Still training but with restricted kicking

John Edelson, Kate Edelson, David Edelson

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog with martial arts info.  Here's a few headlines;

Elite Force Martial Arts
(Previously, the National Training Center
of Lavallees Black Belt Champions)

My daughter has taken her last class at the dojo for awhile (she earned her black belt this past spring). She leaves for college in Connecticut this Wednesday so Dad is having a full emotional crisis.  Sigh.  The last year represented a funny transition. For a long time, I had my son in the junior program and I was very involved in the adult program. This past year,  my daughter who is also training at the dojo, became close friends with  some younger instructors at the dojo.  So at times, my instructor at the dojo was also hanging around my  house in the evening with my daughter and her friends. At times, I would come down after midnight and have to tell my daughter, instructor, and friends: "Heh, it's after midnight. a little quiet please!"

 Looking forward, I don't know if my son will get back involved. If so, he would be in the adult program now so that would be a whole new spin on things.

A second headline is that the dojo has gone through a transition in leadership and has a new name: Elite Force Martial Arts. I may or may not ever publish my thoughts on recent events. I did write-up a post, a sort of eulogy or "Speaker for the Dead" (anybody else read Orson Scott Card?) about the recently deceased (at his own hand) Kyoshi Steve Lavallee.   In the words of the Grateful Dead, "What a long strange trip it's been."

 I'm sticking with the school and if it weren't for something that's gone wrong with my right hip, I would go get my third black belt. My plan going into the summer was to work intensively on my cardio and flexibility to see if I was ready to go through another cycle. The cardio effort became a series of triathlons that I've really enjoyed. The flexibility effort was increased stretching and some hot yoga classes. This has not been successful. My hip has gone steadily more painful and less useful.  So, I've been careful to stay off pain killers but I've backed off the stretching and am going to dig out a hip specialist to give me some direction.  The last few months have resulted in some pretty bad pain whenever I try to go through a routine kicking drill so....

Oh, and I joined an online groups of old fart martial artists. No kidding, that's the name of the group.  If anyone stops by from there, leave a comment.