Hey guys, sorry if you feel that this doesn't belong here or having its own thread. Here's my little story. I usually don't write this much and I'm depressed with our current Rocket situation. If you don't like it, there's a "back" button on the upper left corner of your screen. When I was 22, I started this martial arts class at a local community college. It was awesome because everyone there sucked. I was able to show off my skills that I’ve acquired from my dad and a great instructor since I was six, seven or so. The instructor at that community college loved me. He always used me as an example. Those were my glorious days. I worked my way up to black belt in about three and a half years. I won most of the major tournaments in the Southwest region. The people there continued to love me. When I was about 26 – 27, there was a new group of white belts that came in and they were awesome: quick, agile, skillful. This group of white belts was respectful enough not to ask me to spar. They looked up to me as if they want to get to my level in the future. Those were my glorious days About a year and a half later, I got married and we had a child, bough a house, switched to a more demanding, stressful job. They left me with a lot less practice time. Nevertheless, I attended the class religiously saying to myself that’s a good way to relieve stress. One day, this blue belt asked me to show him a couple of tips on sparring techniques. I agreed. The instructor overheard us and said we should spar. We put on our gears and went at it. This guy was good. Either he moved a lot quicker than other blue belts or I’m getting slower. I got tired and instead of saying so, I began shifting from embarrassing the guy to “teaching” him. Every time he had a good hit, I acted as if I was encouraging him to hit me. Overall, I acted as if I was “taking it easy on the guy.” A couple days later, the same thing happened to another blue belt, then a brown belt, then a green belt. In my heart of hearts, I was trying to beat them down, but I couldn’t. These guys, with all the respect in the world for me, couldn’t figure out a thing. I began showing up to class sparingly. I stopped staying after the class to spar but only to walk around and give the younger class sparring tips. When I spar, I usually pretend that I’m not doing it seriously, only to show others sparring techniques. However, in my heart, I know I’ve lost it. Overtime, I began to accept the truth that I’m getting old and out of shape. I know Tracy McGrady. I was Tracy McGrady. From the bottom of my heart, I feel for the guy. Going through this phase is not easy. On the other hand, I know I was selfish, greedy for not accepting that fact. I redeemed myself and I hope Tracy can do so in the very near future. God bless him. daRox
