MIT Sport TKD Blog

today, i left for belgrade for the summer world universiade games. as i write this i am riding in air france 321, bound for paris, with jayson grant, alicia, karolina and sabumnim. it is 2 am EST and alicia the rest are sleeping comfortably in their reclined chairs. i am sipping the last of my heineken and listening to a bit of classiquai. we are headed to france, and to europe, and to the world.

i couldn’t recall when the last time it was that i left the united states. of course, tijuana and montreal don’t count as really being outside of the country. i looked in my passport, and the last time i was in beijing was sometime in 2000 or 2001. probably a post high-school graduation trip. so this time, going to belgrade, i am filled with excitement, to be competing at an international tournament with the united states team, to be in a completely different country, to be experiencing something i’ve never done before.

we have worked pretty hard over the past few weeks. along with other members of the new mit stkd poomse contengincy – rene and anye – almost every practice has been devoted to perfecting the backstance, adding power to the guarding block, keeping the bob out of the front stance, giving that side kick just a little bit more pop. poomse has breathed a new life into my taekwondo experience. in a way, it’s a completely different world of taekwondo. there’s no cutting weight, there’s no intense pressure to become a physical superman. but on the other hand, all the competition is now within. you fight against yourself to perfect your form. you have to overcome many different obstacles – laziness, inattentiveness, acceptance of imperfection. when you put on a helmet for sparring, you enter your own world. when you compete in forms, everything is still out there, and you have to find the right mental state without the aid of a stifling set of gear, or a blanket of cheering that covers up your doubts. it’s only you and your body, but the whole world is still out there trying to knock you off balance.

soon it will be morning and we’ll arrive in paris. it’s already a treat to hear the airplane crew speak a foreign language, and to inquire whether you’d like “quelque chose a boire”. and i can’t even imagine the foreign world we’ll be in when we enter the SWUG athletic village, and see the multitudes of flags, the different colors of each country parading around in large groups. and not only will there be taekwondo, but there are going to be many other sports – the top in the world of collegiate athletics. and we’ll be right there among them.

**

the moment i entered the airport, i was snapping pictures on my camera like a foolish tourist. and this was when i was still in logan airport, terminal E, international departures. the boston crew carried the SWUG swag in our suitcases because there were the most number of us leaving at the same time, so we each had a huge 50+ lb bag, another medium duffle, and other stuff. fortunately, except for jay, we didn’t have any sparring gear, so we could stuff the bags full of actual clothes to wear.

air france did not have any luggage charges, even though most of our bags were probably over what we thought was the limit. then, we promptly decided to check our second bags – why not? it’ll make the stay in paris and the trip through customs much easier.

ever since i was a kid, i’d loved airplane food. no matter how people complained, i always thought the vacuum packed food served in little plastic trays had an appeal that you couldn’t get at any gourmet restaurant. so when they passed out menus i started salivating – they gave us a choice of chicken curry or a salmon shepherd’s pie, with brownie, cheese, tuna cous-cous salad, bread, and tapioca pudding. and aperatifs! i grabbed a cabernet sauvignon, and finished alicia’s champagne. then i asked for a heineken, and now i’m happily settled down in the darkness blogging about this highly satisfying mile high culinary experience.

on the plane, we all sat in the middle aisle. i’ve always heard stories about how virgin america and other airlines provided free entertainment onboard, and i’ve only experienced this once or twice myself, so i was super excited about the personal tvs that also had music, games, and movies. i ended up watching an indian(?) film about kabbadi, which was really awesome except for the sudden twist plot in the end which really caught me off guard. well, it is a time to experience everything non-american, so no “watchmen” for me.

as you all know, i’m in hong kong for the summer .  it’s been good so far.

anyway- quickly to the main point of this entry.  my roommate and i were just coming back from eating yummy desserts and chatting about our plans for tomorrow when at the corner of my eye, i saw a hogu.  i guess after wearing one for four years, i can easily spot a hogu anywhere.  hahaha.  my roommate asked if i wanted to watched the taekwondo team, and i couldn’t help but say sure.  one guy was putting on his hogu; two guys were sparring.  one was wearing the old style hogu with the dots and the other was new style.  the old style hogu guy was a red belt and the other a black belt.  i didn’t know they were training so close to where i live (like a couple floors down.) i got kinda excited ^____^.

i wondered why i didn’t bother to contact them over HKUST.  based on their gear, it seems like they weren’t super old style or anything.  and i understand – people have different sparring levels.  the red belt was doing crazy turn kicks… that were too low and at the wrong distance.  the black belt did a whole bunch of back kicks and doubles… that weren’t really scoring quality.  however, they didn’t really have instep guards, so i gave them the benefit of the doubt.

i peered more closely… the guy putting on the hogu was a green stripe (exactly like how master chuang did it). there were two girls who watched them spar and were chatting.  they didn’t have any gear on.  i was glad that i didn’t contact them… it was a relatively small club and there didn’t seem to be a head instructor.  the girls didn’t seem like they wanted to spar and i definitely don’t like sparring with guys (unless you’re bobby or john wong ).  and then i remembered the flyer: 8-10PM TUESDAYS.  thanks, but i’d like to get in more training than that.

i suppose if HKUST tkd doesn’t work out for me, i can fall back on this one…. first impressions are usually wrong (hopefully).

i miss kicking… and the mit sport tkd team .  i’ll update you guys when i start kicking with the HKUST team.  they seem pretty awesome so far

Event: Scooperbowl (Ice cream fest?)

When: Thurs, June 11, 2009

Where: Gov’t Center

What: Ty: 14 scoops of ice cream, vs, Bobby: 8 scoops of ice cream

Hehe

PRIZE: bragging rights YAAAY!!!

BOOYAH I declare VICTORY =) =)