Tuesday, November 20, 2007

brain fart

The saga continues. We had a poomsae competition a couple Saturdays ago. The location was new so I had google mapped it. Turns out google was wrong. I ended up stopping at both a Village Inn and convenience store to get to the place. We were running late but they started late so we were in good shape there. After the initial demonstration, we all got sent to our separate rings for competition. The rings were divided into age bracket and then the individual competitions were divided by belt level.

They started with the lower belt levels and worked their way up. There was only 1 other competitor in my belt level and I have gotten to know her through the class. Her son is a black belt already. He's actually quite good. As we were waiting our turn, she leaned over and told me that at least this year she would get 2nd place as compared to last competition. I responded that knowing me, I would hear my one of my daughter's names over the intercom and draw a complete blank and she would end up in first. Note, that did not happen. When it came to our turn, both of our names were called out. The procedure is to stand up with a "Yes, Maam!" (our lead judge was a lady), bow, turn around and fix our uniform, proceed to the corner of the ring, bow in and then proceed in straight lines to our positions. We then get asked to present ourselves which is a little formal introduction. After that, they tell us to begin and we do our form.

Well, I blew it after the "Yes, Maam!". At least I got her gender correct. Forgot to bow. Caught myself. Turned around and bowed. Did the rest ok. However, I got thrown through a loop where they asked me to "attention" and then begin. The rest is a complete space out. I know I threw the wrong block at one point and then corrected myself midstream. At
the end, she said "attention" and I turned around expecting that to be next. Needless, to say, that was the end of my day.

Both my oldest daughter and my youngest daughter also didn't make it out of the first round. I didn't get to see my oldest daughter compete at all. My wife said she did ok but wasn't quite as good as her competition. My youngest daughter was just edged out by her competition. When they announced results though, she about broke out into tears right away and did later when we got to the side of the ring. She also cried when she didn't win a costume contest with about 60 other kids either. She's just that way. Sometimes I wonder if competing at age 7 is something worthwhile or not. She needs to learn how to be a good sport but I don't know what age is best to begin that sort of learning.

Last night we were going through everything we need to know for our next belt level. When we got to kicking combinations, I drew a complete blank again. The instructor told me to just sit down and watch the first round of people and then he had me go with the next group. Luckily, I remembered it all by then. I need to figure out how to get past this memory issue. Especially when there is the slightest bit of pressure.

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