BOTN 2017 Barcelona
Since 2013 this has been my goal to attend as a fighter. Finally the goals were about to be accomplished. Even better I got to go with the best of friends… Sandra(my wife), Christine and Josh. All of us got to represent the USA and compete. The ladies both made it out of their pools and were eliminated in the playoffs. Josh and I fought in the 21s which also made it out of the pools but were eliminated in the playoffs.
So first fight of the tournament for me is below. In the center you can see me fighting with my PK crescent shield. A teammate was taken down behind me and smashed into my ankle.
It hurt real real bad. but this was my first match. I fought every round that I was able to get on the field.
The second to last match of the day was against Russia. David Dixon grabbed me and said lets go up the right flank as far as we can and see how many russians we can get on us. I surprisingly came away with a severe contusion on the right arm that is still healing more than a month after the event. Man the targeting on those russian polearms…. just perfect.
Weird patterning of the blood draining from the contusion
Day 2 no fighting for any of us. Then the pain really sets in. okay so let go back in time a bit. October practice my knee gets tweaked and I feel a pop. I get it check out and i have a torn MCL therapy and take it easy is all they recommend. After going full bore the day before my knee is angry and my ankle is huge.
The 21s have one more fight the next day. I want to commit to fighting…. my wife simply acknowledges my wishes and is going to let me be the idiot that I am. Christine on the other hand having not battled with the stubbornness that is Larry for the past 5+ years chooses to tell me I am not fighting. Discussions are had…. and I accept how stupid this idea is. The guy who can’t walk without a two lovely crutches admits fighting might be a bad idea at this point.
Alot more happens at BOTN but this isn’t about that.
I got home and go to the ER. I have severely sprained ankle and one of the smaller bones in my ankle is cracked in half.(it healed mostly okay, got a small bone spur to remind about it every so often) The sprain and tendon damage is still hurting and if I push to hard it gets swollen pretty bad.
My arm had a solid lump under the skin where I was struck repeatedly by the russian polearms. My arm is still weak and hurts to move but the lump is slowly but surely getting smaller.
My knee they are taking more seriously now. I have spent the last month barely able to walk and in pain from doing the smallest of things. I am on a therapy program and have been given a knee brace called an Offloader. It forces the knee into a different angle and allows it to heal easier supposedly. After a month of this I get to find out more.
This also is not really what this is all about.
It is the shitty fight of not being able to train. of not being able to help the family carry in groceries. Watching the team train while you sit. the having to do nothing while everything you want to do is in front of you.
Growing old and knowing that you can’t just push through it this time. That you actually have to stop and let it heal. You gotta not do anything.
This sucks beyond all suck….. as someone who leads from the front who never asks anyone to do something I will not do myself. And now I have to watch…..
This is a harder test…. this is harder than building myself up to run 5k’s. It is possibly one of the hardest things I have done.
My goal has been achieved. It would be easy to walk away victorious and proud of what I have done. But is that where I am at. Is it the right decision… it is the easier decision….
For now the answer… I will not yield.