The highlight of the week was a special competition training that my Instructor Mr. LeGrow organized in Ottawa.
Competitors from Trois Rivieres, Laval, Gatineau and Ottawa all came together to train with guest instructors, including Master Laquerre who came in for the last hour to watch us spar and helped us with our patterns. It was the first time that I trained with them as a member of the National Team so it was pretty exciting. There were so many amazing and talented athletes in the room. It’s cool how people that will be competing against each other for the final spots on the National Team for the World Championships can all encourage each other and work together in a training season. These training sessions are all about teamwork and pushing each other as far as possible. Everyone wants to to get the best training, guidance and critiquing possible. When we’re training it’s like one big family but then it’s all business at tournaments. I find this type of training is the most fun because sometimes it get’s boring training with the same people everyday so it’s fun to mix it up and see how you compare to other people.
The day started with my normal Saturday morning training and then our guest instructors started on sparring drills. They were really good drills but I was paired up with a couple very strong guys and they kicked and punched really hard. I was concentrating so hard on blocking that I didn’t realize how swollen and bruised my forearms were. Nothing a bit of ice won’t cure 🙂
It’s so important to keep your focus and be aware of your surroundings with so much else going on so you don’t get hurt.
After sparring we worked on perfecting Patterns. I loved that part too. It was the first time that Master Laquerre critiqued my patterns out of a tournament environment. Master Laquerre is the Technical Director for Canada so I really wanted to show him that I’ve been training hard on my patterns. Mr. Legrow is working with me on dropping my body more at the end of the movement so that means that I also have to go higher in my sign-wave. It feels really weird and kind of embarrassing. Before we started patterns, Master Laquerre assured me that what I am working on was correct. That made me feel more comfortable and confident when we actually got to working on patterns.
I’m so lucky that Mr. LeGrow organizes all these great training events. Thank you Sir!!!