Talkin Tiger

    What a day. Saturday July 9th, 2022. The Tiger Challenge. It's back! After a few years of online events (thank you Covid), we finally got to do this the way it was meant to be done, live and in person. From the opening Lion dance all the way to the black belt sparring, it was a full day of absolute awesomeness. There were smiles and tears, ohhs and ahhs, but in the end I think everyone had a great time. 

   Then there is the lessons I learned from the day. There are many but I will only talk about two. 

   First one is sparring. Ah sparring, in my mind I am Donny Yen, in reality I am PeeWee Herman. I flailed, I turtled, I hesitated, I closed my eyes and wildly swung at the air hitting nothing but my pride and ego. Well suffice to say I just plain old fashion stunk. It was eye opening, thankfully my opponent took mercy on me and only slightly schooled me. What the heck just happened? What do you mean that shadow sparring isn't the same as real sparring, my shadow never hits or kicks me back. Needless to say, I was ill prepared for this. Back to the drawing board on this one.

   Next on my hit list is my hand form. Arrgg!! Good Grief!! I rushed, I didn't finish moves, I got mad at myself while midst form (which doomed me), come on Don, you know better than this, darn it (this blog is PG13 rated so yes, darn it).  I can do my form nicely (in my opinion of course) when I am practicing on my own, but put me in front of someone and BANG out comes my stupid ego. Flow - gone, Technique - none, Intent - what intent,  "Don smash puny form - show who boss', what a 💩💨 I am. I was not happy with myself when I walked out of the ring. But it was an priceless lesson. And some of the advice I received after was pure gold. Now am I smart enough to learn from it?

   So I am going to stop the self pity party there lest you think the day was in any way a negative experience. It was not, at all, even for 1 second. I loved the day. I wish we could do that every month, seriously I do. The most tired part of me was probably my face from smiling so much, with every other muscle and joint a close second. I need to keep everything I did yesterday fresh in my mind so I can improve on it (maybe by blogging like this - wow - who'd a thunk). 

   I also what to thank all of those who put in the time and effort to make this day happen, you folks are #1 in my books, thank you.