acceptable gifts, but when it comes down to it I would rather have something useful. A close friend once noted to me that her spouse would be in deep do-do if he gave her a kitchen appliance for her birthday instead of a piece of jewelry. Honestly, I would be thrilled with a new blender.

And there are other things I want that no one else can give me, like:

More time with my family. My Christmas gift to myself is to take all of my available PTO and have nearly a full week off for the holiday.

And these shoes: http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/Five-Fingers-KSO-Womens.htm (my brother will be so proud), and these: http://www.zappos.com/gabriella-rocha-farmer-black-suede.

I'd love to have the set-up equipment for my spring container garden (how many women do you know who would actually ask for a big bucket for Christmas?), and a pull-up bar, and frames for my Grandpa's paintings so I can finally hang them on the wall.

Mostly, I want to see the joy of the holiday in my son's eyes, to spend the days with people I love, to have what I need to continue to make our lives better. I don't want to stress over shopping, or have other people do so for my benefit. I would rather have your company than another pretty thing to put on the shelf.