4 Weeks Today and I’ll be Competing in Spain!

I can’t believe how fast the World Championships are approaching. Now it’s time for Mr. LeGrow and me to really do the final preparation before we leave. You always want to peak at the right time and start to whine down at the right time. This is also the time for a lot of mental visualization and mental preparation. I know for myself I’m having trouble falling asleep at night since I keep thinking of the competition.

Since I’m competing in:

• Individual Sparring
• Individual Patterns
• Team Sparring
• Team Power Breaking
• Team Special Techniques

It’s very hard to train all disciplines since they are all so different.

Mr. LeGrow and I have been working hard on our cardio and overall strengthening all summer and it was a huge part of our training.

Thankfully my dad is a great holder and punching bag for me lol. He just holds a bunch of pads all around him and I can punch and kick him as hard as I want. He’s like a brick wall :). I love the time we’ve been able to share training together. I’ve also seen him get in a lot better shape as well which is an extra bonus.

Mr. LeGrow is always working on my sparring techniques and finding new people for me to spar with just for extra practice. You never know the fighting style of your opponents at International Competitions so I want to be as prepared as possible.

I love spending hours by myself working on patterns. It’s such an amazing feeling when you can see the smallest improvement. I want to be completely ready to do any pattern the judges call on without any worry. It all has to be complete muscle memory at this point since when the nerves hit on competition day, you don’t want to have to think.- just feel the pattern. You can’t have charisma if you’re concentrating on what move comes next.

Training for Special Techniques has been a new challenge for me and it’s been a lot of fun. I impress myself sometimes…I didn’t think I could jump :p

Power breaking is similar to the Special techniques in the sense that you need to train but don’t want to get seriously injured. I do a lot of training on the pads for accuracy instead of wood or the plastic boards.

I also love spending time helping other students in class since I find I learn just as much when I’m teaching as I do when I’m training myself. There are a few young kids that are just starting to spar and they are my inspiration for the passion and excitement! We often forget the pure joy in learning these things for the first time.   They are so relaxed and eager to spar. I feel like that when I am in my happy place. 🙂 It’s all just a fun game! We can’t forget that.

I am at the point now, where I am following my routine, staying healthy, eating ‘Clean’,  listening to my body and now psychologically training. My nerves are building up, but at the same time so is my excitement! I am having trouble focussing in school and anywhere else other than at my trainings. As soon as I am training though, my nerves and stress go away and I am feeling confident and happy. 🙂 I wish I could just stop school for a few weeks and start back up when I get back from Worlds. 😛

Here’s more great pics from the last week.

Enjoy!