Karate Weekend
By Friday afternoon, I had a deeply entrenched springtime cold swelling my head and lungs. But Saturday was the final local tournament of the season, and I'd vowed to compete. I sucked, as you can well imagine. I didn't spar because the thought of sneezing inside headgear and faceshield was... unappealing.
But the coolest thing about the entire day was competing with seven other mothers ranging in age from early thirties to late forties. Hearing a bunch of kids yell, "Go Mom!" during sparring matches isn't a common experience. :)
Yesterday, cold still my companion, I sat on the Black Belt review board for over four hours, beside one of the mothers I'd competed with the day before. Her daughter earned her own junior black belt by day's end. I watched a young man--who was barely as tall as my shoulder when I met him, and is now over six feet tall--go from junior black belt to Sensei.
Then two other 2nd-degrees and I started talking about the next test in August, training over summer, and whether we'll be ready to test for 3rd. Boy, would I like that, but... When you have a cold, a belt test sounds as appealing as sneezing in one's headgear.
But the coolest thing about the entire day was competing with seven other mothers ranging in age from early thirties to late forties. Hearing a bunch of kids yell, "Go Mom!" during sparring matches isn't a common experience. :)
Yesterday, cold still my companion, I sat on the Black Belt review board for over four hours, beside one of the mothers I'd competed with the day before. Her daughter earned her own junior black belt by day's end. I watched a young man--who was barely as tall as my shoulder when I met him, and is now over six feet tall--go from junior black belt to Sensei.
Then two other 2nd-degrees and I started talking about the next test in August, training over summer, and whether we'll be ready to test for 3rd. Boy, would I like that, but... When you have a cold, a belt test sounds as appealing as sneezing in one's headgear.