We were in the dojo today, just our family, working mainly on kata and weapons. Some of us are recovering from some sort of respiratory bug; others are a bit sore from training and/or plain hard physical work; all of us seemed a bit on the nonenergetic side.
In a week, we'll be arriving in New Orleans for the USKA World Championships. It's hard to believe that the time has sped by so fast. We've been extremely busy this year, and it's been difficult to train as seriously as we should have been doing for the past couple months.
I'm looking forward to Worlds while, at the same time, I'm feeling a bit torn and saddened. My brother is very ill with cancer, making it difficult emotionally for me to enjoy a trip right now. This will be the first year that we are going to Worlds without Soke. There are other Keichu people we'd looked forward to hanging out with who won't be there either this year. I had been really excited about having some of my own students compete---and I'm still excited whenever any student of mine competes---but some recent disappointments have put an awkward damper on my enthusiasm. It's not always easy being an instructor...
I don't know what to expect as far as how well our family will do this year. So I'm focusing less on trophies and more on the experience, the fun challenge of competition. I'm also looking forward to cheering on my kids, my student, and my fellow Keichu competitors---as well as various friends and acquaintances.
Just a week and we'll be there. A week and a day, and the competition begins. I think I'm beginning to get a bit excited despite myself.
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