Battle Wounds

First sparring class results:
1. Seriously bruised and sore right shin from sparring with Ma'am and cracking shins too often. (Are there muscles on the sides of the shin bone? I have the bruise on the bone, but it also hurts off to the outside of the leg.) We tend to want to kick each other at the same time, apparently. This should help me learn to not always lead with the same foot.

2. Scraped up and bloody left elbow. No idea how it happened, but there's a nice chunk of skin missing. I didn't realize it, either, until Mr. R asked if I was okay. I thought he was referring to the fact that I felt a bit shaky (yes, I was a little nervous and tense!) although I didn't think I was showing it that much. Then I realized there was blood on my pants. (*mutter* I'm going to have to get new pants soon!) It didn't bother me at all until after class when I was trying to clean it. (You would think in the 20+ years I've been alive and scraping myself up that they'd come up with an antibacterial spray that didn't sting, but no. It's just as bad when you're 26 as when you're 6!)

More after the cut.

There were only four of us in class tonight, plus Sir and Mr. R. The other three were black belts, but ones I know are more of an instructor type. Mel hurt her knee pretty badly while she and Ma'am were sparring, so Mr. R worked with Mr. M and I for the rest of the (shortened) class. All evening I kept hearing "you've got long legs, Katie, use them!" The idea, I suppose, being to keep shorter opponents out of strike range with kicks, which is all well and good, but when you have a bruise knot forming on the shin of your dominant leg, it REALLY starts to hurt when those kicks get blocked! (I may invest in those soft shin guards. We're allowed to wear them in class.) I need to work on leading right and setting up for more left kicks, and using more side and front kicks. I also need to work on using my footwork to stay more to the side/front of opponents, rather than staying off to the side and limiting myself. The focus of tonight's class was working on turning blocks into striking opportunities. My focus tonight was trying to figure out what my body was supposed to be doing. I felt like if I was on defense, I knew what I was doing (blocking, I can do that! I even got some "nice blocks, Katie!" in there), but although I enjoyed being on the offense, I felt like I wasn't really sure what to do. I don't think I was terrible, and it actually was a lot of fun. Tonight wasn't quite as intense as usual, though, because of Mel's injury and the number of people there. When Mr. M and I finished our "match", Mr. R had us go through our forms (I am still having so much trouble with this one! I just cannot seem to remember what comes next, ever!) and cool down. I don't know if I'll be able to go to the Park tomorrow - it depends on if we get out of rehearsal early or not. I'm also not quite sure at the moment that my shin can handle it. I think I'm going to go put some ice on it, find a good movie or show, and knit for the rest of the night. Totally going to bed early tonight!