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darren_strangerRegular classes wound up last week with a grading on Monday then our usual break-up night on Thursday (though i swear it seems only a term since last year's). At the suggestion of a couple of the parents, we also put on a short display of some black belt patterns and self-defence routines for the junior students. I found i was much more nervous doing a pattern in front of them than a whole table full of 6th and 7th Dans, which is probably to be expected as i've got more investment in inspiring these kids than scoring well in some competition. It was good fun though, and an idea i think we could make something of with a bit more preparation.
Over the break we have poomsae classes to refine techniques for competition. I'm looking forward to doing the training, though again i have reservations about where it's leading to in the longer term. I was disappointed this year to miss out on going to Korea, but at the time i just couldn't afford the trip to Sydney for the qualifiers (let alone knowing where the funding for Korea would have come from) and, until David mentioned it, i hadn't even considered that this meant being on the Australian national team, with the extra training and time commitment that's required for that.
Trouble is, not much has changed since then. Money is still stupidly tight (every week seems to involve counting coins to see what food we can afford to buy at Aldi) and that doesn't look like changing any time soon. While i may be able to put the money i get for teaching toward any travel for the qualifying competition (the next one i think is in Sydney early next year) i still don't know how any overseas travel gets paid for, plus whatever other national competitions might be involved. Then there's the training - if we were to make the national team, there would certainly be special training involved, but even the three times a week i train now are a sore point at home, and i don't think additional nights away from home will go down well at all (unless they're early morning sessions, which in turn will be interesting to get to by public transport). Even just for myself, i also don't want to be spending too much of my time on patterns at the expense of other areas i need to work on, like self-defence or sparring. To my way of thinking, the fact that poomsae is my strongest area means i should be spending more time working on other skills, but i can forsee sessions spent practising patterns week after week while others get to work on different things.
So i don't know what to do about it. I'm meeting up with David and Barry tonight to practise as a group, but i'm worried about starting something i'm not going to follow through, and about letting people down when i've said i'll do something.
(edit - next day)
At training last night, i realised one thing i'd forgotten in all that - this is something i enjoy. Really enjoy. Churning through a pattern in unison with David and Barry, finding our timing on a section and moving in synch, it felt great. I want to do this. Somehow, i'll make it happen.
Over the break we have poomsae classes to refine techniques for competition. I'm looking forward to doing the training, though again i have reservations about where it's leading to in the longer term. I was disappointed this year to miss out on going to Korea, but at the time i just couldn't afford the trip to Sydney for the qualifiers (let alone knowing where the funding for Korea would have come from) and, until David mentioned it, i hadn't even considered that this meant being on the Australian national team, with the extra training and time commitment that's required for that.
Trouble is, not much has changed since then. Money is still stupidly tight (every week seems to involve counting coins to see what food we can afford to buy at Aldi) and that doesn't look like changing any time soon. While i may be able to put the money i get for teaching toward any travel for the qualifying competition (the next one i think is in Sydney early next year) i still don't know how any overseas travel gets paid for, plus whatever other national competitions might be involved. Then there's the training - if we were to make the national team, there would certainly be special training involved, but even the three times a week i train now are a sore point at home, and i don't think additional nights away from home will go down well at all (unless they're early morning sessions, which in turn will be interesting to get to by public transport). Even just for myself, i also don't want to be spending too much of my time on patterns at the expense of other areas i need to work on, like self-defence or sparring. To my way of thinking, the fact that poomsae is my strongest area means i should be spending more time working on other skills, but i can forsee sessions spent practising patterns week after week while others get to work on different things.
So i don't know what to do about it. I'm meeting up with David and Barry tonight to practise as a group, but i'm worried about starting something i'm not going to follow through, and about letting people down when i've said i'll do something.
(edit - next day)
At training last night, i realised one thing i'd forgotten in all that - this is something i enjoy. Really enjoy. Churning through a pattern in unison with David and Barry, finding our timing on a section and moving in synch, it felt great. I want to do this. Somehow, i'll make it happen.
