I find some irony in three observations about this whole process:
Fears, it seems to be a common thing among those who fight that they are less afraid about getting hurt than they are about embarrassing their team with a poor performance. I have felt this but was surprised to read that others had the same feelings. Its not that I am fearless about injury, but I do feel like I have that concern appropriately assessed. I am not anymore likely to get injured doing this than I am doing any other intense physical activity at my age (the level of injury of my "old-man hockey" friends being a nice benchmark). The fear of embarrassment though is at a very different level because during the fight you are at the center of everyone's attention and defeat can be so swift and utterly decisive (as opposed to say quietly dropping out of a marathon mid-way because you cannot go on).
Opportunity, it remains funny to me that there aren't people lining up to pummel me in the ring. I would love to get a shot at an old inexperienced opponent like myself, and after some initial interest by a somewhat shady promoter I cannot say there has been a rush to fight me. Let's go with I am a too fierce.
Time, I always assumed that it would be a question of difficulty in reaching a fitness level or some level of technique that would be the real challenge, but it turns out the real challenge is much more banal. It's just having the time to do the training in competition with family and work time. Again, this is apparently a very common theme for everyone who fights, even the professionals. There just isn't much way to add a whole separate non-paying (or poorly paying) career on top of full lives.
Nothing deep here for anyone who has done his, but its been a revelation to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment