Karate Provincials 2015

Woke up at 7:40 am, and I didn't even want to get up. I just wanted to sleep because I was still tired from lack of sleep, Friday's double exams, and Thursday's karate practice.

Thankfully, Travis picked me and Justin up, otherwise I would have had to wake up earlier, and I would have also went to the wrong location!

We practiced our team kata for half an hour, and then out of nervousness, I tugged too hard on my gi and ripped it off its tie. Not much harm done though, I have a spare at home, thankfully.

It was a three way tie for third place for kata for me, so we redid the match and of course I lost.

Kumite was next, and since I'm a brown belt, it was free sparring. I never free sparred other than that one time on Thursday with Travis.

there were two girls who looked really good and aggressive, one was an Asian girl who went from yellow belt to brown in one day. The other girl looked equally bad ass, they were warming up well too, you can just tell by the way they were warming up. Two girls looked pretty weak and frail and one of my friends wasn't even planning to fight and was not registered, but sensei insisted and peer pressured her into it. She caved in and agreed. 

I went against the weakest looking one, and she kept backing away from because she was visibally scared and shaking. I felt so bad that I was even against her. I scored half a point and won that match. Of course the two fierce girls won theirs, leaving one in tears. 

To be honest, after winning the first round, I felt more relaxed about the whole thing. I stood my ground, everyone didn't expect it to happen. My sister and everyone said it was "very intense" and that we were "at each other's throats". It was quite thrilling. I was relaxed and fully aware of what i was doing and I knew when I was being attacked and how to respond, but a lot of times my body just didn't! something I have anticipated.

To see which of the three of us would qualify for first, second and third, we ALL fought each other. It was so much fun. It was a point match, whoever scores most in 2 minutes wins. In one of the fights, I was tied with the girl up until the last 30 seconds in which she got me.
While fighting with the Asian girl, we kicked each other's kicks, it was absolutely wicked. Then when the judge called us out to stand at our lines like this:

We were at the lines, but we were both still in sparring positions that the judge told us to loosen up, or relax or to not be so tense. Then we looked at each other and stood up smiling at our eagerness like little aggressive idiots. It was funny. Sparring was really fun with those two girls, even though I lost both matches. I came in third, but regardless, I was congratulated by my friends and senseis and even one of the judges came to me telling me that I did great, but the only reason why my punches weren't scoring points was because they were hook punched to the head, instead of straight jabs or straight punches. So, it was my form, not my performance. 

Also, travis' nose was bruised from the other day, that his sensei was impressed I did that. Can't believe I bruised a man's nose with gloves on. Quite scary.

It was fun, I wasn't sure if I had it in me and now I know! I like to spar and to face paint! 

Also, since there was only one other team competing for coloured team kata, we managed to win first place. 

My legs were killing me, I tripped on the stairs and fell back on my seat and I did end up cutting my upper lip on the inside, but it didn't bleed much and i was a bit raw.

Also, my sis was only able to record my first fight with the girl that was petrified. Then the phone hanged on her while she was videotaping my third fight, causing it not to record then my second fight's video would not even play as it says it does not exist. This made me really upset and frustrated 'cause I really wanted to see myself spar and see what I did, and what everyone thought was so amazing. Was it that I took them off by surprise, or was it that I was that good, or was it cause I was clashing a lot and didn't back down.

I wish not to discuss the rest, for it was sad.