Budokan
02-12-2002, 10:13 PM
I've been watching the Olympics and have become hooked on curling. No kidding, I've got a curling monkey on my back that I can't shake off. This sport is really something else. I've seen bits and pieces of it before, of course, but never studied to this extent.
The marriage of technique and total concentration is what astonished me the most, I think. It's like chess on ice with bowling thrown in for good measure. The angles, momentum and parabolic paths you need to consider to hit other stones, block them, etc. is elegantly beautiful to my physics background.
But mostly it's the mental preparation as these players consider what to do next. You can almost see their brains boil as they consider and then discard hundreds maybe thousands of different variations.
I think that's what drew me to the MA in the first place, and has kept me there all the years I have trained. Oh, the self-defense and the better physical shape were initial factors, but as I became better and knew more about my style I realized that if I didn't exercise the needed mental control I wouldn't advance as far as I wanted to. Especially if I only concentrated on the physical aspect of shotokan and divorced myself completely from any mental preparation and mental exercise.
I see those two aspects perfectly dove-tailed in the sport of curling: physical and mental, and I think that's what has captured my imagination.
That, and the fact those Japanese women on the curling team were smoking HOT. :)
Curling. Check it out on TV when you have the time. Tell 'em Budokan sent you.:D
The marriage of technique and total concentration is what astonished me the most, I think. It's like chess on ice with bowling thrown in for good measure. The angles, momentum and parabolic paths you need to consider to hit other stones, block them, etc. is elegantly beautiful to my physics background.
But mostly it's the mental preparation as these players consider what to do next. You can almost see their brains boil as they consider and then discard hundreds maybe thousands of different variations.
I think that's what drew me to the MA in the first place, and has kept me there all the years I have trained. Oh, the self-defense and the better physical shape were initial factors, but as I became better and knew more about my style I realized that if I didn't exercise the needed mental control I wouldn't advance as far as I wanted to. Especially if I only concentrated on the physical aspect of shotokan and divorced myself completely from any mental preparation and mental exercise.
I see those two aspects perfectly dove-tailed in the sport of curling: physical and mental, and I think that's what has captured my imagination.
That, and the fact those Japanese women on the curling team were smoking HOT. :)
Curling. Check it out on TV when you have the time. Tell 'em Budokan sent you.:D