Upcoming tourney

[bushido_man96]

Sounds like you had a good time, and you came back with something very important....new information!! Glad you had fun!

[cathal]

OK so first impression: holy cow. The room is full of black belts and they are intimidating. Some are quite literally jumping off the walls. The rest are sparring, and doing some perfect katas. I pick a small corner and start practicing my own kata. But even though they aren't on my team they help me refine some of my techniques. I'm amazed at both the willingness to help and their level of knowledge. I levelled out quite a bit, shed my nervousness and got into it. It truly is a community.

Regrettably I was eliminated in both my kata & kumite but I have come back home with a tonne of information, sparring exercises & drills, one-on-one advice from senior black belts and one of our Masters, and I feel like I have truly achieved something truly great. We train in Shotokan with a principle called "Mind like the Moon" which means we train & spar without feeling, emotion, nervousness, anxiety, etc. While sparring this weekend I was completely blank...no emotion, no fear, nothing. Just sparring.

Now...how to articulate this to my peers back home.