I'm into the final day of five days of karate. Every year Ishinryu Australia hold a summer camp at the Wollongong Surf Leisure resort. This was my third year of attendance, my first of staying over for the full three days, beginning with a Friday night session.
On the Thursday prior the dojo hosted a special session from Sensei Wayne Otto, a nine times World Karate Championship winner and current coach of Norway. Also a bloody good teacher of kumite techniques and someone who can bring a smile to kids' faces no matter how well they try to suppress it!
The course was fantastic and I learned (or tried to learn) heaps of good stuff, including kumite moves, improving my kata and knife defense. There was an early morning session on the beach where I discovered that mindfullness and mean a pair of shorts full of wet sand.
Alex stayed with me. It was a lot of karate for a nine year old and he was a bit ambivalent about some of it until the Sunday when he entered the team blocker competition. Team up with our Sensei's daughter and her best friend the three of them made it to the final.
He drew his bout, then his team mate won hers. The other team won their round, but by only a single point, not enough to win on aggregate, so the combined scores were tied. So another round was fought, but they drew as well! It came down to Alex and another nine year old from his dojo.
Alex won and so his team got gold!
This was his first gold for anything and he had won it for his team. The look of joy and pride on his face was amazing and I was so proud of him too. No more "Can we go home now?" He wanted to stay for the presentation in the afternoon (and was even prepared to do his homework first!).
He had also competed in the team kata on the previous day and by virtue of there being three teams won a bronze trophy, also his first trophy ever. Considering the age and skill level of his team, especially compared to the high belts of the other competitors, I was just proud that they all gave it a go and tried so very hard.
I think we'll be back next year!
Tonight it's just the regular Monday session in the dojo, but the fact that I can sustain so many days of karate in a row is evidence of how far I've come in three years. Still stiff though!
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