Chris Gets Reckless

So after that whole knee incident the doctors told me that maybe I would still be able to fight in the upcoming karate tournament a week later. They also said there may be damage to my knee cartilage and to some tendon. With the language barrier they didn't explain much more than that, and I wasn't left feeling very confident about it being safe to join the tournament.

Over the next week I vacillated back and forth. My karate sensei (who works at the hospital) assured me that as long as we wrapped the knee up tight it would be okay. My dad talked to his orthopedic surgeon, who suggested that exercising a knee after having the kneecap dislocated could possibly result in permanent damage. The knee felt... okay. It ached at times but I could walk on it easily.

I was so indecisive that I didn't make up my mind until the day of the tournament. After seeing the mat laid out and all the other fighters getting ready, I couldn't resist. After all, in my seven years of karate practice, I had never before joined a tournament. I had always wanted to, and doing one in Japan seemed even better, and this was definitely my last chance.

If there is any suspense, I'll break it now. I'm pretty sure I didn't hurt my knee at all, and I was eliminated from the tournament in the first round.

Granted, I had some disadvantages. I fought left-handed, with my left foot back, to keep my hurt knee out of danger (in Kyokushin karate, leg attacks are a central strategy). I hadn't practiced in a week. Although my knee wasn't hurting me, I didn't have much dexterity and couldn't move around as quickly as I would like. I had to cut down on my favorite attack, which is kneeing people in the stomach (it works well for me in Japan, since most of my opponents are shorter than me). Finally, I wore padded gloves, not realizing that they weren't required and that my opponent wasn't wearing any.

But I have to give my opponent his due. For one thing, he had more stamina than me. You can watch my punches getting weaker as time passes. He also had a cleaner technique. In the end, he was the second place winner of the tournament (although I thought he should have won the last fight).

Without further ado, here is the video of my fight:



note: I'm the one in the red belt, and most of the cheering in the background is not for this fight, but rather a fencing tournament that was going on at the other side of the dome.