melodrama for your mama

kendo is not an olympic sport because the IKF (international kendo federation) does not want it to become one. they say it's not a sport...it's an art. therefore, i'll never have the chance to be in the olympics.

however, i'm training at the international level, and have done so since 1999. everytime i watch the olympics, i can feel the athletes. all the sacrifice that goes into just one moment...and you either make it or break it. i have experienced the humiliation and disappointment of defeat and the thrill and exhiliration of winning. i have endured injury after injury, agonizing pressure both external and internal, the complexity of the mental game, and the strength of the human spirit both individual and cohesive. friends and family have suffered....boyfriends neglected, friends and family having to take the brunt of my physical and mental frustrations, constantly driving and picking me up from the airport, always making sure i've stretched, iced, rested, eaten, what have you...the list goes on. i can empathize COMPLETELY with those athletes at the olympics...

when i made the team at the tryouts, my fate was in the hands of another player. when she won, it secured my spot on the team. i screamed for joy. my dad hugged me.

i saw the highlights from the olympics and saw their screams of joy and tears of defeat. i feel them.

one can ask how can i equate this to the olympics? i can...i'm sacrificing so much. i'm an athlete. i'm good at what i do.

10 more months to go....

now you can see where my focus has gone....and how i was able to let go of japan and all that came with it...

wish me luck.