Ouch!

This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of attending two chin na seminars (joint-locking) with a martial arts rock star, Dr. Yang Jwing Ming.  The guy is nearly 70 and looks far more like an early 50's or younger.  Seriously.  The night before he had performed in the Masters Showcase at the ICMAC tournament and made all of us younger guys look bad.

Dr. Yang only went over a handful of techniques, but his understanding of the material was obviously amazing, and his demonstrations made us all hope that we could one day be half as good as he.  His hands were enormously strong...I mean crazy, crazy strong, but his technique is flawless.  Here's a pic of him demonstrating on me.

 It was tons of fun, and I was thrilled to be able to work with him again.  Afterwards, I hustled off to the first lacrosse game of the season, to which I've looked forward since last May.  However, it didn't go at all as I had planned.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to score.  In fact, for the first time in around 20 years, I didn't even finish the game.  It went like this...

In our end of the field in the second quarter, Metro's huge attackman had the ball.  I managed to bounce off of him a couple of times, hard enough to get him to drop the ball.  I scooped it up, and then he came after me, looking for a big body check.  In such situations, I have a move that I like to call 'The Turtle'.  I wait until the charging player is pretty darn close, then I drop flat on the ground.  My opponent generally stumbles over me, suddenly off-balanced, and I jump up to run off with the ball.  It worked as usual, but this time, the guy either stepped on me with one of his ark-sized cleats, or somehow slammed a knee into the small of my back as he tripped over my prone body.  I think it was the knee.  It felt like my back had been hit by a battering ram.

I played for about another minute or so and my back seized up so badly that I staggered off the field and that was it.  Out for the day.  That was Sunday afternoon.  Since then, I've been healing, but far slower than I'd like.  I haven't been able to work out at all, and barely able to teach.  Certain movements make my lower back feel as though someone is going to work on it with an arc welder.  I feel wonderfully blessed to have Ms. Kathryn and Coach Anne helping out this week since I've been so useless, and classes have been super-busy.  I really dislike having to just lurk around the sidelines, helping only a little, for fear of setting my back on fire with the wrong movement.

Fortunately, it is getting better.  I have to sleep on the couch in one of the reclining chairs, but it's improving daily.  Hopefully, I should be able to get back to training next week...I've got work to do!!  I don't like the setback, but I feel fortunate that it is getting better, and that I escaped permanent damage...I'm a physical guy with a physical job and physical hobbies, and injuries occasionally come with the territory, so it's to be expected.  At least I've had the chance to work on the JMMA website!

Even though I'm moving slowly, there's still quite a bit I can do to make progress in other areas, so that's going to be my focus for now.  Ok, it's late, and my couch awaits!  Time for sleep!

Happy New Year!! 2014 is here!!!

A new year has dawned!  It's always a great time to reevaluate, to plan, to think about the past year and also think about all of the amazing possibilities that await in the year ahead.  It was a pretty good year!  Lots of challenges, new experiences, and some achievements of which I'm quite proud!

Most folks tend to make grand, sweeping Resolutions...they work really hard at them for a couple of weeks, and then get tired and let them drift away.  My group of friends and colleagues have a different approach.  We make two lists each year, one for Goals for the new year, things that are meaningful and worth pursuing, and another list of Accomplishments from the previous year.  This list is important because it gives us a much-needed pat on the back for the hard work that we did, and that helps give us confidence that we'll be able to reach our new goals.

Here are a few accomplishments from 2013...yes, I'm tooting my own horn a bit. 

1. Tough Mudder:  we took another team to the Tough Mudder in Dripping Springs, Tx.  It was a blast!!!  I love taking first-timers through, helping them through the various challenges, seeing our veterans helping others along as well and having fun.  The course was gorgeous, and it was an absolutely wonderful weekend.

2. Blue belt in BJJ:  I was allowed to participate in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament under my instructor Paul Thomas.  The top two finishers in both gi and no-gi events received their blue belts, and I did well in the no-gi!  There were a lot of matches to get through, and it was big fun!!  I've been very lax in my training in that art since then, but I'm looking forward to picking it up again this year.

3. Scored in majority of lacrosse games played:  I had a blast on the field this year, but then I usually do.  I LOVE playing lacrosse, and I am fortunate to play on a team that has a lot of fun out there, win or lose.

4. CrossFit Games, 2344th in world in my division.  Admittedly, I'm thrilled to finally be in my own age group!!  I did far better in 2013 than 2012, even managing to add 10 reps to one workout that was a repeat from last year.  Progress!!

5. Coached medalists in Kung fu tournaments.  It wasn't just me, I have a fabulous team of assistant instructors that help coach the tournament folks, but I'm still pretty proud of this.  We're starting to gain a bit of a reputation for showing well in the local tournaments...woo hooooo!

6. Completed pt 1 and 2 of KMG training.  This was really fun!!!  Part 1 was 5 days of immersive training, and Part 2 was 9 full days, culminating in a 7 hour comprehensive test.  I got some extremely encouraging feedback after the test...I was very pleased at the comments I received.

7.  10 Year Anniversary at Jade Mountain.  We signed our lease and opened our doors for business on December 1, 2003.  We certainly haven't been the biggest or most successful school out there, but I'm very, very proud of it, and many schools don't last half this long.

Ok, so now we can move on to 2014's Goals.  These are things that mean something to me, and I'll be making step-by-step plans to reach each of them.  Without a plan, the goal never has a chance of being reached.  It's not enough to just 'resolve' to do something, you must go further than that.  So here we go...

1. Relocate JMMA.  Jade Mountain Martial Arts has been in the same location for 10 years now, and our lease is up in November.  We really NEED to move in order to run things the way they should really be run.  We need more floor space, higher ceilings, and a better location.  This goal REALLY excites me!!

2. Promote another Black Sash.  I have only promoted two black sashes in 10 years.  Kung Fu takes awhile, and we're NOT one of those schools that gives you a black belt in a year and a half just because you show up twice a week.  My assistant, Ms. Kathryn, is next in line after years of training, and it won't be long before she's ready to test.

3. Qualify for regionals in CrossFit Games.  I'm stronger and more experienced than last year, so I'm gonna give it my all and see what happens!

4. Complete pt 3, G1 in Krav Maga.  In order to become a full Krav Maga instructor, I need to pass Part 3 of the KMG (Krav Maga Global) General Instructor Course.  I enjoy learning new skills, and this particular art is both effective and exciting.  Integrating those skills into my repertoire has been really fun and I feel better prepared in general, so I look forward to learning even more stuff!

5. Tough Mudder.  We're scheduled to hit another TM in Central Texas in May...I want to take a BUNCH of people this time...just sharing the love of mud!

6. Pay off one of my cars.  I only owe around $3k on one of our cars, and if I make an aggressive plan, I can get that handled sooner, rather than later...then I can get started on the other car!

7. Score in ALL lacrosse games this season.  I have fun no matter what the score might be in our games, but I'd feel better about my contribution to the team if I could put a few more into the goal this season. 

8.  And finally, I'd really like to finish my book.  New electronic publishing options are out there, and if I can just get the story to completion, you might see it available on Amazon.com!  I've been working on this story for around 20 years (not touching it for months, even years at a time), and I think it's time I devoted a bit of effort to it to see where it goes.  

So there you have it.  I don't know if my own goals and accomplishments are of any interest to you, but if seeing mine inspires you to think about your own, then that's great!  I think that 2014 is going to be an amazing year, and I'm going to bust my butt to make it so.  What's your 2014 going to look like?