On the Road to Team Canada For the Pan Am Tournament

Aside from my wedding day, and the day I got my letter of acceptance to the music program at the U of C, yesterday has become one of the main highlights of my entire life.  Despite exceptionally keyed up nerves, and a disastrous kata, I managed to walk... no... I sparred away with an invitation to represent Team Canada at the Pan Am tournament this upcoming June!  

On Friday morning, the fun began with a day long drive to Regina.  Oh, Saskatchewan, the home of the Rough Riders, temperatures that cause your appendages to freeze off, and provincial sales tax.  I shared this tedious adventure into the frozen prairies with two of my Dojo mates, taking my ever-so-trusty steed known as the Anne-Mobile (aka Honda Element). Within the cozy interior of the Anne-Mobile (except  for when Rich was driving... BRRRRR) we shared laughter, music, driving shifts, and the occasional inappropriate - but funny as all hell- comment . This made the super long trip seemingly short, and it ended with a visit to my soul sister-best friend-kindred spirit's house. Kim, (the host with the most), gave us nourishing sustenance, and sent us on our way only when our eyes were droopy with exhaustion, and drool was starting to trickle out of the corners of our mouths. 

We stayed at the Raddison Hotel. Built in the 20's, it has a very opulent and Victorian atmosphere with rich dark furnishings and gold trimming. Our room had sleep number mattresses, which was very entertaining for me as I tried to find my  ideal sleep number (it's 65).

Saturday morning woke up the ancy, anxious, anal retentive Anne (how's that for alliteration?). I tried very hard to quash the polar personality, but she seemed to poke out enough that my two partners-in-crime took note. EEEP! I knew I had to get to the tournament so I could settle the nerves that threatened to ruin my entire day if I let them. Plus, I am kind of a nut case when it comes to being on time for things, so when we were still eating at the hotel as registration started (never mind that we had over an hour for registration) the twitching really started. 

Once arrived and registered, I was finally able to relax a little and enjoy the day. Kim came to join us for her first introduction into the world of Martial arts tournaments.  Rumor had it that we would be competing at noon. I was warmed up and ready at noon. As one pm rolled around, I was rip roaring to go and ready to spar anything that moved. By two pm my muscles were starting to tighten again. Three pm brought boredom induced hilarity as I tried to tackle the pillar in front of me, and invisible attackers as I fought to keep my muscles limber. Four pm arrived with acceptance that this tournament was being poorly run, and when we were finally called, all three of our divisions were called up together. Poor Kim had to run around with the camera and did a great job covering our tournament endeavors. 

1 minute for Kata and several 2 minute (or five point spreads) sparring sessions and your performance time is over. It passes by in the mere blink of an eye. My hopes to place first or second in kata died when my braced up feet slipped on the floor on my spear hand. I struggled to keep upright, and the rest as they say, is history. That one slip put me in fourth place. I still medaled, but it simply wasn't good enough especially for my standards. With sparring I knew that I would have to do some serious non-contact damage to keep myself in the running for a team Canada invite. With the luck of the draw, I managed to land myself with a kick boxer. I managed to overwhelm her and kicked her butt (not literally of course) in a five point spread.  The gold medal match was against a Taekwondo goddess. Remember how I have mentioned that taekwondo makes use of fancy footwork?? She destroyed me. I have no idea how to fight against tall leggy people, and it showed. It was terrible!  I'll definitely be asking to spar against the two incredibly tall people in our dojo just so that I learn some tricks and will be prepared for the situation in the future.  In the end nothing mattered as my second place won me my much desired spot on Team Canada for the Pan Am Tournament.

As a small side note: THINGS TO REMEMBER- Just because you kick someones butt simply by punching them does not give you the excuse not to use your legs!! 

Yesterday evening was spent celebrating Kim and my birthday's and our success at the tournament. Both my Dojo-mates medaled, and one of them also won a spot on the team! I wish I had more time with my beloved Kim-lady . The time spent with her was like a breath of warm sweet air on a mighty cold winters day... the type that warms you up inside and tickles you all the way down to your toes. I love you to pieces Kim! Thank you for cheering me on! 

The art of understanding the tournament process and belt tests.

January 22, Sylvan lake Alberta, Arashi Do Tournament.

I really enjoy tournaments. One of the most wonderful things to do is to watch other styles of martial arts being preformed. Kung Fu is like a dance, very fluid and connected. In sparring it's mostly defensive. As I watched the Kung Fu student fight, I noticed that he used his hands in continuous circular motions. As a fighter studying an opponent, I found myself distracted by it. I suppose the best way to deal with it would be to draw him out of the defensive position, and then score as he tries to be offensive. Taekwon-do has very fancy foot work. One of my teammates managed to take a flying side kick to the head. The kick, in itself, was simply amazing. Only in my wildest dreams would I be able to get that much air into a kick. My teammates luck in receiving it though,  was not so good. I am sure he suffered a small concussion from it.  Arashi- do has similar techniques and style as we do. Their kata's are close in comparison but you can definitely tell that we come from different Dojo's.

Sparring in tournaments are a point of frustration for me. I am sure, that as I attend more, I will get used to the points and the judges. I think it  really does come down to experience. I find that I still favor certain techniques, especially kicks with my legs. I also seem to forget my combos in a tournament setting. I have started to write combos down and am trying to practice them in hopes that my body will eventually remember them without me having to take the ten seconds to think of them first. As one of my sensei's said, the best way to describe sparring is a physical chess game. You have to measure your opponents skill and find areas where you can score points. One does not simply spread out the chess pieces and rush into battle. Test your opponent, find out what will work and what won't. I have tonnes of time to figure this out, and I am sure I will.

January 30th 2011.

Sick as a dog once again, I went into my belt test. I did pass. My marks were not as high as I hoped they would be, however taking into account that my lungs were spastic and my sinuses full and draining at the same time, I think that I did  fine. Things  I need to work on: ... nerves. The beginning of my Kata was way too fast. I allowed my nerves to get the better of me and the next thing you know I was speeding through my knife and spear hands, not paying attention to where my thumbs were and voila, marks were being deducted. The other mistakes that cost me were those typical silly mistakes that you make when you aren't coping with your nerves. My roundhouse kicks were moving more like  front kick. I didn't punch hard enough on the reverse punches during the traditional techniques . My fighting stance was a little narrower than usual. I can't remember what went wrong on my self defense except that I did have trouble on the cross hand wrist grab. Something funky was going on with my uki's wrist and I couldn't get it in the right position to do it. I had to try it twice before I got it. Despite all of the silly mistakes I am very happy I am now an orange belt. This next year will be full of fun things like flying kicks and jumping kicks and spinning kicks!

Today:

 I am preparing for the tournament that could possibly define my whole year. Next weekend is the Can Am Classic in Regina should I take first or second in sparring or Kata I have a chance to represent team Canada in Junes Pan Am Games. I will be there and try my very best.  I am at this point trying to keep Heian Nidan the finely honed powerhouse kata that it is, as well as make sure I don't damage myself prior to the tournament. It would also help if my Asthma would stop acting up. This tournament has very important meaning to me as I am doing it in memory of Angela Michael. One of my very best friends lost his mom a few years ago and the tournament falls on the anniversary of her death. She was a wonderful person, and is sorely missed.
Also, two more words: ROAD TRIP! Two other teammates and myself are all traveling together in the AnneMobile!  I am sure it will be a blast! Not to mention that I get to see another kindred spirit in Regina. I miss my Kim so much and I can't wait to share a day with her!!