P52 - Weeks 48 & 49

Week 49:

Week 48:

P52 - Week 42

This week I want to share a photo with you that is all about the motion.

I find it hard to get the right amount of motion in a picture (usually displayed by blur). Too much and it's just another out of focus shot. Too little and you lose the impact that motion adds to the shot.

This is one of those shots where I think I at least came close to maintaining a proper balance. My main subject is the young man in blue (our dear friend AJ). Most of his body is in focus. His surroundings (the mat, the mirror, the flags) are all pretty crisp. But the other young man, the one about to hit the mat, is all a blur.

Judo is actually a pretty fast sport. Motion comes in quick bursts. Many is the time that I miss it all together. While other times I completely freeze the moment. I don't mind the complete freeze, but there are times when just the right amount of blur has a much greater impact.

I love this shot since it captures an exact moment while still managing to imply the velocity at which things move. I hope you will too.

P52 - Week 37

The thing about judo is ...

There are a lot of fine lessons that come when you study the martial arts, but one theme that seems to repeat itself over and over is about give and take. If you want to learn something, you have to be open to correction. If you want to have a good friend, you have to be a good friend. If you want to get something, you have to be willing to give something. Life is constantly proving and re-proving Newton's third law of motion: for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. What you put into it will equal what you get out of it. And vice versa.

This is beautifully illustrated in judo class. Sometimes you are the tori (person demonstrating a technique). And sometimes you are the uke (person on whom a technique is demonstrated).

Your experience and growth as a judoka will directly relate to how you perform these roles. If you want to master a technique as the tori, you need an uke who will work with you, someone who will take their falls and gradually increase their resistance as you perfect your technique. In return, a good tori will protect his/her uke, making sure that their fall is not too intense so that the performance is repeatable. And then you get the opportunity to switch roles and give and take with your partner as they just gave to/took from you.

It's a fine life lesson as well as a way to succeed in the dojo. When you give of yourself, no matter how scary the fall my look, you open yourself to a plentiful return.

P52 - Week 31

I find myself back to judo photos for week 31. It's actually been months since I took any judo photos and it just felt GOOD to take the camera out during class this week. It was a really small class too, which really helped matters.

I love watching my boy at judo class. He always has a smile on his face. You can tell he truly enjoys being there. We never have to nag him to get ready for practice. And often he begs to stay after class. He loves the other kids in class and he thinks Sensei Bob hung the moon.

Brings a smile to my face too!

MY BOY

makes me smile



brings new meaning to the word silly



is a superb balloon twister (now if only he could tie them on his own)



is a budding scientist



turns a beatuiful bronze in the summer sun that lasts well through winter



has chocolate eyes that melt me right to butter



tries very hard to be like his daddy (be still my heart)



has great technique despite being the smallest in both of his martial arts classes




is no longer my tiny baby



can build anything under the sun with Legos



likes to laugh



makes my heart go thump, thump, thump


That's my boy!

design therapy

It's been a tough couple of weeks at my 'day job.' Things have slowed down a bit, but I still find myself in need of some unwinding. My first reaction is to reach for the chocolate (I'm a long confessed comfort eater *sigh* and my waistline shows it). But at the moment there is none at hand. Retail therapy sometimes works, but I don't really have the opportunity to indulge in this little comfort.

So what's a girl to do?

I've been pouring over my old photos. That never hurts. But today ... today I want to do more than look. I want to PLAY!

My baby (who would not like me calling him my baby) just successfully completed his belt test for the first stripe on his green belt at judo. Can you say 'proud Momma' boys & girls? :+) I *am* proud of him. He pours his heart into all that he does and judo is no exception. He has studied hard for the past 3 years to reach this rank. And with this test he is currently the highest ranked student in the kids' class (we've had some older, higher ranked kids move on). I'd say that deserves a little recognition. So I came up with this:



Can you feel my pride when you look at this? What about in this snapshot my better half grabbed after the belt test?



AHHHHHHH. That feels better now.

But I still want to play!

So I moved on to the photos of my friend Mr. MMA. He gave me free reign to play with the photos I took of him. So that gives me a great big source of material with which to play. Here's my latest effort on that front:



I still have an overwhelming urge to sit and play with the many photos stacking up on my hard drive. But I'm afraid real work is once again calling. At least I've found a calorie free way to blow off some steam.

the big dance

OK ... it wasn't exactly March madness, but it WAS the National Collegiate Judo Association Championships. And this spring, it was hosted right here at Texas A&M University! (whoop!)

The TAMU Judo club has had quite the successful presence in the NCJA over the past 20 years are so. I've had the pleasure of training with many of the team (we share a couple of instructors) and it was a true pleasure to get to see the team compete.

But to up the fun this year, I was asked to put together a poster for the team to hang around campus and around the tournament site. Some of the pictures featured are mine from previous tournaments and some were sent to me from Sensei Bob (head coach and instructor for the TAMU Judo Team). I was thrilled with the final look and I wanted to share it with you here.


NOTE: all copyright images & logos provided with permission. There was no compensation for the production of this flyer or its use.

The tournament was a BLAST! We got to see many of the country's top judo players. You can bet I will be looking for some of them at the next Olympics. :)

And to top off the day, the TAMU team had a strong finish in the NCJA Final Point Ranking. Novice Women finished in 2nd place. Novice Men finished in 2nd place. Men Standard division ranked 4th. And Women Standard division ranked 6th.

Congrats to these awesome athletes! They train hard while balancing school, work, and all those other fun things that come with college life. And to top it off, they set a great example for my boy and all the other kids looking up to them - dreaming of the day they might represent their school and maybe even some day, their country.

To finish off this post, I want to share a few of my favorite photos from the tournament.








Congrats again, Ags!

Sankyu

As November drew to a close, DH and I were tested for and received our brown belts (sankyu) in Judo. The test was the first time for us to perform the first 3 series in the Nage No Kata judo forms. It was an interesting experience, to say the very least.

The full Nage No Kata consists of 5 sets of 3 throws each. And you execute each 3 throws on both your right and left sides. For our Sankyu exam, we had to perform the first 3 sets of throws: Te Waza (hand techniques), Koshi Waza (hip techniques), and Ashi Waza (foot techniques).

To celebrate DH's success, I threw this together for him.



DH and I both want to send out a hearty THANK YOU to our lovable uke, AJ. AJ took 36 falls for the 2 of us combined. And as you can see from the shot above, some of those falls were from a pretty good height. *shudder* You're a good friend and training partner, AJ. WE OWE YOU!

momma ME

I don't usually share pictures of myself. Just not something I'm overly confident about, but I'm going to break out of my mold for this occasion.



Yep ... that's me. All 39 years of me. :+P

And while I did truly feel SIXTY NINE after the tournament, I'm so glad I decided to compete. The win-loss numbers don't mean much to me. It's just about getting out there. Trying my hardest. Overcoming my nerves. Putting the techniques I've practiced over and over again into play. Finding out what works for me and what doesn't. It's about being there with my family and hearing their cheers and condolences. It's about holding up my head and not being ashamed to say, yes, I'm 39 and STILL doing this crazy stuff!

like father, like son

I'd like to introduce you all to the West boys, B & G. This father and son combo is just getting their feet wet in the world of judo, but already they are getting the feel for things and enjoying the many benefits of walking the martial way.

We are very lucky to have met these 2 guys and our whole family enjoys getting the chance to work out with them. With that in mind, we really wanted to do something special for these collages and we hope that our friends will enjoy them as much as we do.