I may be freaking out for nothing, because there isn't anyone signed up in my division, so it looks like I might just be doing an exhibition match. The only other woman signed up at all is our Women's Jiu-Jitsu teacher, Amy. She's a brown belt in Judo, so if I do a match with her it will go like this: "Amy grabs Gina, Gina hits the mat. Ippon!". Shihan said he would do an exhibition with me, and all I would have to do is fall down, so I probably don't have to worry about those stinkin' rules anyway.
However, Karate is a different story, because I know I have a competitor. I've won the gold in the State Games Women's Kumite every year for the past five years...except for in 2009, when a 5th degree Taekwondo black belt signed up to compete in Karate. She kicked me in the head a few times and took the gold home. Apparently she wants to try to take it again this year, and there's a good chance I'm going to let her! Seriously, I need a lot of head-kick-blocking practice in the next couple of weeks, because if I lose to her again I may be required to commit seppuku. Or at least I will get teased mercilessly.
But first, there's our in-house Jiu-Jitsu competition this Sunday to think about, and also the CSG Jiu-Jitsu Tournament is the day after the Karate. I may have bitten off more than I can chew again. Doing all of these different tournaments in such a short amount of time seemed like a good idea when I first thought of it! Really, why didn't I just sign up for the TKD and wrestling competitions, too? Hey, I did decline a full-contact kickboxing match taking place this coming Saturday, so it could be worse. I wanted to do it, but there's going to be a large crowd, and my fear of spectators is epic. I didn't know if I could handle adding that to my plate right now. Sometimes my appetite is bigger than my stomach.
"Become acquainted with every art." -Miyamoto Musashi