tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post1132236951225315206..comments2023-09-22T10:50:05.462-04:00Comments on Bushido Road: Miles to Go...Feliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09017194727231120284noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post-10743269569465283872011-03-08T13:09:35.593-05:002011-03-08T13:09:35.593-05:00Marie, my son started just after his 10th birthday...Marie, my son started just after his 10th birthday. He will be 18 in a few months and is an amazing karateka. He's also a dancer, so oozing grace and poise is what he does. But in my heart, I KNOW it was the martial arts training, LOL I'm sure your children will thank you for such an amazing gift :-)<br /><br />Michele, I don't compete that often - maybe 2-3 times a year - but every time I do, I think "Y'know, I ought to do this more!" Time and finances (college tuition deposit due in four short months!!) always say otherwise. But I do enjoy it a whooooole lot :-)Feliciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09017194727231120284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post-9699249582093323672011-02-24T09:20:26.605-05:002011-02-24T09:20:26.605-05:00Congratulations Felicia!
"It's fun and I...Congratulations Felicia!<br /><br />"It's fun and I enjoy it." - Sounds like a great reason to compete. :)Michelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317845403611730397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post-81543627816442636632011-02-22T09:14:57.149-05:002011-02-22T09:14:57.149-05:00I totally have that Robert Frost poem in my head n...I totally have that Robert Frost poem in my head now! LOL.<br /><br />Well done for competing and what a great opportunity for your students.<br /><br />Like Sue I hear you on the wishing you'd started earlier. I only started training in 2009 (at the grand old age of 33!). I never really had any interest in martial arts growning up but I totally wish I'd known then what I know now.... you couldn't have kept me out of a dojo if that were the case.<br /><br />I'm really glad that I'm able to give my DD (and soon my DS once he's old enough) the gift of martial arts study from a young age. It can only serve them well in life.<br /><br />xMx.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03272574764983174076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post-33153219535921644002011-02-21T12:11:41.019-05:002011-02-21T12:11:41.019-05:00Thanks, Sue - but I don't think that it is an ...Thanks, Sue - but I don't think that it is an accolade I deserve at all. That's hard to swallow for me, but it is what it is, I guess.<br /><br />In track, medals were usually the name of the game. I always hated it when anyone wore their medals around after they stepped off the awards stand - always seemed so showy and unnecessary. This four-foot monstrosity reminds me of that - so I've been telling folks that I finished next to last.<br /><br />I might have stepped away from training at some point, too, if I'd started earlier - who knows? But I think you are right - we are where we are for a reason...Feliciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09017194727231120284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post-76974001850649080322011-02-21T11:13:22.719-05:002011-02-21T11:13:22.719-05:00Hi Felicia, congrats on your trophy and well done ...Hi Felicia, congrats on your trophy and well done for having the courage to compete. <br /><br />I understand what you are saying when you say you wished you'd started karate as a pre-teen. The same would be true for me but I honestly think that now is the right time for me to be learning karate - my mind is in the right place for it and I have the time to give to it. If I'd started as a youngster I think I would have given up by the time I left school and never have trained as hard as I do now. Some of us are destined to start our karate journeys later in life than others (and our lives be the richer for having waited)Sue Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16008609198511182782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post-43480335216574382462011-02-21T09:47:21.953-05:002011-02-21T09:47:21.953-05:00Watching the youngest set compete really made me w...Watching the youngest set compete really made me wish I would have started earlier - say when I was 10 or so. If I would have slipped off my shoes and stepped on the mat when i was a pre-teen, I'd have 30 years of training under my belt! In my mind, I think that things will only get better with time and training, but my body may say otherwise! Time is quite the equalizer...<br /><br />Rick, I hear you, but there's still something different about competition kata. For me, the crowd really isn't the thing, but the judging is. The ring becomes a fishbowl when there are five senior dans examining your every move. It suddenly becomes much more a question of what they THOUGHT of the kata than what the kata is/means to you. When I present, I've gotta tell them who I am, my style, school and form name. When I train, I just do - proving the old adage my sensei mentions all the time about kata totally true: kata doesn't change, YOU change...Feliciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09017194727231120284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post-25937062598797828242011-02-20T21:18:38.009-05:002011-02-20T21:18:38.009-05:00In your home, at the dojo or in front of a crowd; ...In your home, at the dojo or in front of a crowd; it's the same kata.Rick Matzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09699550034693340637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373833978949742595.post-26337275188900093752011-02-20T20:02:11.064-05:002011-02-20T20:02:11.064-05:00Congrats on competing Felicia...it can be fun...my...Congrats on competing Felicia...it can be fun...my last tournament was in 1975 in a Kyokushin group...I took a third in kumite and won a pair of getas!...plus bruised ribs and very sore feet.<br /><br />I give you credit and you have my deepest respect starting Karate at an age when many of our peers are thinking of the easy life...hands palm to palm.David "Shinzen" Nelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17361987240669832512noreply@blogger.com