Fall Judo Plans

Dr. Dad suspects minor MCL tear.

Since I'm stuck in bed for a few days due to an embarrassing ukemi-related injury, I figured I might as well use the time to think about Judo this Fall. Not just how often I'll be practicing, but what my goals are and where Judo will fit in my life now that I'm heading back to school. Summer is when we try as hard as we can to be the person we've always wanted to be. You know, the person who diets and exercises. The person who takes walks in the park when the mood strikes. The person that keeps in touch with old friends and family. Catch my drift? Those old slogans for "how to live a better life." In my case, this amounts to making every practice, every tournament, and really being there without having a 1,000 other things on my mind. It's a challenge- not like drought or famine or anything- but a challenge nonetheless.

Being a full-time student is a full-time job. A full-time job is also a full-time job, but hear me out. I'm very aware that what I have now, as a devilishly handsome 20-year-old Ivy League student, is the best situation I'll ever have. I don't know what a soul mate or child's laughter will bring, but as far as the amount of work I have to do vs. the amount of time off I get for it, I doubt that ratio will get better with time. What's scary to me is that even though I don't have mortgage to pay, kids to feed, or white picket fences to maintain I still have trouble finding time for Judo in my life. It's definitely not enough for what I want to achieve to go hardcore over the summer and then slack the rest of the year. Definitely not, but that's basically what I've been doing since I came back from my hiatus.

You know how when New Year's is around the corner and your inner monologue starts every other sentence with "This year will be different..."? I'm having that time now, even though I'm one of those cynics that will roll his eyes and say "Why not last year or the year before? You're not going to do it." That's a fair thing to say on my part, but I really hope that this (school) year is the year I can do it. I'm scheduled to teach 2 classes per week and "learn" one class per week at the Columbia Judo Club. That's one more than I did last year, so that should be good. I'm also planning to join the BJJ club (hopefully for a discounted price because their students crash my classes indiscriminately), and find a gym buddy to motivate me to start lifting again. I've planned this so I have people I depend on and people that depend on me to improve my technique and my conditioning. I'll let you guys know if this works out! School also happens.

Here are a list of tournaments I plan on attending in the next couple of months, Senior Men's Brown Belt <66kg for all.

1. September 18th: 45th Annual East Coast Judo Championship - Newark, NJ
2. October 2nd: 2011 Garden State Judo Classic - Wayne, NJ
3. October 9th: Princeton Judo Invitation - Princeton, NJ

It's not annoying always going to NJ for tournaments or anything! Message/comment if I'll be seeing you there. I'll have photos/videos up, so look forward to some real content then.

Thanks for stopping by! You're alright.
-Ben