Not from my journal at all

What a crazy week - job interviews, offers, teacher interviews, excellent report cards, nasty report cards, volleyball, badminton, presentations, submissions, sickness. I barely had enough time to keep up my home training, and this weekend I was in Okotoks for Jill's Badminton tournament. I think I will write about that.

Jill had a struggle because she was so sick. But she dug deep, put her body in competition mode, and won her first two matches on Friday night. The fellow sitting beside me, was the father of Jill's second opponent. He did not like it when I encouraged Jill to stay in the zone (Long story to that, but in a nutshell it's about allowing the adrenaline to kick in, letting the body forget about how sick it feels, and focusing all energy on winning the next point). The other girl's father jabbed me in the ribs and told me "no coaching allowed!" Oops, he was right; coaching is only allowed if the match goes to a third game. I tried to calm him by explaining that I'm not really her coach, I am her mother. Still, he frowned very hard at me and repeated his admonition. Jill won against this man's daughter easily. The next day, he sat beside me as Jill played her semi final match. I figured he was keeping an eye on me so I stayed quiet. When Jill won that match, the man leaned over and said "Your daughter is very good, I'm happy for her". So we got to talking and I apologized for upsetting him and explained that Jill is quite sick. He figured out which badminton club Jill plays at, and I asked him what club his daughter is at. He said "Ging Wu club of Calgary". I said, "but isn't that a Kung Fu style?". Yes, he said, Martial Arts and Badminton Club. His brother runs the martial arts, and he coaches the badminton - they have one court at the Ging Wu club and they also do Lion dance. Oh!, I said, I do lion dance, but I'm not very good. At this point the man got very excited. His accent thickened, he talked faster, and I practically lost all track of what he was saying. I was forced to nod and smile, and agree. He was happy with our conversation, and when we parted I encouraged him to look up Silent River Kung Fu on the internet.

Jill came in second place in the tournament. Exactly where she should have ended up if she hadn't been sick. She learned so much about herself this weekend. As her 'not really a coach-just her mom', I don't think I could have told her what I did, had I not spent the last 8 years listening to Master Brinker go on and on about pushing oneself against arbitrary limits, and then having to test his theory with exercises like the pushups and other testing requirements. Through Kung fu, I am a better mom/coach, and Jill can learn more about herself. There's also the possibility that the Ging Wu Club of Calgary might check out Silent River Kung Fu.