here tiger, tiger, tiger

The in house tournament is fast approaching. I feel very unprepared. I am doing all I can to be prepared, practice practice practice. I feel that the bar is so much higher this year now that I'm among the black belts. So intimidating! I was surprised to hear how many black belts and other students aren't competing after asking around this week. Something else I've learned by asking around is that most people that are competing really don't like competing, myself included. I hate being in front of people performing or talking...especially when you are being judged based on that performance. So why do we have a tournament every year if no one wants to compete in it? My thoughts on this are that this is a priceless opportunity. You are cheating yourself of a valuable training exercise by not entering. It's extremely hard to replicate a stress response in yourself while just practicing in class or during open training, the tournament gives this to you. I remember the first tournament I sparred in, I was a green belt I think...it was continuous sparring and we were about 30 seconds or so in and I thought I was going to pass out. My mind was racing and I thought oh my god I can't breath! I then realized I had been holding my breath for the entire match so far. What a relief to let that breath out! When placed in a stressful situation I hadn't had the presence of mind to breath...thought that one was automatic! How will you ever use anything you have learned and practiced at kung fu if you can't even remember how to breath when you are in a situation that you need to use it? Don't miss the opportunity to use this powerful training tool, you won't regret it. The practice you put into preparing is never wasted time no matter if you place or not in competition, plus you can say you had the courage to put yourself out there. You're training to be a martial artist- get out there!