That's friggin' hilarious, Miguel!!!! Hey Sishir Define some "success criteria" and go after it. Example: getting through the first round might be considered success, to a certain extent. Set some goals like that and compete. Even if you don't win it all, you can at least feel good about achieving some of the goals you put yourself up to.
Keep in mind the age of most of the folks responding. As a 47 year old *athlete* (running, biking, weightlifting, rball), IMO the only question is whether the risk of injury is acceptable - all the rest (losing, ego, wussiness) is just BS. As far as work goes, get your priorities straight. Good luck with your decision.
I got more than enough trophies, ribbons, certificates and plaques. (I've thought about having my own tournament and handing out my old awards) As for pain these days its getting permanent and I'm more aware of my sore shoulder, back and knees far more than I am of the trophies gathering dust. Before anyone gets any ideas about my tournament success all of my trophies are from local tournaments some of which I got for finishing 3rd out of 3.
My main goal is to not get majorly injured n next is to not embarass myself. Beyond that winning would be good. I was thinking I would do the Bobby Sura 3 finger salute from last year's playoffs everytime I won.
Start training like you are going to go. Push yourself but not too much to start off with, then once you are used to that, push yourself more. If you notice that after 6 weeks or so, you don't feel like you can go without constant pain and injury then don't do it. But having a goal, might help you motivate even more for training, and working the rust off might help you feel better overall enough to compensate for the shoulder pain, etc. Plus if you take the approach now that you can't do it because of the pain, then it isn't going to get any easier the older you get and less you train for that kind of thing. Do it now and see what happens.
I may have changed my mind by now (flipflopper!) after I saw FB's posts. You know people won't call you "Sis" again if you slam a few bodies. Go for it you wuss!
The tournament is April 21st. I don't have 6 weeks to train. I until April 10th to decide. Plus I'm flying down on frequent flyer miles so gotta book my flight soon. I'm giving myself until next Tuesday to decide.
"Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?" "No, Sensei!" "Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?" "No, Sensei!" "Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?" "No, Sensei!"
At your age, you should know what what your physical, athletic, mental limitations are. If you want to compete and you are not risking future endeavors, have fun. Don't hold on to things you don't need.
