At school this week we had a guest, Guy Ouellette from Elite Karate come in to teach self-defense to the girls in phys-ed class every day. It was a lot of fun and I learned a few holds and grabs that I didn’t know before. It was the first time that most of the girls had ever been exposed to any of this and I think they really liked it too. I think that everyone (especially girls) should have some knowledge in self-defense for their own safety. I know that martial arts has given me some extra confidence. That doesn’t mean that I don’t get scared but I’m pretty sure that I would have skills that would kick in automatically if necessary. The best thing is still to avoid dangerous situations whenever possible and don’t go looking for trouble.
This week I trained with my regular instructor Mr. LeGrow but I also had the great opportunity to train with Mr. and Mrs. Cabanas. Mr. Cabanas was on the 2009 Argentina National Team and his wife is also on the 2011 Canadian Woman’s Team Sparring team. Mr. Cabanas is extremely skilled in sparring and had all new drills for me. It’s so cool how there is always so much to learn from different people. It’s also interesting to hear Mr. Cabana’s experience on how other countries train for World Championships. Mrs. Thibodeau-Cabanas, Mr. LeGrow, Mr. Mostovac and I are the only 4 competitors from Ontario on the National Team so we will be spending a lot of time training together. It feels weird sometimes when I’m at least 10-15 years younger than all of them but when we’re training age is NOT a factor – it’s all about learning as much as possible and challenging each other for improvement. It’s great to have another woman to spar with since I’ve usually only trained with men and they definitely spar differently.
Soccer is also going well. I’m not playing in the games so sometimes I feel a bit left out but during the practices it’s great to be together. This is just one of those sacrifices that I have to make to keep safe and injury free before Worlds. I’m thankful that my team mates understand.