And I'm Freeeeee! Freeee sparring!

Quite unexpectedly I might add. I walked in to Taekwondo this evening, and the master and all the black belts were there and said "Hey Robert free sparring!" So I put my stuff away, and streatched out and watched a couple of bouts. Then the master pointed to me and motioned for me to put on the gear. So I did.

They had to get a size five chest pad out for me, and the helmet was nice and snug. Then the master asked me how many rounds I wanted to fight. I thought he was asking me how many times I had free sparred before (probably about... ten), but once he and the other teaching black belts figured out the word "minute" we agreed on three one minute rounds. My opponent was one of the teaching black belts, and he is as big as I am. We shook hands then turned to the master and bowed to him, and then bowed to each other went into fighting stance and the ref, a black belt I haven't seen before yelled "shi-jawc!" which is "Start!" in Korean and my opponent opened with a back kick and then for the next 59 seconds kicked me around the room. I got maybe five kicks off. None of them connected. I did get a few punches in but into a chest pad they don't do much. The good news was that he wasn't going for the head, and I never went down. Also I was bouncing off the kicks pretty easily but I was not fast enough in my counter kicks. After the first round ended, the master asked me if I wanted to go on.

Now I have been watching "Fight Quest" on Discovery channel. It is about two American martial artists, going around the world learning different fighting styles in five days then fighting masters of the styles. Last night I watched "Rocky" for the first time ever. After thinking about it for a moment, I said "No, thats enough, I need more training." Whether they understood the last bit I don't know. But it was true. Part of me wanted to do all three rounds. I had plenty of energy. I was breathing heavy but not winded. But I realized I was also totally unprepared for a free-sparring match. I haven't trained for it here, we have been doing forms for months. Most of my kicks are slow, (but strong) and the high ones are low. There a lot of practice games you do also before free-sparring that I hadn't done (that the black belts have) to improve speed and reading your opponent. It has been years since I have done anything like this.

But even though I feel like a little bit of a wimp for not going all three rounds, I learned some valuable stuff tonight. The main thing is that I now really have to work hard so it doesn't happen again. I hope they realize this also and let or preferably make me train harder with them.

Another good thing to this end am delighted to mention, is that I have been getting up in the mornings, instead of sleeping in. Also I have been eating small oranges for snacks, using the stairs instead of the elevator and quit drinking cokes. Now I need to make time in the mornings to stretch and exercise some. I am going up to Seoul tomorrow, and I think I am going to find a wind/exercise suit.

Oh and also I want to add that I have put up more pictures including ones from Everland.