Youtube - you've all done it, don't pretend you haven't - you've gone to youtube and typed in ‘fight'....and of course you get a bear fight, or maybe some American teenagers.

After you browse around a bit you get more and more specific, typing in

I'm sore all over....well, sore in one foot and a little in the nose really. I entered my first karate tournament in the weekend, and (unsurprisingly) lost. Highlights included:

• Having my nose broken (just the cartilage, not the bone) by the New Zealand Karate team captain.
• Knocking down an opponent so hard when he 'came round' his first words were "what happened?" (he was only out for about two seconds - so I'm not so much of a bully as all that!)
• Losing a fight due to penalties
• Having two fights stopped early due to excessive bleeding (on my part - and these were fights I was definitely losing anyway)

I scored only a few 'real' points but I was pretty happy all up for a first attempt.

It's the big three in karate and most martial arts, and I get to do all three in a month!

First is Kihon - which I probably find the hardest, I'm stiff and nervous and my 'warm up' with one of the senpai has left me a little out of breath. Soon I remember what I'm doing though and start to relax a bit.

It's probably marginally misleading to claim a couple of blocks of concrete as a nemesis... I mean it's not like they kicked my dog or raped my sister. Still, they've been mocking me for weeks now with their strong and sturdy construction designed for paving stones.

 (look at the damn thing....it's practially laughing at me!) 

I however, had the last laugh!

I wanted to try my hand at writing like those old masters 

Find strength in accuracy,  (true strength isnt how hard you can hit but the accuracy of your technique and placement of your strike)