Sparring Log ::
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03/23/2005 - Verizon again; same routines as last week. My secret weapon apparently is my side kick. My long legs and almost effortless height and extention could help me in the tournaments; I need to put together some combinations however. My instructor called it my "Good kick". Apparently everyone has one. My gag reflex only came up once today; I had remolded my mouthpiece and cut it down a bit. That had to help. Also, I let others wear themselves out during our punch sparring and that helped me to keep my wind. I keep telling myself I should be out running on Tuesdays and Thursdays (non-Karate class days) but it hasn't happened yet.
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03/16/2005 - We sparred at Verizon this day. We spent half of the time concentrating on first punching only, then kicking only. The other half of the time was spent in full sparring and then tournament point sparring. I had switched from a double-sided mouthpiece to a upper mouth piece in hopes of giving me more air-flow. My gag reflex and the exertion was causing me to come close to throwing up! I believe I did very well in point sparring.
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01/08/2005 - I arrived at 11:45am to by-pass the full workout and only spar. During sparring, I was practicing my Ridge Hand Strikes (I landed many of them, due to my reach) and started making concerted efforts in punching and kicking at openings I would see.
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While sparring with a black belt named (insert name here when I remember) I broke my right thumb about a half-inch above the knuckle attaching my thumb to my wrist! I am fairly certain I was throwing a ridge hand strike when it must have been blocked and I struck a forearm. I felt the break, and hesitated the sparring, but continued because we had maybe another 30 seconds to fight.
I could see a protruding lump in my thumb, but it was so close to the joint I though perhaps it was a dislocation. Mr. Bennett offered to see if he could pop it back into place by extending my thumb and allowing it to find its way back into place. I initially say no, but later allowed him to try when I began to think of the hassel of a weekend hospital visit. After the two times he attempted this, I found the protrusion was gone but I still had pain and swelling. Because I was unable to lift my thumb, I drove my wife's Mazda Miata (6 speed manual) to a Care Now facility where x-rays turned up the break. Due to its location, I was unable to be treated there and had my wife pick me up in my 626 (automatic) and drive me to the emergency room.
They had called ahead to Harris Methodist Hospital, but I think they meant HEB in Hurst, TX. So I went to Ft. Worth and spent the evening so I would have to re-register for the surgical proceedure the following Sunday. By Sunday 12:30, I was crawling onto the operating table and going night-night. I remember a number of people trying to calm me at some point saying it was over. I suppose I was panicing over the tubes in my throat.
I ended up with two wires coming in from the wrist and from near the 2nd knuckle on my thumb. I finally got a custom made casting I strap on with velcro, and I am able to type because of it. I missed 5 classes due to this injury. This may indeed throw off my Green belt test to sometime in March (which is when the next tournament is.) My first time back to class was on 01/21/2005 and it felt good.
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12/18/2004 - I went to ABBA to spar on a Saturday. I got there at 10:30 and warmed up until 11:00. It was that time that all belts (mostly black) warmed up, stretched and I did a little mini-test of sorts.
That exausted me! At 12:00 we all sparred. I got to spar against John Paul Mitchel, the Eagle Award winner from the TKL's 2004 season. He got something like 68 points (I think first place trophey is worth 5 pts. which is what I got for my one tournement). He taught me to use side kicks to keep someone back when I got tired.
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11/24/2004 - I sparred for the first time today. Our class consisted of two 2nd Deg. Black Belts (My instructors Ms. Leslie Hillhouse and Mr. Mike Smith) and a green belt (John) and a purple belt (Eddie). We rotated through so we would have a different person to spar for our two minutes of time with 30 seconds of rest.
I was amazed at how winded I became. I was trying so hard to do well I was way too "active" with my arms and legs. I "scored" a couple good kicks or punches but got the worst of it for sure. Ms. Hillhouse threw a left hook which slid off of my head gear and put the smack-down on my right eye. I believe it was the purple belt or green belt who kicked through my hogu and bruised my left ribcage (it hurts like heck when I breath, touch it or lift something) and 2 hours after our sparring my right foot began to ache until it hurt so bad I couldn't walk on it.
When people ask me what happen, I just tell them I got beat up by a girl.
By the next day, my foot was much better, my eye swelling had gone down, but the brusing had spread around the eye. I don't know what the heck is wrong with my ribs; it doesn't keep me from living. Every once in a while a family member notices a bruise somewhere else.
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