This morning we had our last official practice time before Worlds. It was hard for me not to stress out, especially over some of the team kata members who weren't remotely stressing out or even seeming to take the practice seriously.
Perhaps it was the excitement of last night's fireworks or the late night. Perhaps it was the last minute lack of focus that overwhelms some students right before a major competition. Perhaps it was a sense of unreality, or an unwillingness to realize that we don't have weeks or even days left to practice.
Whatever it was, I found it frustrating.
At least not everyone was unfocused. It was exciting to see some significant improvement on the part of Philip, our student who is going to his first Worlds. He placed 2nd in kata at Nationals. Today he nailed his kata with the most intensity and precision I've seen him do. His improvement over Friday was tremendous. I am so proud of him.
Our two synchronized kata teams are coming together quite well, with only a few small glitches, despite the shaky start one of our teams had.
I'm getting excited. In fact, we're all getting excited. Soke, it turns out, is going after all. He has five of his students competing, not counting us: Travis Christensen, Josh Hickman, Matt Hickman, Sarah Hickman, and Michael Hickman. There are also five Prewetts competing, and one of our students. This is such a milestone---having a student going to Worlds! I hope his experience there will be as exciting for him as our first Worlds was for us.
Tomorrow we're heading down south, and we'll be catching a place early Wednesday morning.
And right now we're washing and pressing gi's, packing suitcases, and getting ready!
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