Tiger Challenge

Yesterday was the Tiger Challenge and what a great day that it was! It was fun to have a whole swack of black belt to help with the Lil Leopard's class, I think that the kids really enjoyed it and we played my favorite game, the shark game and it was hilarious. I loved the Dragon and Lion Dance, it was so fun and I think that it looked pretty cool too!
The tournament part was a blast! It was fun watching the kids push themselves to do better than ever before and strife to win a medal. It was interesting being a judge for some of the teen/adult divisions, I could really see through all the nervousness to all the hard work that went into preparing for the day. I loved to watch the board breaking, I know the hard work and determination that goes into that challenge and it is cool to see their faces when the boards break.
The gathering after the tournament was a nice way to end the day, sharing some food and stories put a cap on how great the day was.
As for me and my performance, I was ridiculously nervous and made a mistake or two but I got through it and that was important. I spent the last few months (not knowingly) convincing myself that it was okay to only go in one division, that it was good enough. I realized yesterday that I let myself down. I did not give myself the opportunity to be challenged and that is what it is all about. Even though I practice hard and strive towards mastery always, I allowed mediocrity to sneak in and convince me that doing one thing was good enough. Being good enough is not what it is all about, being your best and pushing to be better is what it is really about. I'm sorry that I forgot that.
So here is the plan....I will enter into as many divisions as I can next year. This includes sparring (point and continuous), hand and weapons forms, creative musical form and team forms ( if I can find a willing partner!). I will begin to work towards this goal right now; I will attend as many San Sou classes as my work schedule will allow, I will look for music and a form to put together (starting right now as this is not a strong suite of mine) and I will work to ensure that all of my forms are demo ready all the time ( that means not letting any of them get dusty - I will set up a rotation so that nothing gets lost or forgotten). I did not like the realization that I had settled for "good enough" yesterday, I will not allow it to happen to me again.
Yesterday was an amazing and inspiring day!