9.08.2006

Wednesday night sparring

We had sparring wednesday night. Since the weather is sooooo nice right now, Renshi is not putting on the AC in the dojo, only opening the windows and the back door for ventilation. So basically its like a sauna. Especially with sparring gear on. It was a huge class-we partnered up and first did slow motion sparring to warm up. Then we worked on some defense drills-one of them being for a roundhouse kick. The defense was to check the kick with the forearm and shuffle in and reverse punch to the body. We did this over and over. It hurts the shins after a while even with shin guards on. Then we started sparring-we would do 1 minute rounds then get a new partner and go again. i was sparring for a while with my friend Michelle who got me really good in my shin (which was already killing me) with her elbow- not intentionally of course..these things happen but it totally paralyzed me for a minute it hurt so much. (It also didn't help that everyone was so sweaty that are sparring gear kept sliding around. ) So after I "recovered" from that we kept sparring, then we'd find new partners, keep sparring etc for about 40 minutes. So finally Renshi says last match-I partner up with a 2nd degree bb, we bow, shake hands, get into guard stance and something catches my eye..I look down at my hand and there is blood dripping off my fingers! So I bow out of that match and we leave the dojo floor (which apparently I bled all over) and get the first aid kit. I had split my knuckles open on the index and middle finger of my right hand. Not too badly -i didn't need more than a couple bandages, but they bleed a lot! Then i look over and my last sparring partner was coming towards me and her toe was bleeding too. I have no idea how it happened-she says she remembers the contact between us and thought "hmm that felt funny" I didn't feel it, though. Then someone points to my pants..all bloodied up. Great. So after that I go into the womens changing room to wash the blood off my hand guard and there is another woman -a blue belt and new to sparring- who is sitting down, pale as a ghost, who came close to passing out and/or throwing up. I felt bad for her. That gear is really hard to get used to. Not breathable at all and you basically cook inside it. So by then it was time to bow out of class- Renshi asked the injured and sick if we were ok- I said "I'm fine-i didn't lose any digits..hahaha" and he smiled and said to us that it was a pretty good class- only 2 bleeders and a near pass-out-he's a funny, funny man.

7 comments:

Miss Chris said...

Wow, that sounds like an incredibly intense sparring class! I don't know why they make the gear so hot and un-breathable but I've come close to throwing up a time or two myself.
I hope your injuries are okay now.

frotoe said...

me too, Miss Chris- Its like being in your own little oven.

Lizzie Woolley said...

The end of your post made me laugh. lol.

Mathieu said...

Funny indeed.

:)

The sparring gear, is it a complete bogu? head, body, gloves, feet and legs?

Anonymous said...

Sparring gear is ridiculously hot. It sounds like you're getting super tough.

frotoe said...

Mat- just headgear, rib guard, hands, feet and shin guards (and mouth guard of course)

very sweaty

Potatoe Fist said...

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