the next step

I go to sparring classes almost every saturday and most of the time I fight the same people each time.  Eventually, when you fight someone long enough you grow accustomed to their style. We know each other, we laugh and joke with one another and shoot the moon after a great class. Now my next step is to see how others fight and how they move and kick. What I’m excited about is how different they will be.   It’s just like when I was doing Brazilian Jujitsu and  I also fought the same people each time.  I learned how they moved and how to counter them so I could win.  That changed when my teacher brought some people of higher rank that trained with him back in Cincinnati. I had never been beaten so badly in my life. The worst was when I was tapped out within thirty seconds of the match. However, that is not to say that I could never rise to the challenge.  With every match I figured out what to do the next time they tried to fight me.  Of course, I can’t  say that I would win the next round but I did grow smarter-or dumber with every choke- either way I learned something different.  While I learned that lesson three years ago I can still apply it to the situation now.  I will use that lesson to overcome the fears of that unknown opponent that I will soon face and learn from the fight. Win or loose, I will take that terrifying next step

Alex Tienda Third Dan at the Asian Arts Center