There I was, sitting on the hardwood floor of the gym, awaiting my name to be called, with a crowd of people watching me. As my name was announced, I stood up, nervous, thoughts racing through my head, and I prepared myself for my first sparring fight of the tournament. Will this be better than my last? Thinking back to my last tournament, I remember it did not go as expected. As always my nerves were getting the best of me. As I waited nervously for my name and my opponents name to be called, I scanned the room in search of who I was sparring. My worst fear had come true! There I was, a scrawny, fourteen-year-old boy getting ready to spar a towering, eighteen-year-old boy. My fate was sealed. As we both stood up, we bowed in unison with …show more content…
What was to follow was exactly what I had imagined. Round after round, my self-confidence dwindled with every move. When will this colossal nightmare end? As my opponent was announced the victor, we turned to face the crowd. As I stood there humiliated and deflated, I was determined that next time would be different. I knew what I needed to do. Training both mentally and physically became my mission for the next six months. Working hard with my instructor to perfect my sparring was going to be my focus. I knew I couldn't let negative thoughts get in the way of my ability to accomplish my goals. Week after week, I could see my confidence growing and my physical strength building. I was ready for this! I arrived at the karate tournament with great anticipation. I felt this time would be different. My family joined the crowd to watch as I prepared for my first matched. As I sat nervously awaiting my turn, I heard the judge call out, "Noah Fowler, please step up and face your opponent." It was time. As the timer was set, we began to spar. One punch, one kick, and then it happened, a kick to my stomach. Down to my knees I went. I breathed deeply through my nose as the air had been knocked out of me. Finally, I stood up confidently, more determined than before. As the match kept going, I fought hard with all the training I had learned in those six months. The outcome is what I had hoped for. As we faced the crowd, the ring judge …show more content…
My confidence was growing, and I knew I could win. It was time to face my next opponent. As both our names were announced, we stood up and took our stances. I felt like I was looking in a mirror and seeing the old me. I could tell my opponent was as nervous as i had been in my last tournament. As we sparred one another, I quickly realized how much of a lead I had on him. This round ended as quickly as it started. I began to realize what this meant for me. One more fight and I could be the
Everyone fought hysterically. It was complete anarchy. Everybody fought everybody else. No group fought together for long. Two, three, four, fought one, then turned to fight each other, were themselves attacked. Blows landed below the belt and in the kidney, with the gloves open as well as closed, and with my eye partly opened now there was not so much terror. I moved carefully, avoiding blows, although not too many to attract attention, fighting group to group. The
Again I was here to work and be my best. Half way into practice coach asked “who (faces off)”? I raised my hand because why not? We went to the other side of the felid and I watched before I volunteered to (face off). Seemed easy enough for me so I gave it my all.
The winner of the fight wins money. While being in the ring fighting for not only money, but also dignity, the narrator had a feeling of hopelessness and being lost. The narrator tells us “Blindfolded, I could no longer control my emotions”. I had no dignity. I stumbled about like a baby or a drunken man.”
...e bus and off we went. As soon as we arrived we were told that the kick off would be in ten minutes. After a quick warm up we were ready. My hands were shaking, heart pounding but I couldn’t wait to start. When the game started my nerves escaped from my head and I was focused on the match.
Instantly, I felt as if I had done something very wrong and filled with emotion, but the class begun so there was nothing I can do about it. Later that day the, main instructor confirmed that in order to get my white belt, which I thought was something just given to you, I would need to recite the long student creed. A week later, I’d done it I got my white belt, might not seem like a huge achievement for most, but I was ecstatic, feeling like I had defied all odds. As time continued on I realized that karate was fun and that as long as I put hard work into things that I can be good at them.
All my life I’ve been quiet and inhibited. All my life I’ve regretted not saying or doing things because of my self-doubt. Camp made me realize that as long as I have the determination, I can accomplish anything. Wrestling camp was difficult, nerve-wracking, painful, and most of all, fun. But the best part is that now, after nearly seventeen years of shyness, I’m finally breaking out of my shell.
So, I got ready for my next match, which was against Jeff Petro from Wray, CO. As we warmed up in the same corner, I looked at him with some fear to tell you the truth. This guy was ripped, ...
The popularity of mixed martial arts has soared over the last couple of years, mainly due to the emergence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as the fastest growing sport in America. With this popularity of the sport, mixed martial art gyms are emerging all across the country. I visited a local gym to study the fighters, with the intention of understanding the mentality that goes along with this profession. As I arrive at the High Altitude Gym located in an average looking strip mall, I am met by Brian Eastman, who setup the meeting with some of the fighters and the instructors. We head inside to a gigantic open space of over 4000 square feet.
---- Two fighters and a boxing ring, the cheers of the crowd, and the contest of skill determining the outermost limits of the human mind and body; this is a story- a "condensed drama without words" the extended metaphor of On Boxing. Anything can happen in this "story" from death to undeniable victory, and it all takes place in the ring-the setting, explained through the interchanging of blows-the dialogue, and written by "the authority of Time".
Ever since the previous season I had my standards set high. I had placed fifth, which was all right for the time being, but I knew as time went on I needed to push myself and increase my level of wrestling. I decided that I would do whatever it took, through thick and thin. I traveled to small local tournaments in Colorado, and a couple out-of-state tournaments, I even traveled to Delaware. It didn't really matter how I did at these tournaments because it was just all practice until February. So, I lifted and wrestled just about every chance I got. It was all in preparation for one match, six minutes.
As the season progressed, competition started getting fiercer. I was up against girls running at a 5A level, yet, I was able to hold my own. Finally there came a tiny light at the end of the tunnel; it seemed as though I was getting closer and closer to accomplishing my goal. Along with my undefeated title came a huge target painted on my back. I religiously checked "Rocky Preps" every day to see if the competition was gaining on me. It seemed that every time I had improved, there was someone right behind me, running their personal best too. I trained during the weeks before regionals like I had never trained before. Each day my stomach became more twisted with knots that looped around every part of my stomach. I don't think I had ever been that nervous in my whole life.
I first stared down my opponent as I walked to the center of the mat. I glanced at him I got the feeling that I was probably stronger than him so I knew I would need to make the first move and go strong in the beginning. We got to the center of the mat and the referee gave the signal to shake hands and at that moment I knew I was ready. I isolated my mind from who was around me and only saw my opponent in front of me. I started getting angry in my mind and thought to myself “It's either going to be him or me who we be victorious.”. As we shook each others hand, I squeezed my hand as hard as I could and can feel that he did too. The whistle blew, our first instinct was to lock arms and get a feel for each other and test our
The pace in the second fight, however, was much quicker than the first. As the brawl was occurring, the participants and the crowd of onlookers were running through the country and through town. At one point it seemed that the fight was set in fast-motion to intensify the face-paced feeling. The second fight had an overall sense of joy compared to the first’s feeling of
My opponent’s name was John Doe. There were other competitors at the tournament, but they had never posed any threat to my title. For as long as I had competed in this tournament, I had easily taken the black belt championship in my division. John, however, was the most phenomenal martial artist I had ever had the honor of witnessing at my young age of thirteen. And he was in my division. Although he was the same rank, age, size, and weight as I, he surpassed me in almost every aspect of our training. His feet were lightning, and his hands were virtually invisible in their agile swiftness. He wielded the power of a bear while appearing no larger than I. His form and techniques were executed with near perfection. Although I had never defeated his flawlessness before, victory did not seem unattainable. For even though he was extraordinary, he was not much more talented than I. I am not saying that he was not skilled or even that he was not more skilled than I, for he most certainly was, but just not much more than I. I still had one hope, however little, of vanquishing this incredible adversary, for John had one weakness: he was lazy. He didn’t enjoy practicing long hours or working hard. He didn’t have to. Nevertheless, I had found my passage to triumph.
I saw his fist once again heading toward my head. I was taut to never let the enemy away with victory so this time I did the same thing back to him as he has done to me.