As I am reading about barren women in the Bible and why God did this to them, I start to think about why God is not giving me what I want. I know there are a lot of ways to explain why God left these women like Sarah and Ruth barren, but as I relate it to my life I see He did it to open their eyes. God had other plans for these women and their husbands.
It's hard and it hurts when you want something so bad that you pray everyday all day. It kills you inside when you see others with what you want but you can't have it. It doesn't seem fair. Infertility is obviously not my problem, but there are other things I beg God for but my prayers remain unanswered. As I step back and relate my requests to the requests of the barren women in the Bible, I can see a resemblance.
I think God sometimes doesn't answer prayers because He wants us to open our eyes to other things going on in our lives. Sometimes when we are happy with what we have, we can miss the big picture or we can miss the little things that need to be noticed. If the childless people in the Bible were busy with kids, would they have had the time and attention to do God's work?
I know that God has taken things from me and not give other things to me that I really really want. Things that I think define me and things that I have always wanted. I admit that sometimes I get pretty pissed off at God. But as I think about why God does this, I realize that I am not being punished. God wants me to pay attention to other things in my life. He wants me to appreciate what I have, or find new ways to define myself.
I am still struggling with the journey, but I have to take time to reflect on what it is God wants me to do right now. Maybe my prayers will never be answered, and maybe thats a good thing. I think of Garth Brook's song "Unanswered Prayers" and know that there are things I am glad God didn't make happen. However, it the midst of pain and want, it's hard to see that God has a better plan.
I'll continue to pray and keep my eyes open.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
I Must Be a Genius
I was getting really annoyed with people in the past. I referred to some people as stupid idiots, morons, dumb, and other similar things. But I got to thinking, maybe the problem isn't with other people. I mean, there can't be THAT many stupid people, can there? Maybe the problem is with me. Perhaps I am such a genius and shouldn't expect other people to be a genius. Here is why I must be a genius:
1) I'm one of the few people in the United States that can figure out that the left lanes on highways are for passing. They are not supposed to be for people to leisurely drive the speed limits on. They are not for the slow nervous driver, or for people to drive side by side with the people in the right lane. I guess maybe this is hard to comprehend if you are not a genius, right?
2) I think it must be hard for people who are not geniuses to remember to flush the toilets in public restrooms. It seems that this happens a lot, so I guess it must be me that is smart enough to remember to do it, and not other people being too stupid to remember.
3) I don't know if this is pure genius or incredible endurance on my part, but I seem to be the only person in my household that can get trash in the trash can, dirty dishes in the sink, and dirty clothes on the laundry basket. Maybe its just hard to find the trash cans, sinks, and hampers. Sometimes the dishes end up on the counter right next to the sink, and the same for dirty clothes right next to the hamper. So maybe others just don't have the endurance to make it ALL the way to the hamper and sink.
4) Another reason I am a genius is because I am the only person at my house that can actually put a roll of toilet paper onto the toilet paper dispenser. It's an amazingly complicated process, and I'm glad one of us in the house can figure this out.
5) At the gym, I am one of the few people that can actually remember where I got my equipment from after I use it. It must take a lot of brain power to get equipment, use it, and then remember where that equipment came from. I know that dumbbells and plates are supposed to go back on racks, and I know that the cable attachments did not come with me in my gym bag.
6) Counting must be something the smarter few of us can do, especially at the grocery store. The ten items or less checkout line is very complicated. I mean counting to ten and deciding if you have more or less is hard. I mean, 30 items can be hard to decipher from 10...right?
7) Chewing gum and walking is difficult, I admit, but chewing and keeping your mouth shut must be even harder. I am one of a handful that can eat popcorn and candy at a movie theater without chewing with my mouth open disturbing those around me. I can EVEN chew gum and not pop it when there are people near me. Yes, I know...GENIUS!
What do you think, am I a genius? Maybe you are too!
1) I'm one of the few people in the United States that can figure out that the left lanes on highways are for passing. They are not supposed to be for people to leisurely drive the speed limits on. They are not for the slow nervous driver, or for people to drive side by side with the people in the right lane. I guess maybe this is hard to comprehend if you are not a genius, right?
2) I think it must be hard for people who are not geniuses to remember to flush the toilets in public restrooms. It seems that this happens a lot, so I guess it must be me that is smart enough to remember to do it, and not other people being too stupid to remember.
3) I don't know if this is pure genius or incredible endurance on my part, but I seem to be the only person in my household that can get trash in the trash can, dirty dishes in the sink, and dirty clothes on the laundry basket. Maybe its just hard to find the trash cans, sinks, and hampers. Sometimes the dishes end up on the counter right next to the sink, and the same for dirty clothes right next to the hamper. So maybe others just don't have the endurance to make it ALL the way to the hamper and sink.
4) Another reason I am a genius is because I am the only person at my house that can actually put a roll of toilet paper onto the toilet paper dispenser. It's an amazingly complicated process, and I'm glad one of us in the house can figure this out.
5) At the gym, I am one of the few people that can actually remember where I got my equipment from after I use it. It must take a lot of brain power to get equipment, use it, and then remember where that equipment came from. I know that dumbbells and plates are supposed to go back on racks, and I know that the cable attachments did not come with me in my gym bag.
6) Counting must be something the smarter few of us can do, especially at the grocery store. The ten items or less checkout line is very complicated. I mean counting to ten and deciding if you have more or less is hard. I mean, 30 items can be hard to decipher from 10...right?
7) Chewing gum and walking is difficult, I admit, but chewing and keeping your mouth shut must be even harder. I am one of a handful that can eat popcorn and candy at a movie theater without chewing with my mouth open disturbing those around me. I can EVEN chew gum and not pop it when there are people near me. Yes, I know...GENIUS!
What do you think, am I a genius? Maybe you are too!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Growing Up, But not Really
As I was picking out the marshmallows from my Lucky Charms, I started to think of all the things that we never really grow out of. There are things I loved as a kid that no longer hold much appeal to me as an adult. As a little girl I loved Barbies, now I would rather dress myself up than dress up Barbie. But there are other things that I loved as a kid still enjoy to this day.
1) The marshmallows out of Lucky Charms. Yes, I buy the box, pick out the marshmallows, eat the marshmallows, and feed the yucky oat things to my dog. This is great! As a kid, my mom would make me eat the yucky things, and now I get to enjoy Lucky Charms the way they were meant to be enjoyed.
2) Bubble Baths. I love a good bubble bath! A normal bath is just gross and disgusting. Add bubble, and VOILA! Instant relaxation. As a kid I loved to make beards on my face (okay, I still do this too...shhhh!), make my toys play in the bubbles, and blow the bubbles onto the shower walls. Now I enjoy the bubbles with some candles, a book, and maybe even a glass of wine.
3) Rainbows. As a kid I would get excited about every rainbow I saw, even if it was just the light reflecting off glass or something. But now, even as an adult, I still enjoy a good rainbow. I will run out the door to look in the sky if somebody says there is a rainbow. I didn't know the Biblical story behind the rainbow as a kid, but I do now. I still think they are pretty, magical, and now I know the story behind them.
4. Chocolate...'nuf said
5. Orange and Grape soda. Okay this stuff just rocks. As a kid I was limited to the amount of consumption by my parents, as an adult I'm limited because I know that too much of it will still give me a bellyache. But they are so good!
6. Riding my bike. As a kid this was my main form of tranportation. I road my bike EVERYWHERE! That was the joy of living in a small town (Shout out: Danville, Kentucky!) But my friends, brothers, and I didn't really think of it as a chore. Riding bikes was fun. I even remember playing CHiPs with my brother. I got to be Ponch, my brother liked John because John had the night stick. Anyway, as a kid riding bikes was fun, now it is still nice and relaxing. It's almost a relief not to have to drive somewhere.
7. Going to the movies. This was a treat for my brothers and me growing up. We loved driving to the bigger towns and getting to watch the movies on the big screen and eating that awesome popcorn. Yeah, it's still just as awesome, but now I have a movie theater in my own town!!! Wooo hooo!
8. Playing dress up. As a kid I loved to dress up in my mom's clothes, loved playing with halloween costumes, heck I even enjoyed wearing my brothers clothes. It was great to pretend, change looks, or just get fancy. I still love this. I love getting dressed up to go out, and I still love halloween costumes. Its just plain fun
This list could go on...What are some of the things you still enjoy doing that you loved doing as a kid?
1) The marshmallows out of Lucky Charms. Yes, I buy the box, pick out the marshmallows, eat the marshmallows, and feed the yucky oat things to my dog. This is great! As a kid, my mom would make me eat the yucky things, and now I get to enjoy Lucky Charms the way they were meant to be enjoyed.
2) Bubble Baths. I love a good bubble bath! A normal bath is just gross and disgusting. Add bubble, and VOILA! Instant relaxation. As a kid I loved to make beards on my face (okay, I still do this too...shhhh!), make my toys play in the bubbles, and blow the bubbles onto the shower walls. Now I enjoy the bubbles with some candles, a book, and maybe even a glass of wine.
3) Rainbows. As a kid I would get excited about every rainbow I saw, even if it was just the light reflecting off glass or something. But now, even as an adult, I still enjoy a good rainbow. I will run out the door to look in the sky if somebody says there is a rainbow. I didn't know the Biblical story behind the rainbow as a kid, but I do now. I still think they are pretty, magical, and now I know the story behind them.
4. Chocolate...'nuf said
5. Orange and Grape soda. Okay this stuff just rocks. As a kid I was limited to the amount of consumption by my parents, as an adult I'm limited because I know that too much of it will still give me a bellyache. But they are so good!
6. Riding my bike. As a kid this was my main form of tranportation. I road my bike EVERYWHERE! That was the joy of living in a small town (Shout out: Danville, Kentucky!) But my friends, brothers, and I didn't really think of it as a chore. Riding bikes was fun. I even remember playing CHiPs with my brother. I got to be Ponch, my brother liked John because John had the night stick. Anyway, as a kid riding bikes was fun, now it is still nice and relaxing. It's almost a relief not to have to drive somewhere.
7. Going to the movies. This was a treat for my brothers and me growing up. We loved driving to the bigger towns and getting to watch the movies on the big screen and eating that awesome popcorn. Yeah, it's still just as awesome, but now I have a movie theater in my own town!!! Wooo hooo!
8. Playing dress up. As a kid I loved to dress up in my mom's clothes, loved playing with halloween costumes, heck I even enjoyed wearing my brothers clothes. It was great to pretend, change looks, or just get fancy. I still love this. I love getting dressed up to go out, and I still love halloween costumes. Its just plain fun
This list could go on...What are some of the things you still enjoy doing that you loved doing as a kid?
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Karate Tournament Bull___
I have done so many different martial-arts tournaments that I can't even count them. I have trophy's that have over taken my garage, I've given some away, and I've thrown many of them away. I had fun doing tournaments because I liked meeting people and pushing myself, but I am officially retired from tournaments.
Like I said, I liked doing tournaments because I liked pushing myself and they were a learning experience. But what I have come to realize at this point in my training is that I can no longer use tournaments to measure how I am progressing. I can't rely on tournaments to tell me if my forms are getting better, or if my sparing is improving. The judging is simply not fair! The system is broken.
The biggest problem at tournaments is the lack of fair and consistent judging on forms/kata. I have been to tournaments in 5 different organizations, and it is always the same. Judges are either unqualified, unfair, or lazy.
Unqualified judges have no idea what to look for, so all of the scores are inconsistent. They pick one aspect of technique and if the competitor did it, they give them a high score even if the competitor is missing all of the other elements. Other unqualified judges might score the first competitor too high, and then there is no room to go up on the scoring so the true winner cannot score higher. One of my favorite unqualified judge is the one who looks to see what the other judges score and then copy that. The list for these judges is a mile long. I cannot rely on these judges to test whether or not I am doing what I am supposed to because they have no idea what is going on.
The unfair judges are the most common. They are the ones that just want their friends, students, or instructors to win. They will score their favorite high just because they want them to win, or even score a competitor unfairly low because they don't like that person. I've gone to these judges in the past and asked why I did not do so well and they couldn't give me a real answer because they didn't judge fairly.
Lazy judges just don't care. They like the "power" of judging the competitors, but they don't take judging to heart. I watched 6th degree black belts center judge rings and they are not even looking in the direction of the competitor. I've seen other judges give the same score to every single competitor, and it was obvious the competitors did not deserve the same scores. Of course these judges can't be relied on to tell me if I am improving or not because they were not even paying attention.
When I judged Power Tumbling (a part of gymnastics), the judges got a score card. The judges had to make sure the competitors had the required elements, and all of the technical issues were listed on the card. Granted, this didn't help with unfair judging completely, but at least there was consistancy. Plus, the competitors knew exactly what was expected of them. Martial-arts needs to start using something like this for forms competitions.
Sparing has some of the same issues. I commend the Olympics for trying to make it more fair with the electronic scoring devices. Hopefully these can be past down to other martial-arts tournaments as well.
All in all, I am peeved and I am done with competing.
Like I said, I liked doing tournaments because I liked pushing myself and they were a learning experience. But what I have come to realize at this point in my training is that I can no longer use tournaments to measure how I am progressing. I can't rely on tournaments to tell me if my forms are getting better, or if my sparing is improving. The judging is simply not fair! The system is broken.
The biggest problem at tournaments is the lack of fair and consistent judging on forms/kata. I have been to tournaments in 5 different organizations, and it is always the same. Judges are either unqualified, unfair, or lazy.
Unqualified judges have no idea what to look for, so all of the scores are inconsistent. They pick one aspect of technique and if the competitor did it, they give them a high score even if the competitor is missing all of the other elements. Other unqualified judges might score the first competitor too high, and then there is no room to go up on the scoring so the true winner cannot score higher. One of my favorite unqualified judge is the one who looks to see what the other judges score and then copy that. The list for these judges is a mile long. I cannot rely on these judges to test whether or not I am doing what I am supposed to because they have no idea what is going on.
The unfair judges are the most common. They are the ones that just want their friends, students, or instructors to win. They will score their favorite high just because they want them to win, or even score a competitor unfairly low because they don't like that person. I've gone to these judges in the past and asked why I did not do so well and they couldn't give me a real answer because they didn't judge fairly.
Lazy judges just don't care. They like the "power" of judging the competitors, but they don't take judging to heart. I watched 6th degree black belts center judge rings and they are not even looking in the direction of the competitor. I've seen other judges give the same score to every single competitor, and it was obvious the competitors did not deserve the same scores. Of course these judges can't be relied on to tell me if I am improving or not because they were not even paying attention.
When I judged Power Tumbling (a part of gymnastics), the judges got a score card. The judges had to make sure the competitors had the required elements, and all of the technical issues were listed on the card. Granted, this didn't help with unfair judging completely, but at least there was consistancy. Plus, the competitors knew exactly what was expected of them. Martial-arts needs to start using something like this for forms competitions.
Sparing has some of the same issues. I commend the Olympics for trying to make it more fair with the electronic scoring devices. Hopefully these can be past down to other martial-arts tournaments as well.
All in all, I am peeved and I am done with competing.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
No Respect
Okay, so I wasn't the best behaved kid in the world, but I was brought up respecting adults. I was not raised in a house where I was required to say ma'am and sir, but I knew that if I talked disrespectful to my parents or any adult my dad would smack my mouth clear off my face. There were kids my age that were bratty, but not very many. Teachers, parents, grandparents, coaches, etc just did not put up with it.
After teaching martial-arts the past 5 years and being around my children's friends, I am shocked how kids treat and speak to adults. There are great kids, very respectful kids, and super polite kids, but there are also the rudest kids out there. I have crazy wild kids, but until recently they never acted like they were my superior. I guess that is the problem that I personally see with many of the kids I come in contact with or watch. They have this attitude that they are some how more important, smarter, or even wield more power than adults. I've always been annoyed by it, but I've blown it off because it wasn't my problem. I had other issues with my kids, until recently. My kids stopped saying ma'am and sir, have hardly said please and thank you, and pretty much stopped with all pleasantries all together. I AM NOT HAVING THAT!!!!
I know part of it is testing their limits to see what they can get away with, but they've hit the limit and keep pushing and pushing past. So of course I got to thinking of what could be causing this. I started to think about what was different this summer than previous school breaks. The Damn TV! When we moved to our new house, the kids got tv's in their rooms and they have been watching a lot of cable since.
Think about those shows pre-schoolers watch. My kids' favorite was always Dora and Diego. Where are their parents? You see the mom and dad every couple of shows and all they do is ask Dora what she thinks is best. Other than that, Dora is traipsing through the jungle without parental supervision. She is doing whatever she wants.
Now that my kids are older they are into shows like iCarly and Fairly Odd Parents. Have you noticed that the parents and guardians in these shows are complete morons? It is re-inforced over and over in these shows that kids are smarter than adults, and adults are too stupid for any kind of respect.
These are just a couple of examples I can think of at the moment. But I am hoping that taking the cable out of their room and giving them quality family time will change some of this behavior.
Do any of you guys see this trend and behavior?
After teaching martial-arts the past 5 years and being around my children's friends, I am shocked how kids treat and speak to adults. There are great kids, very respectful kids, and super polite kids, but there are also the rudest kids out there. I have crazy wild kids, but until recently they never acted like they were my superior. I guess that is the problem that I personally see with many of the kids I come in contact with or watch. They have this attitude that they are some how more important, smarter, or even wield more power than adults. I've always been annoyed by it, but I've blown it off because it wasn't my problem. I had other issues with my kids, until recently. My kids stopped saying ma'am and sir, have hardly said please and thank you, and pretty much stopped with all pleasantries all together. I AM NOT HAVING THAT!!!!
I know part of it is testing their limits to see what they can get away with, but they've hit the limit and keep pushing and pushing past. So of course I got to thinking of what could be causing this. I started to think about what was different this summer than previous school breaks. The Damn TV! When we moved to our new house, the kids got tv's in their rooms and they have been watching a lot of cable since.
Think about those shows pre-schoolers watch. My kids' favorite was always Dora and Diego. Where are their parents? You see the mom and dad every couple of shows and all they do is ask Dora what she thinks is best. Other than that, Dora is traipsing through the jungle without parental supervision. She is doing whatever she wants.
Now that my kids are older they are into shows like iCarly and Fairly Odd Parents. Have you noticed that the parents and guardians in these shows are complete morons? It is re-inforced over and over in these shows that kids are smarter than adults, and adults are too stupid for any kind of respect.
These are just a couple of examples I can think of at the moment. But I am hoping that taking the cable out of their room and giving them quality family time will change some of this behavior.
Do any of you guys see this trend and behavior?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Back Surgery: What They Didn't Tell Me
It's been awhile since I have blogged about my situation with my goals in both figure competitions and martial-arts.
I've taken the summer off from martial-arts. It's been hard and a bit depressing. I really want to kick a pad, a person...just about anything will do. I miss kicking, I miss doing forms, and I miss the workout, but I told myself I would take time off so that my back can heal. I thought that if I gave my back time that I would be able to come back to martial-arts stronger than before.
Unfortunately that is not the case. Whether or not I took time off from martial-arts, my back was going to get worse. What they didn't tell me before I had my back surgery last year was that there is a risk for developing scar tissue. This scar tissue has caused me to lose flexibility and mobility. I am in a lot of pain, AGAIN.
I spent all of July doing laser treatments and getting injections to help my joints, but this did not work. I went to a pain specialist last week since none of the stuff my surgeon had been doing worked. The specialist told me that since I did initially get better after the surgery before becoming worse, the problem is more than likely scar tissue.
Tomorrow I go in for even more injections. If the medicine relieves some of the pain, then we know that the issue is in the joints. If nothing happens with the injections, then I have to go get another MRI (yay for the wallet -- NOT) to determine if it is really scar tissue.
I'm not sure what they will do if it is scar tissue, but the specialist made me believe that it is tough to remedy.
That is where I am with my training. No heavy lifting, no high impact exercise, no bending or standing for long periods of time, and multiple doctors visits a week has meant that I cannot train for neither martial-arts or figure competitions.
I've taken the summer off from martial-arts. It's been hard and a bit depressing. I really want to kick a pad, a person...just about anything will do. I miss kicking, I miss doing forms, and I miss the workout, but I told myself I would take time off so that my back can heal. I thought that if I gave my back time that I would be able to come back to martial-arts stronger than before.
Unfortunately that is not the case. Whether or not I took time off from martial-arts, my back was going to get worse. What they didn't tell me before I had my back surgery last year was that there is a risk for developing scar tissue. This scar tissue has caused me to lose flexibility and mobility. I am in a lot of pain, AGAIN.
I spent all of July doing laser treatments and getting injections to help my joints, but this did not work. I went to a pain specialist last week since none of the stuff my surgeon had been doing worked. The specialist told me that since I did initially get better after the surgery before becoming worse, the problem is more than likely scar tissue.
Tomorrow I go in for even more injections. If the medicine relieves some of the pain, then we know that the issue is in the joints. If nothing happens with the injections, then I have to go get another MRI (yay for the wallet -- NOT) to determine if it is really scar tissue.
I'm not sure what they will do if it is scar tissue, but the specialist made me believe that it is tough to remedy.
That is where I am with my training. No heavy lifting, no high impact exercise, no bending or standing for long periods of time, and multiple doctors visits a week has meant that I cannot train for neither martial-arts or figure competitions.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The US Open
Okay, today totally sucked...or maybe I sucked...or maybe both. However you want to look at it, I did not have a good first experience at the US Open.
Traditional Forms competition:
The competitors with points in the NASKA/ISKA circuits automatically scored higher than those of us without any points. I guess it's fair since they are working on being ranked, but I would have liked a fair shot to see how I really compared to those ladies. Though, I would not have scored well against them because the judges preferred Japanese style forms over the Korean style. In my age group, they did not separate the styles except for chinese. So, I started with 2 strikes against me. But it is partially my fault that I did not place. I had one of my worse form days ever. Yes, the judges complemented me on my kicks and precision, but when I watched the video of my form, I would have scored myself low. I am really disappointed in myself.
Point-Sparing:
I got SCREWED!!!!!! I was putting my gear on about 2 feet away from the ring next to my coaches/team. I got up to go check in when I was told that I missed check-in and my division was closed. There was one other girl in my weight class, and apparently they made sure she heard the calls to go check-in, but nobody on my side of the ring did. Her coach made it clear that I was not there and so she was automatically First and would move on to Grands. I told them I did not hear the calls, and nobody near me heard the calls. Center Ref said he called 5 times. Whatever....Thankfully one of my coaches helped to contest and the only solution that made the other coach happy was to have me spar out of my weight class.
I am already 20 pounds lighter than the top of my own weight class, which I think is a ridiculously large weight class to begin with. But now I had to spar girls who outweighed me my at least 30 pounds and were at least 6 inches taller than me with a total reach advantage. All I wanted to do was spar for the experience, so this was my only option because OTHER people don't want to work for 1st place. I may have lost to that girl in my weight class, but at least it would have been fair.
My first fight did not start off so good. The side-kick I was counting on to keep my opponent away was not effective because the girl outweighed my side-kick and her arms were longer than my legs. One bloody nose and really sore face later I yelled at my husband to come coach me. Once I finally got somebody to coach me, I came back from being down by 3 points to winning by 6 points.
The second girl I fought was even bigger and meaner. There were times the center ref called stop, and she would continue pounding on my head. I was hurting. My eye was throbbing and my face was feeling even worse. My husband finally came back to coach me (he was coaching my son), but by then my face hurt and I was too scared to be more aggressive. Still, I only lost by one point.
I was disappointed that the fighting was mostly hands. I guess I expected it to be at the most 50 percent hands and 50 percent feet. But punching to the face (especially my face) seemed to be about 80-90 percent of the fights. As a Taekwondo-ist, this was not fun to do or watch.
I learned some stuff, like I should not do traditional forms and should do creative forms instead, and that I need to invest in hearing aids and a face mask. At this point I'm not sure if I will continue to compete. I'm glad I did the tournament. I can cross it off my bucket list.
At least I can say I got 3rd at the US Open. Not too shabby!
Traditional Forms competition:
The competitors with points in the NASKA/ISKA circuits automatically scored higher than those of us without any points. I guess it's fair since they are working on being ranked, but I would have liked a fair shot to see how I really compared to those ladies. Though, I would not have scored well against them because the judges preferred Japanese style forms over the Korean style. In my age group, they did not separate the styles except for chinese. So, I started with 2 strikes against me. But it is partially my fault that I did not place. I had one of my worse form days ever. Yes, the judges complemented me on my kicks and precision, but when I watched the video of my form, I would have scored myself low. I am really disappointed in myself.
Point-Sparing:
I got SCREWED!!!!!! I was putting my gear on about 2 feet away from the ring next to my coaches/team. I got up to go check in when I was told that I missed check-in and my division was closed. There was one other girl in my weight class, and apparently they made sure she heard the calls to go check-in, but nobody on my side of the ring did. Her coach made it clear that I was not there and so she was automatically First and would move on to Grands. I told them I did not hear the calls, and nobody near me heard the calls. Center Ref said he called 5 times. Whatever....Thankfully one of my coaches helped to contest and the only solution that made the other coach happy was to have me spar out of my weight class.
I am already 20 pounds lighter than the top of my own weight class, which I think is a ridiculously large weight class to begin with. But now I had to spar girls who outweighed me my at least 30 pounds and were at least 6 inches taller than me with a total reach advantage. All I wanted to do was spar for the experience, so this was my only option because OTHER people don't want to work for 1st place. I may have lost to that girl in my weight class, but at least it would have been fair.
My first fight did not start off so good. The side-kick I was counting on to keep my opponent away was not effective because the girl outweighed my side-kick and her arms were longer than my legs. One bloody nose and really sore face later I yelled at my husband to come coach me. Once I finally got somebody to coach me, I came back from being down by 3 points to winning by 6 points.
The second girl I fought was even bigger and meaner. There were times the center ref called stop, and she would continue pounding on my head. I was hurting. My eye was throbbing and my face was feeling even worse. My husband finally came back to coach me (he was coaching my son), but by then my face hurt and I was too scared to be more aggressive. Still, I only lost by one point.
I was disappointed that the fighting was mostly hands. I guess I expected it to be at the most 50 percent hands and 50 percent feet. But punching to the face (especially my face) seemed to be about 80-90 percent of the fights. As a Taekwondo-ist, this was not fun to do or watch.
I learned some stuff, like I should not do traditional forms and should do creative forms instead, and that I need to invest in hearing aids and a face mask. At this point I'm not sure if I will continue to compete. I'm glad I did the tournament. I can cross it off my bucket list.
At least I can say I got 3rd at the US Open. Not too shabby!
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