Halloween Costume sparring (adult), Halloween BJJ (kids), My H. party, Invicta FC fight, kids tourney
It’s been super busy lately, and I feel like I’m really living my life as hard as I can! lol Saturday October 25th, Syndicate hosted it’s annual “Costume Sparring.” We have open mat for anyone, even non-gym members, but the Saturday before Halloween, people are invited to wear their costumes and kickbox. 😀
Oh right, so I skipped my morning training to coach my kid students at a jiujitsu tournament way in North Vegas. I’d been working with Jet and Eli in preparation for it, and a slew of kids from the big kids class were going. It turned out to be a kind of small tournament, and the only other person in Jet’s weight and age division was my other student Aramis. It made me so sad they had to fight each other. Bethany coached Aramis and I coached Jet, and hoped Aramis would be mature and not feel betrayed. (He was five. I think I would have a hard time with it if I were five). ;_;
So Jet won the first match by points, then Aramis got a pep-talk by Bethany and came back and won the SECOND match. I was SO happy for that – I wanted them both to win, so at least they both had that experience, you know? Then they fought a third time and Jet pulled off the win. ugg. That was difficult and extremely emotionally draining. Then I noticed Eli was fighting across the way. THANKS, Grappling Industries, for scheduling them at the same time! ~_~;; I was consistently running over to Eli’s mat as he was just finishing. I’m glad other assistant coaches were around to help back me up.
SO then there was an incident. I missed it but heard it from Shane afterwards. Eli was doing top heavy shoulder pressure and the kid started crying and gurgling. So Eli let go, thinking it was a verbal tap. I always tell him to be careful and do this in class. However, the ref didn’t stop the match. The other kid reversed positions and won the match. wtf In the aftermath when the ref was questioning them both, the kid denied this and said he didn’t give up. grrr
So Eli lost the match, but he won in life for being a good person. I ALWAYS tell the kids this – we are only doing jiujitsu to make the opponent tap out, never to hurt them, so don’t do ‘pain’ moves just for the sake of causing pain, and if they start looking like they’re in pain, let them go immediately. I’m so proud of Eli for doing what I taught him. Kids sometimes “forget” to tap out, if they’re panicking, and refs stop matches sometimes before taps, so there’s gray area there. Obviously adults would wait for a tap or ref stoppage. Still proud of Eli.
My dream is to raise a team of jiujitsu youths who can fight if they have to, are strong, confident, and protect others like super heroes if the need arises.
I coached a bunch more kids and then raced back to Syndicate for costume sparring. I was Batman! 🙂 It was super fun.
The next day, Sunday, I hosted my own Halloween party at my little apartment. The two games that I found on Google were a big hit – the candy corn challenge and toilet paper mummy challenge. You have to transfer candy corn from one bowl to another using only your mouth and a spoon. lol
Then, I expected to be just circularly wrapped up like a mummy, but the wrappers actually put great thought into it. G and Kris made Justin like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, and Teya and Danna made me “Fashionista Mummy.” lol I was so incredibly amused by all of it.
The next Monday, I had my kids jiujitsu lesson where the kids could wear their costumes.
At first only like six kids showed up and I was disappointed, but then like TEN showed up late. HAH. We had a dinosaurs, Harry Potter, Ninja / Oriental warrior, Spider-man, The Hulk, Hans Solo, a Unicorn, Scream mask…. omg so Serena came out with her Dinosaur/Godzilla onsie on with her blue belt tied around her waist.
HAHAHA That cracked me up so much!! I ran back into the lockerrom and got my brown belt, and became Brown Belt BatGirl. 😀 Jeslen went all out and dressed like a warewolf with face paint and everything…go us. I lent Jonny and AJ my Goku and Vegeta wigs so they could teach Muay Thai as Saiyans. lol I wish somebody had gotten a picture of them!! ~_~ It was all so epic and I enjoyed that day FULLY. I enjoyed it so much and put so much energy into it, I was exhausted afterwards.
Last week, I went to Kansas City with Serena for Serena’s fight in Invicta! She’s been dreaming of fighting for Invicta for years now. It’s one of the biggest platforms for females since the UFC and Bellator! I’m so proud of her that she got signed by them and had her fight finally, after years of hard work and healing up from an injury last year. She unfortunately lost a close decision, but she didn’t crumble under pressure, and, to use the words of my coach, “Fought like a total gangster.” She stumbled the other girl, too. It was a really good, hard, back and forth fight. She looked like she belonged there. Saying those things doesn’t help the fighter who lost and has a broken heart, but that’s the reality that the rest of the world sees, and as time passes, she will come to understand that, too. MMA is a combination of sports and entertainment, where, even if we lose, we do our jobs if we bring entertainment value.
It takes the MOST strength of character to smile even when your heart is broken and pretend you are fine.
Her kicks are so strong. I don’t envy the other opponent. Her hands are deadly. I wanted to see her throw more of those! It was really cool for me to be there and support her, since I had previously come up in Invicta. It’s such a great organization and treats us really well and professionally. Thank you for having us, Shannon, and everyone at Invicta! We decided to cosplay My Hero Acamdemia characters, with me as All Might, the number one super Hero, and Deku, the up-and-coming main character studying and training in school to be a hero like All Might.
It was really cool that my Invicta posse friends all gathered! So funny how my fans became my best friends. <3
Thank you, Michael, for sponsoring my plane ticket for me to go to Serena’s fight!
Thank you, My Consumer I.T., my blog sponsor!! https://www.mcithouston.com/ Their services include network set up, server set up and support, free quotes, telephone service, and more. Based out of Houston, but servicing anywhere.
