Busiest week ever!!!!!

This was such an amazing week of training.  I helped Mr. LeGrow with his TKD summer camp with two other black belts, (Kayla Huber, Joey Busat).  It meant taking a one and a half hour bus ride every morning at 7am  just to get there on time.  The camp consisted of coaching young students.  We also had some time  to work on some intense sparring drills and pattern training.  It was a really good experience for me and the other black belts.  Mr. LeGrow has been teaching me so much and has been helping me become a young coach.  Man, young boys can be a hand full.

Since Mr. LeGrow has been away in Jamaica and Florida competing he has run into different instructors and surprisingly Master Lan.  They spent a lot of time together. Of course, when Mr. LeGrow comes back from these types of events he comes back with all of these drills and strategies. One in particular is that there are two types of speed. One is the speed that you get from training and becoming faster.  The second kind is when your opponent is hesitant. This is caused by the fear factor of your opponent. If they gain respect for your kick, they won’t want to feel it in their stomach so they will be automatically slower.  I found this theory extremely interesting and true.

Since my soccer team was away in Florida at a tournament all week I trained with another older team in the evenings.  It was hard since I was so tired from the training all day and then I still wanted to do well for a coach that has never seen me play soccer before.

The highlight of the week however was a special taekwon-do training session that was held all afternoon on  Saturday.  I’m so lucky that Mr. Legrow has so many friends and brings in world class guests to train with. We had guests come from Montreal which was amazing since I got to train with Stephanie Boivin.  It was awsome since she is a 16  and has already experienced the World Championships. she was really fast so she was a good person to train with. I want to become just as fast as the smaller people.  We have very similar work habits and energy levels, so she is a good working partner.   I also got some really good training exercises from Mr. Primeau that I will continue to use, including a lot of boxing drills so I am good with my hands as well as my feet.   Philippe Boyd (18 years old) also came from Montreal which was great since he is also a second degree black belt and we could work on the same pattern together.  We were pretty competitive with each other and he was also able to give me tips.  It’s so much fun training with new people all the time that are working towards Nationals and then New Zealand.  My goal this summer is to be as quick as Martin Campbell in sparring.  He is a 20 year old 3rd degree that I’ve trained with for about 8 years.  He is now smaller than me  🙂 and super quick so he is good for me to train with.  He really pushes me to my limits when he instructs me.  He has been helping me so much.  He has been to Worlds many times and he knows me very well so hes giving me tips on not only the training but also just the whole experience.  With all these people helping me, it is getting me more and more excited and driven to train harder and harder to be the best.

Everyone went out for dinner together and then a movie to relax but I had already made plans to watch my really good friend perform at a concert.  She had been in a ‘rock band’ camp for the last two weeks so it was a concert for  everyone to perform their music and singing that they had been practicing.  It was really cool to be sitting in such a different atmosphere than I had been in all week.  Kelsey did a great job and was by far the best singer there.  I was so proud of her and so in awe because she is so talented. It is also really funny because she is normally really shy and sweet, but on the stage it’s like a tiger comes out and she has this stardom glow to her. I was so happy to be there.   Go Kelsey ! 🙂

Today was an added bonus since I was called up to play in my first OYSL soccer game for the team that I had trained with during the week.  I was a bit nervous since they were older and a Provincial team.  I didn’t think I would get much playing time but I did and it was a lot of fun.  I didn’t feel quite as confident since I was playing a different position  than I normally do but Audra (the coach) really helped me out.  Hopefully I’ll be asked to play with them again some time.

I’ll be working at the camp again this week and will be happy to have my soccer team back in town.  I’ve missed my buddies.  Shout out to Adriana – hope you feel better soon.