Sparring Round 2

         Last night was my second, we'll say full, point sparring match, after the 20 minute one I had with Todai Hanson.  Todai Bjorkquist was a great opponent, and as always I learned a lot.  Took some hits, but also managed to deal a few hits.  The first realization I had after the match was in what I was doing during the match.  I noticed there were certain things that I was avoiding trying to do, and others I concentrated too much on.  I don't want to go into too much detail as to give away my strategies.  Second thing, was how my opponent was responding to what I was doing, and how in one way it lessened the amount of options I had, but in another way, if I was confident enough, could have responded better.

        I'm still working out what kind of fighter I am, and I'm sure it will differ depending on the opponent in front of me; but I am still working on figuring out the most important opponent, which is myself.  It's funny all the sparring drills that we learn and practice in class, and yet I'm definitely not using the plethora of tools that were handed to me.  Every now and then I'll remember something from class and try to implement that into my match, sometimes with success, other times not so much, but I could definitely be utilizing those lessons more.  I definitely get in my head too much and it disrupts my natural flow.

        The upcoming Tiger Challenge will provide me with more practice and opportunities to see how others spar.  Until then I'm going to practice some of the drills and figure out ways of incorporating them into my matches.