Hello all!
After this last competition I'm on a break from competing for a while with new goals to keep me busy in the mean time. Before I get into the focus let's recap what's been going up to this point.
Research: I did a lot of reading (and lots of information finding, still tons of reading to do) and have pretty much covered all areas and questions I had about planning out this awesome trip so now it's down to just waiting until the time gets closer. It's amazing how easily everything can be found online, I'll still post any articles I find helpful on here so if you've been liking them keep watch. Other than that my focus for research is going more onto finding people and places willing to help me out, take me in, train me up/beat me down on this trip. Soon I'll start checking areas out city by city and sending out a 'Hi, here's my story' line and see what comes up. I have almost a year and half to get to know people and make connections, might as well use it. If you are or know anyone interested, sites/forums to use, people to try contacting, etc. send me a line!
Training: I've been training a lot, or as much as I usually do, but not just on my BJJ. I've been focusing on Japanese style lately, getting back into it, since I took a break from it with the all the competitions. There's actually two styles I've been training, the Goshin style I've been doing for a while now, which is more the traditional self defence standing techniques and also Kokodo, which is basically Jedi wristlocks. I'm a fan of both, they compliment my Jiu-Jitsu, both self defence and sport very well and keep me intrigued and motivated. As far as training goals go it's just about getting a better game, progressing and learning. Belts come with time.
Competitions: This past weekend I competed in the CBJJF BC Provincials. I was feeling very good for it, having trained hard and really put together a good game plan for it, or so I thought. I'd like to be able to say it all went as planned and I brought home a gold medal, but that's not the case. I fought hard against two big guys and did my best, which is in the end all anyone could ask for. I admit it hurts losing. But competing is still fun and in my opinion much needed in order to truly evolve your Jiu-Jitsu. I don't like losing but the fun I have at the competitions meeting people and making friends, watching my teammates compete and progress is worth all the adrenalin, anxiety and post competition soreness. This time I felt really down about losing, and I'm still not happy with my performance, but with it I now have new focuses for training and future competitions. I will say this, my team is one bunch of awesome people, they really picked me up with some very kind words.
New Goals!
Traveling: Coming up I'll be going on a three week traveling tour, hitting up our teammates on the mainland before heading down to good friend Prof. James "300" Foster's place in Kent, Washington and my black belt, Prof. Keith Owen's place to meet the rest of the Rhino Crash family in Meridian, Idaho. I'm really looking to this trip! Both Prof. Foster and Prof. Owen are great guys with tons of knowledge to learn from, I always look forward to them visiting us here, I can only imagine how good their clubs are, where people train under them every day. I'll be writing everything I can down so I don't miss anything. I'll be in Prof. Foster's area first week of August and in Prof. Owen's area the second week, if anyone can help or knows someone who can help out with a place to crash or something nearby and cheap to help cut costs that'd be great. Just shoot me a line, thanks!
Training/Competing: As mentioned before I've picked up training Japanese style again while not competing. Not only does it help my Jiu-Jitsu by incorporating different moves but also by seeing different views on the same or similar move. Seeing similar concepts repeat itself through different arts intrigues me, I love finding the connections, if not in the moves, the mindset. I pan on taking a more relaxing stance on my training right now, just taking it all in while I rest from competing. As for competing, I probably wont be in a competition until October, and hope to be in a lower weight class by that point, the guys at my weight right now are just too big, I'm basically at their shoulders. Diet and exercise is key, nothing crazy, just living clean and healthy.
After losing the competition I was feeling down and asked myself "What good is a warrior if his technique is gone, his skills are beaten, his body is broken, all he has is heart?"
I thought for a long time, this is what I came up with. "A warrior only needs heart, with it he can train his technique, hone his skills and push himself and make his body work. Without heart all technique, skills and athleticism is wasted." At times I feel like the only thing I have left is heart. But it's all I need.
