Canada Day 2016

This year's Canada Day was pretty cool.  I have never been involved in a demo to this magnitude and variety.  The lion, dragon, all the weapons and hand forms, and for good measure, 1000 push up and sit ups. It was a really good day and I enjoyed seeing the members of this team display their skill and challenge their comfort zones by just jumping in on the dragon,  even if they had no idea.  Publicly. That really reflects to me just how connected this team is as everyone seems to find comfort regardless of environment.  That is really awesome.

Another area I thought really showed the skill level of this team was to pull a 10 second piece out of your form.  Some of our members had no idea that was coming,  but they went behind the tent, created a piece,  and performed publicly.  That is skill to surpass a challenge like that and succeed.

Now I have to talk about my public board break. My first attempt was by far the most embarrassing board break I have ever done.  I felt that I not only embarrassed myself, but the team as well. I mean let's face it for what it was...bad. Way too much in a hurry and not calming my mind properly. There were mixed emotions at the time to deal with when I was given a second attempt and while performing it. Seeing the first board fly into Sifus face like a bullet concerned me,  then it was oh yeah I'm  in the middle of a board break here! I'm really thankful that the rest broke.

Fortunately I was also given footage of the break,  (thank you Sihing, your awesome)  which gave me some analytical insight to work with.  First board,  I jammed that kick by being too close to the target,  but on a positive note the power was straight out.  The second and third boards,  there is no footwork involved and just straight up blunt force trauma,  I switched into caterpillar D9 mode. There's no grounded technique here.  The fourth and final board was a really wild experience though. I thought I missed the board completely. I didn't feel nothing except very light contact on my heel.  It was as if I just extended the leg and lightly touched the board with my heel.  I don't really remember much going into the fourth break either,  but I was sure happy to see Mr.  Duncan holding a piece of the board.

So a lot of good stuff to work with here.  I have to do a successful public board break before I earn a black belt. I can't leave this behind as incomplete as I will never feel right about it knowing that the majority of my public breaks were fails.  One last note,  I just want to say thanks to the team for a wonderful day and a big thanks to all the guy's that held the  boards for me. Sorry about the board to the face, but I put that on Sifu R Langner! See you at the kwoon.

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