09/29/2004 Archived Entry: "Karateka"

PreZ's promotion test went well, and he ended up with a blue belt. In a way a tad disappointing, as he'd hoped that maybe he'd get a higher belt, if they were going to honour his Australian green belt certificate. He got to do one of the kata that blue belts testing for yellow are required to do, and didn't do so flawlessly, so I think that also weighed against him. I'm not sure if he knows any of the other kata required to progress to green either. Things have changed a bit since he practiced in Australia... he did have a 9-10 year break as well.

During the sparring in the promotion test he got a chudan mowashi geri (middle round house) kick to the ribs, he failed to block so his opponent had a clear shot. Thinking that maybe it was just bruised we waited out the week, hoping the aches and pains would subside, which mostly they did. Monday however, it started playing up again, especially during karate, and so we figured a visit to the doctor's office was in order, just to check things out and make sure.

The verdict was that he most likely has a fractured rib. Luckily no damage to any internal organs. No x-rays were taken, due to the fact it's apparantly hard to detect rib fractures in x-rays with all the other stuff one is trying to x-ray through. This result means no strenuous exercise for 4-6 weeks in order to let the fracture heal. So I have no training buddy for karate until mid November or so. Sad.

I'll be able to swap around training times too if I want though, as I no longer have to wait for him to be done with work. I have no idea if their lunchtime classes are at all populated, but I guess one of these days I might find that out. Seeing as most of the lunchtime classes start at half past the hour, that'll be much nicer than on the hour, as usually I can't make those without being late to class due to train arrival times in Grand Central.